Episode 8 Cowboy Trap

Cowboy builders and rogue traders

are costing UK homeowners

tens of millions of pounds every single year.

It seems to me that they just keep getting away with it.

If I could turn back time, I wouldn't have any builders in at all.

I am that scared of dodgy builders, I wouldn't have them in again.

Cowboy builders are ruining people's lives up and down the country,

with shoddy workmanship, missed deadlines

and what can only be described as daylight robbery.

He got very defensive

and walked straight back towards the front door

and was just going to call it a day.

Um...

Leaving us in an absolute state of shock.

I know this industry

and I'm here to help homeowners who've been badly let down.

My team of experts are on hand to right some wrongs

and to offer a glimmer of hope to those that have been tricked by these conmen.

What do you think, Sam?

That's brilliant, isn't it?

With top tips and insider advice

it's my mission to prevent you from falling into the cowboy trap.

Today, we're in Sussex, where more family dreams

have been shattered by bodging builders.

Immobile mum Jackie Fowler wanted a practical wet room

so her family no longer had to help her in and out of the bath.

She found her cowboy on the internet.

They had, at that stage, a ten out of ten rating.

I thought, "That's good." You can't get better than that.

But she was left with a room that looks OK - as long as you don't actually want to take a shower.

He says, "I'll be back tomorrow to fit the grab rails and the foldaway seat."

We never saw them again.

Jellied eels are a delicacy around these parts.

But they're not the only slippery customers in town.

Our second cowboy was also highly-rated on the internet.

But dug a big hole for himself when he tried to landscape the Ridleys' dream garden.

It's stealing, really. We gave him a sum of money to do a job

and it's just left our garden in an absolute mess.

Five-year-old green-fingered Sam is still waiting for the grow garden his parents promised him.

First up, we're in picturesque Peacehaven,

where the Fowler family decided to use their savings

to create a wet room for mum Jackie. She's gradually losing her mobility to osteoarthritis

so bath time was becoming a struggle.

My disabilities had got to the stage where I couldn't use the bath any more.

I needed a bit of independence.

So we asked for a shower room that we had already set up

which never worked

to actually be repaired and made into a wet room.

Jackie was impatient to get started

because she hated having to ask her husband Tony for help.

She wants to maintain as much of her independence as possible.

Because I've been stung before by poor builders,

I went on this website and they're meant to find reliable builders in your area

and they're rated by people who've had work done.

They had, at that stage, a ten out of ten rating.

I thought, "That's good." You can't get better than that.

Follow my top tip and you won't get into trouble.

Internet searches can be a great way to start researching your building project.

But they are only the start and only a part.

After your internet search,

you have to use tried and tested techniques to find the good guys.

Speak to previous customers and go and see the builders' previous work.

That way, you'll stay out of trouble.

The gutted the small toilet and what was going to be the wet room.

They gutted it completely.

A blank canvas. We thought things were moving on.

I was getting excited, looking forward to my independence.

Jackie booked her builders to convert her existing shower room

into her dream wet room

and completely renovate the bathroom for her husband's and son's use.

The work would take ten days

and cost £4,000.

Jackie paid a deposit of £2,000 up front.

The next day they came and started tiling the walls.

And that's when the problems started.

We've got a mosaic border going around.

And instead of keeping that flush with the tiles,

they pushed that right back in.

It was just very, very poor quality work.

It's time for me to find out exactly what went wrong

and check the evidence for myself.

-Hello!

-Hello!

-Are you Jackie?

-I am.

-I hear you've had cowboy builders in the property.

-That's right, yes.

-Would you show me the damage?

-No problem.

-After you. Take your time.

This is normally the bit where I go round with the homeowner

and survey the damage the cowboy builder's done.

But because in this case, Jackie's not too good on her legs, I'll show myself around.

So let's take a look.

First impressions can be deceiving.

But if you're spending thousands on a wet room,

you expect a professional job.

But that's not what I see here.

Look at the belly on that!

I don't like the look of the plumbing in here, either.

The radiator is wrong, and this type of light fitting is against the rules.

You think to yourself, "It looks OK." But on closer inspection, it's just not.

It's dog's hind leg, some of the tiles.

There's gaps all over the place, some broader than you see there.

It's just generally somebody's who's more like an odd-job person

than somebody who actually knows what they're doing.

When you look around, there's problems with the light in zone one.

It's got to be a larger IP rating than that.

Follow my top tips. Light fittings used in areas where there's moisture

must all have correct IP rating

which stands for ingress protection.

In this case against water.

Fittings in zone one, where there's lots of water about,

for example above a shower or bath,

must be suitably sealed against moisture

because as we know, water and electricity just don't mix.

It's crucial to have this wet room correctly fitted out

as soon as possible.

We've got the good guys standing by to right all the wrongs.

It was very important to me.

It meant with my husband's problems he didn't have to be my carer any more.

He could sit back and relax

while I could do my own shower and things like that.

Jackie hoped her internet search had come up with someone she could trust.

But sadly, she got caught in the web.

We've done our research, and now it's time to show Jackie

what the good guys are capable of.

We'll be stripping the wet room back to basics,

sorting out the bodged plumbing, removing the illegal electrics,

replacing the radiator, all polished off with a level of finish

you'd expect when you call in the professionals.

Coming up. How does the independent building inspector

rate the previous work done installing Jackie's wet room?

On closer inspection I can see all the problems that could manifest themselves quickly.

Next up,

we're meeting a young family whose dreams for a garden oasis

turned out to be nothing more than a mirage.

The Ridleys also found their builder on the internet.

There's another coincidence. We're not even leaving the county.

Both of today's stories are in Sussex.

Just down the road, a young family's dreams of carefree summers in their new garden

were left in tatters by a careless cowboy builder.

When we bought the place, it was a decked garden

which wasn't really child friendly.

So we thought come spring,

we'll get a nice bit of paving for the adults to sit on

and a bit of artificial lawn so the kids can be out there

many months of the year.

Dad Richard and Mum Paula also made their five-year-old son Sam a promise

about moving to their new house.

My son loves tinkering in the garden

with planting and he'd love to grow potatoes and what have you.

It was one promise we made to him when we moved house

was that he could have a little grow garden.

Richard and Paula Ridley also used a trader review website

to check up on their chosen builder.

They wanted him to rip up their dangerous decking and remodel their garden

with patio lawn, but keep the sheds for all their stuff.

They'd saved hard to create a safe and special play space for Sam and two-year-old Rosie.

Once we'd had the quote, which we were happy with,

seemed straight down the middle. It wasn't the cheapest or most expensive.

He conducted himself in a very professional way.

He was very friendly and courteous.

We felt very relaxed with him

and we felt happy to have him working in and around the house.

The price agreed for the job was £5,000.

A deposit of £2,500 was payable to book the job

and pay for the special Indian stone slabs they'd set their hearts on.

But then Richard and Paula made a mistake.

They booked work to start while they were away.

The only access to their garden is by going through their home

so they gave the builder the keys.

Unfortunately,

we were very trusting

and he started work two days previously to us returning home from a holiday.

So there were two days when they were on site in the house

when we were still away.

Follow my top tips and you won't come to grief with your building dreams.

You wouldn't give the keys to your home to a stranger in the street,

so never give them to a builder you don't know, either.

It may cause less disruption to have building work done while you're on holiday,

but who knows what horrors you'll find when you come home.

Luckily, Paula's dad was on hand

to check up on the builder.

Paula and Richard were on holiday when he started.

I came down. In the two or three visits I made,

I never saw anybody here at all.

It wasn't very long days he'd done down here.

So what horrors did Richard and Paula find

when they came home from holiday with their two young children?

There were lots of materials in the hallway that had been delivered.

Which was fine. The only thing we were unhappy with

was the fact that our two sheds that we'd emptied previous to go on holiday

to enable them to move them up and down the garden

had been taken to pieces

in what we felt was an unprofessional way

and left in the neighbour's garden.

Without digging out, they laid an inch and a half of concrete onto the soil

and neither my husband or I have much building experience.

We don't really know if that's the way to lay a patio

but I remembered seeing a patio being laid at my parents' house

and I just felt something should be going under the concrete between the concrete and the soil.

So it was that, really, that initially raised an alarm bell.

Paula and Richard were right to be worried.

Their sheds had been trashed

and now the concrete looked crazy too.

Ironically, the builder had now gone on holiday himself.

But when he came back on the job, the Ridleys asked him in to share their concerns.

We were just asking for his reassurance

that the work would be completed to the standard that had been agreed originally.

But within a matter of seconds he just said he didn't want to complete the work

and made his way to leave the property.

He got very defensive.

He walked straight back towards the front door

and was going to call it a day,

leaving us in an absolute state of shock.

Out of the front door walked their builder,

taking with him this young family's dreams of their garden

and £2,500 of their hard-earned savings.

We all work hard for our money

and they do, bringing up the two kids. One at work in the day and one in the evenings.

They do work hard for it

and for somebody to come and take it, which is really what he did.

£2,500 to some people probably isn't a great deal of money.

But to us it was.

It was money we'd earned and saved specifically

to get the garden done.

Every time you pick up your savings book

and you see £2,500 and you look out the window and see that's what you got for your money.

It's time for me to find out exactly what's happened.

I'm going to look at the evidence for myself.

-How are you, mate?

-Good, thanks.

Slightly different for us. You've got a garden grievance.

-Something like that!

-Can you show me?

-Step this way.

-Sun is shining, weather is sweet!

-At least you know it's a sun trap, Richard.

-It's lovely.

-Sun's here nicely.

-Yes. South-facing.

-Gets it early morning, late afternoon.

-OK.

-That concrete pad at the end, was that already down?

-That's one that he put down.

-Ah.

Let's take a look at that.

OK.

Have you done any inspections under there to see how deep that is?

Yes, I shoved a shovel under there and lifted it.

It's probably about that depth.

-Is that all?

-Yeah. It wasn't properly pummelled or flattened.

It could be various depths all over.

Did it have hardcore under it? Was it wacker plated? Was it prepped?

No. The soil was scraped back and left in two mounds.

Then the concrete was just poured on top of it.

This area here, Rich. Who does that belong to?

That's a neighbour's garden.

-And they've left loads of debris?

-That's our sheds.

Why is your shed in your neighbour's garden?

Uh, that is what... We did wonder that!

What, he's just... Is it a waste shed or one you're going to use?

It was going to be rebuilt and hopefully will be rebuilt.

So he's taken it down and thrown it into the neighbour's garden.

I love that! If I was your neighbour,

I'd love your old shed in my garden!

'Whatever Richard and Paula's dream was for their kids Sam and Rosie's play garden,

'this is about as far from it as you can imagine.'

-Have you got a plan you can show me?

-I have, yes.

We were going to have a patio there with a slight curve to make it more interesting.

-Yes.

-A border down the edge here.

And then between the next base here where the sheds will remain

we're having Astroturf.

-So you're having synthetic grass.

-Yes.

-On the surface. OK.

Easy maintenance. You don't have to get out on the ride-on!

So.

We've got... The plan is all here.

Right. Why or how did it ever get left like this, I do not know!

'Well, we've got the good guys ready and waiting

'to put right this nice young couple's loss

'and create the safe play area and grow garden

'for five-year-old Sam and two-year-old Rosie.'

What would you like us to do for you with the good guys?

I'd love it if they could just reinterpret what we wanted to do a year ago.

-Mmm.

-That's all we would like.

-Just make the garden safe for the children.

-OK.

-It's a secure garden, so we could have the door open

and they could come and go as they please.

Just be able to enjoy it this summer.

It's my promise to you right now

that we'll deliver that.

OK. Does that make you happy?

-Over the moon.

-We'd be over the moon. Yes.

-Amazed.

-Over the moon.

-And the kids will be.

-Of course.

-Great for the kids to play out there.

-They'd be delighted.

Our good guys have got to reclaim Richard and Paula's garden from their cowboy builder.

We've got to break up this horrible concrete, remove the soil and rubbish,

replace the fence, lay that lovely Indian stone patio

and see if we can save the sheds.

And of course, the special synthetic grass so the kids can enjoy playing on it all year round.

These cowboys had hardly started before they packed up and got out of town.

So it's high time we got the good guys in

to clear up this mess and give the family their dream back.

Coming up: how does the independent inspector rate the Ridleys' cowboy garden makeover?

This is absolutely hideous. There's nothing good about this at all.

We're staying in sunny Sussex now but nipping back to the Fowlers.

That's where our guys are getting ready to install the wet room

Jackie Fowler needs so desperately. She paid her builder half of the £4,000 quote

to transform her old shower room to an easy-access wet room.

But he left her with dangerous electrics, the wrong radiator, a leaky floor

and wonky tiles.

Before I bring in the good guys to give Jackie the wet room she desires,

here's the independent building inspector's verdict on the cowboys' work.

You've had an opportunity to look around. What have you found?

-The workmanship does leave something to be desired.

-As you look at it,

anybody looking at it now would think, "Perfectly fine. Looks great."

But on closer inspection, you found certain things wrong.

I have some reservations about its use.

There's a risk of water getting behind this waterproof membrane.

Water could seep into the concrete floor

and the whole ground floor and surrounding areas could become very wet in a very short time.

What sort of mark out of ten would you give these guys?

Marks out of ten. A-ha! Right.

At a glance you'd think it's quite presentable and a decent installation.

But on closer inspection I can see all the problems that could manifest themselves in a short time.

I would give it - a generous rating would be about four out of ten.

I think that figure is spot on.

Four out of ten is a poor score for a job which cost a couple of grand.

Our guys have got a hard few days' graft ahead.

Nigel is running the job today

and all the tiles have to come off before he can even get started on the floor.

Tell us what your plan is to put that right.

-The flooring's coming up. That's going to be latexed to a smooth finish.

-Lovely.

-Sounds nice.

-Ensuring that all the joints are sealed properly.

So it's all perfectly sealed up.

And in terms of the lighting,

-any plans for that?

-The lighting has to come down.

It doesn't meet regulations. It needs to be a sealed light.

The ceiling will be plastered to a smooth finish.

-That is the plan.

-Yeah.

-And you are the man.

Nigel and his team are going to get stuck in to hacking off all the uneven tiles.

I want to track back and discover why Jackie's deteriorating health

means she desperately needs to make alterations

to the home she's lived in for 15 years.

When you first bought it, how were you health-wise?

I was fighting fit, running around looking after three young children,

one with cerebral palsy, so yes, I was fighting fit.

When did you start to become unwell?

It was seven years ago in February.

No, eight years ago this February.

I was just leaning over to plug in the hoover

and my back collapsed on me.

Completely.

I've lost two discs in my spine,

I've crushed nerves in my spine so my legs don't work properly.

And since then, my hips have gone and my knees have gone.

And it's, you know, after being fit and healthy,

and all of a sudden just something simple like that,

all of a sudden your whole life changes.

-Yes.

-And so does then the dynamic of the property

and how you actually live in that property.

I can't get in the bath. I can't raise my legs to climb into a bath.

So I need the shower facilities.

We're not rich, but we did scrimp and pull our belts in and managed to get enough money

to get all the work done.

I went onto a website which was meant to be reliable builders

which have got all these reviews against their name.

This one came through

with ten stars and all this.

I thought, "Why not go for it?"

-Did they ask for money up front?

-Yes.

-Did you pay them?

-Yes.

-Why?

We thought we had to.

Follow my top tip.

Never pay money in advance.

Reputable builders have accounts with suppliers

which they don't have to settle for at least 30 days.

So they shouldn't be demanding your cash before they do the job.

If you've paid before work commences,

and then discover the work isn't up to scratch,

you can find yourself stuck with the bad builder

which is exactly what happened to Jackie.

The tiling was just really appalling.

We said we weren't happy with it.

He said, "Don't worry. We'll do them again. We got so fed up with tiling yesterday, we put them on anyhow."

Why would you put a tile on all skewiff, then to come back and do it again?

I'll be perfectly honest with you.

I'd have had them out the door on that day.

They've got £2,000 of our money.

So you do feel, "We'll lose two grand if I boot these guys off."

-Yes.

-They have you over a barrel.

We were panicking at that stage.

We were like, "What is going to happen?

"If they're like that with tiling, how are they with plumbing works,

"electric works?"

But they were meant to be under the Federation of Electricians. Something like Nicec?

It's N-I-C-E-I-C.

Yeah.

OK. Did you see the electrician's paperwork? Any documentation?

It's only on the head of the actual invoice or contract I signed.

-Yeah.

-It's got their stamp.

-Yeah.

Sadly, Jackie's builders weren't registered electricians.

Fortunately, our good guys are.

We're replacing the skewiff tiles

and making the shower and the electrics safe.

-I take it the shower's off now?

-We took the shower off and this is what we found.

The earth bonding wire is not connected.

-What, that was just stuck in the wall?

-Just stuck in the wall.

"Let's play let's pretend!"

-Hmm.

-They're playing "let's pretend" with people's lives!

That was connected to the shower, but that bit was poked in the wall.

-It wasn't connected or strapped?

-No. No straps.

-Wow!

Earth bonding is an essential safety feature.

In the event of an electrical short circuit,

current is safely diverted to ground.

Contact with non-earthed pipes could give a fatal shock.

Jackie's rogue builder left her high and dry

with no working wet room. So,

given the chance, what would she say to her builder now?

-Why did they claim to be on this...

-Qualified.

-..qualified when they weren't?

They swore to us that they were this NICEIC registered and regulated.

Yet they weren't.

OK. I want you to take that and dial away.

RINGING TONE It's ringing!

It's ringing!

It's just ringing.

'The person you are calling is unable to take your call.

'Please leave your message after the tone.'

Hello. My name is Jacqueline Fowler.

Jackie left a message for her builder

but unsurprisingly, he didn't call back.

Coming up: I discover what happened when Jackie took her cowboy to court.

I can't wait to see her reaction when we show her what the good guys can do.

That's better, isn't it?

We're back with the Ridleys, who wanted their builder

to create them a garden oasis

where their two children - Sam, five and Rosie, two -

could play safely to their heart's content.

But their builder left them with crazy concrete, demolished sheds and a broken fence

before walking off the job with two grand of their hard-earned savings.

We've had to deal with a little girl who got a ride-on toy for her birthday

and hasn't been able to ride on it because she hasn't got a garden to go out and ride on it.

Our good guys are standing by

to create the safe garden Paula and Richard promised their children.

But before we start, I want the verdict of independent surveyor Chris Snook,

who's inspected the cowboys' work.

The concrete has been dumped.

-It's been thrown there.

-Just thrown down.

You can see, if you look at the line of the brickwork,

it travels up by the whole height of a brick.

-Yeah.

-Now, this is the damp-proof course.

Building regulations say that all finished surfaces

have to be 150ml, or two brick courses,

below DPC.

So they've raised the concrete to the point you couldn't even lay slabs on there.

-Yes, exactly.

-So this is just absolutely hideous. There's nothing good about it at all.

The independent inspector doesn't like the look of any of this crazy concrete.

What I did earlier, I dug a little hole. This is what it's onto.

It's pure clay.

It'll bake like a brick in the summer

-and go soggy during the winter.

-Then you get movement, it'll rise and crack.

-Yep.

-Absolute waste of space.

If you were to give this guy a mark out of ten, what would you give him?

It's got to be one. And that's being generous!

One out of ten is a shocking score. Fortunately,

we've got some good guys waiting to get cracking on this bomb site

and transform it into the oasis little Sam and Rosie deserve.

We're going to rip up this crazy concrete, level the area,

lay the patio and the special synthetic grass.

And we're even going to try and rescue the demolished sheds.

'The Ridleys found rave reviews for their builder via a website.

'I want to find out why they put so much faith in comments

'anyone could have written.'

When you look on those particular websites, did you get that vibe?

Absolutely.

You feel that if they're on these websites

that they're being policed.

We took it for its word that it had been checked and would be reliable.

They are "policed" by themselves. This is the thing.

Follow my top tip when you're researching your builder on review websites.

If you can easily leave a comment, so can the builder.

You can be sure that he'll give himself a great review.

Treat everything you read with great scepticism.

So what happened when Richard and Paula asked their builder

to explain the standard of his work?

-Within seconds...

-He was out the door.

-Down the staircase.

-He was rumbled, that's why.

-And I was hot on his tail!

I was trying to say to him, "It doesn't have to be like this.

"You can continue with the work

"but we need some reassurances that this is going to be finished to the standard that was agreed."

He said, "No, that's it. I don't want to work for you any more."

So I said, "What about the money we've given you? We've given you nearly £2,500."

And he said, "That's probably about quits.

-"Once we've done the labour and added it together..."

-What?!

-"I'm probably short."

So at that point I asked him to bring any invoices for materials that he'd paid for.

Strangely some of the materials were tools.

Cos you need tools! If you're an experienced builder,

or anybody that's doing any groundwork, you need tools!

-We just asked for the remainder to be refunded to us.

-Which was what?

-It was £863.

-Yes.

To be honest, we wouldn't give him access to the property to retrieve any of his tools

or his cement mixer in the back garden.

We refused him access to retrieve them until the slabs had been delivered.

Good call.

It turned out the builder hadn't paid for the special stone slabs

the Ridleys had paid him for.

So they demanded he fetch them.

That was when Paula's dad got called in.

Probably the wrong thing to do,

but I refused him access to his tools.

And I said, "No, not until Richard and Paula get their money

"that they've paid you."

And he said, "Well, I'll phone the police, cos you can't hold my tools."

Which he was right, I couldn't. I couldn't hold his tools.

But through mediating with the police on the phone,

it was agreed that the materials, or some of the materials, that Paula had paid for

would be delivered.

We're going to need those slabs soon because the work on the garden is coming on at great speed.

Richard is leading this job today, and he's got grand plans for this garden oasis.

Here he is, our gardening guru.

So what is the plan to put it right?

OK. Well, what we've got to do

is straightaway break out this existing concrete base.

Yes. That won't take long!

-No, it won't.

-It's rocking all over the world at the moment anyway!

Then we'll bring in the sheds.

Bring in the sheds. To be honest, I'm worried about that.

What about the synthetic surface, the grass going down?

-It's quite specialist.

-It is. That's right.

What we have to do is maintain a uniform level across this entire site.

We don't want anywhere to become an area to puddle

or of water to lay, especially not on the grass.

While the good guys get on with the job,

I want to get Paula's response to what her builder told us

when we asked him why he'd left the job

after taking so much money for doing so little work.

"The initial £2,371.54 deposit was paid to me

"six weeks before I started the work."

Six weeks is a long time

before he actually starts to work.

"I had already used the money." Look what he used it on!

"I had already used that money on other stuff", as he puts it.

"For example, materials and money for the limited company

"like the advertising costs. £800.

"Four days' labour at £500 a day.

"Skip hire at £161

"and £422 a month van rental."

Just unbelievable!

"The garden looks messy. Concrete everywhere.

"But we'd only just started.

"Sometimes people don't understand part-finished work."

There's nothing there that I wouldn't have expected

because we've had it all in previous correspondence

leading up to the small claims court hearing.

Coming up, I'll find out exactly what did happen

when the Ridleys took their builder to court

and I can't wait to see the look on Sam and Rosie's faces

when they see their new garden.

It's amazing!

-What do you think, Sam?

-Great!

-It's brilliant, isn't it?

Back at the Fowlers, our good guys have almost finished creating the wet room

that Jackie so desperately needs to cope with her mobility difficulties.

Doctor! I need my surgical mask and gloves on!

Tell you what, Nigel, blimey, what a difference!

-Looks a bit better.

-It really does. Absolutely fab.

-I love the big tiles.

-Much better. Less grout.

I like that floor. It's a really nice colour.

Lovely. It is nice. It's the proper anti-slip surface for a disabled shower room.

We've got a light sensor to turn the light on and off.

-OK. That is a passive infra-red detector.

-Yes.

-As soon as you walk in, the light comes on.

-Yes.

It stays on all the time you're in here. The movement.

Yeah. Wow!

-It is amazing.

-Looks better, doesn't it?

It is absolutely... Well, it's tile-tastic!

Jackie took her builder to court

to get back the £2,000 advance payment she'd made on her wet room.

But the builder had dissolved the company, just as he threatened he would

if she tried to sue him.

Basically, as the judge says, we can't do nothing

because we've got to sue the company which has been dissolved

so we can't sue it,

rather than the actual people involved.

We can't sue the people, we've got to sue the company

and the company's been dissolved so we can't sue them.

Jackie may well need to make further alterations to her home in the future

if her mobility declines any further.

So what lessons has she learned from this episode?

What would you do differently, Jackie?

I would look actually at the associations.

If I wanted an electrician I would go to an electrician association

and see anybody who's on that list.

Box ticked.

I would actually check up on any references from the trader themselves.

Ask for customer numbers and get somebody to go and check for me

-whether the work was done.

-Physically check.

So follow my top tip.

After you've visited the trader review website,

go and actually visit the builder's work.

If, like Jackie, you're struggling with mobility,

ask someone you trust to go and look at it for you.

Before we go further, can you remember what it was like in there before we arrived?

Yep! The grout was still smeared all across the tiles. There was grout

all over the floor!

The floor didn't fit.

The shower was a mess.

It wasn't very nice!

So, young Jackie,

are you ready to see what we've done for you?

-Yes!

-Feast your eyes...

on this!

Little beauty.

Ooh!

Very nice!

What do you think to that?

That's better, isn't it?

That is much, much better, Jackie, isn't it?

That surface is beautiful as well.

It's the way they've done all the tiling, it's square on.

-Yep.

-Fantastic ideas.

What do you think to your... Remember what was there before?

-The radiator?

-Yep.

-That looks much better, doesn't it?

That looks gorgeous, yeah. That's a lot better.

Short little cords!

Short little cords, but there's a reason behind that.

This little baby here is a passive infra-red detector.

-OK.

-What that does is, as you walk in to the shower,

on comes the light.

-Wow!

-So you don't even have to pull that.

Jackie's previous builders left her with skewiff tiles,

the wrong kind of shower and radiator,

horrible pipe work and an illegal light fitting.

But our good guys have stripped everything back to basics,

sealed the floor with specialist sparkly flooring

and fitted bright new tiles, neat and flat with super-smooth grout.

We've fitted a special disabled shower with extra-length hose

and a practical and smart heated towel rail.

The ceiling has been skimmed smooth to keep it clean.

And to finish it off, we have movement-sensitive lighting.

All the mod cons!

Finally, Jackie has the wet room she needs

to maintain her independence.

Back at the Ridleys,

Richard's team of good guys are finishing off the garden oasis

which young Sam and Rosie are eagerly anticipating.

One step at a time!

I love that. We've got a step now rather than a long drop.

Tell you what, Richard, it's looking absolutely fantastic.

What is left to be done?

OK. We've got to roll out the synthetic turf.

-OK.

-We've got to dress it with kiln-dried sand to weigh it down and keep it in place.

-Yep.

-Then we need to tidy up.

How difficult will it be to lay that synthetic surface?

It's something you obviously don't do a lot.

-No.

-You'd be putting the natural stuff down.

-Right.

In real terms, is it more difficult?

It's just a different process, really.

You haven't got the roots to grow into the ground and anchor it in place.

So we have to anchor it with the kiln-dried sand to keep it in place.

Instead of laying flush with the paving,

as you would with turf, we're sinking it down a little bit

so the edges don't get kicked up.

I can't wait to show them what you've done!

The Ridleys took their cowboy builder to court, too,

hoping to get back the balance of their 2.5-grand deposit.

They won their case, but they haven't seen a penny of their money.

-It ended up in the small claims court.

-Yeah.

-Awarded then to you?

-To us.

-I'm guessing.

-Yes.

-Right.

-To the tune of?

-It was the £863.

-Plus costs.

-Plus costs. It was just over £1,000.

OK. Where do you stand now at this stage with getting that money back?

-We haven't seen that money.

-No.

We don't anticipate it's ever going to arrive.

Here's a tip. Consumer Direct can advise you how to take your builder to court.

But be wary. Even if you win, you may never get your money back.

Both our families today took their builders to court

and neither of them have seen a penny.

In civil cases, the judge cannot force the cowboy to hand over the cash.

We're hoping our good guys' hard work

can finally put the Ridleys' garden grudge to rest.

Just remind us what that garden was like before we arrived.

Absolute bomb site.

No grass, just rubble. Bad concrete.

A big pile of sand.

-Where were your sheds?

-They were in the neighbour's garden! In pieces!

In the neighbour's garden and in pieces!

OK. Rosie, are you ready?

-Shall we go and see the garden?

-Ready?

Big smile? Yeah!

And what about you, Sam?

-Ready?

-Yeah.

Is it a big thumbs up? Ready to go.

Follow moi!

OK. Come on.

OK.

Another one. Go on. Now step down.

Let me just position you. Stay where you are, guys.

OK. Mum, position yourself there.

I'll just shut the door.

Are you ready?

-Yes.

-OK.

Open your eyes.

Wow!

Oh, my God!

-Oh, wicked!

-I can't believe it!

Can you believe it?

It looks amazing!

What do you think, Sam?

Great!

Brilliant, isn't it? It's incredible! We love it!

It's brilliant. Thank you so much.

Listen, just to see your expression is fantastic.

-Thank you.

-Is it what you imagined it would be like?

-More.

-It's more than we imagined. It's amazing!

-Yeah?

-Love it!

-The Ridleys builder left them with a bomb site,

crazy concrete and demolished sheds.

Too dangerous for the two little ones to even venture out.

But our good guys have completely transformed this space

into an oasis for Mum, Dad, Sam and Rosie.

Miraculously, the sheds have been rescued

and the beautiful Indian stone patio intricately laid.

The new border has been planted

and that year-round synthetic turf provides a fun and safe play surface.

Sam can finally have his grow garden

and Rosie can use her ride-on birthday toy.

Get your trowel and push the soil back into the hole alongside it.

Just gently.

Nice and gently.

How about that?

That's got to be worth a high five!

Well done!

Well done!

Now that is a cracking job.

A true garden oasis.

Isn't it wonderful to see Rosie and Sam playing in the garden for the first time?

It just goes to show there are quality professionals out there.

If you take my lead, you won't be falling into the cowboy trap!

If you've had a problem with builders and would like to tell your story on Cowboy Trap,

please call us on:

Help us round up the cowboys!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd