Episode 12 Cowboy Trap

I'm on the road again, to help put right some of the wrongs

that have been done by unscrupulous builders on unsuspecting homeowners.

I can't bring myself to look at it because it's just dreadful.

I can't look at the brickwork and I can't face looking at the garden.

I'm really fed up of hearing horror stories about cowboy builders

ruining peoples lives, taking their hard-earned cash

and leaving their homes in a mess.

I think, honestly, we're not far from a takedown and totally rebuild.

Not all builders are dodgy and if you take simple steps,

you'll avoid the bad ones.

I'm angry at myself for allowing it to go on as long as it did.

And I'll be finding out the human cost of falling victim to a cowboy builder.

I'm here to tell those builders right now, we're going to make it so difficult

for homeowners to fall into the Cowboy Trap.

We're in the Welsh town of Buckley to meet chemist, Dr Ruth Watson

who oversees research and development at a big multinational company.

She lives in this semi-detached house.

She'd saved her hard-earned cash

and wanted her dream sun lounge building at the back

and create an en suite bathroom.

Thanks to cowboy builders, her dream has been left in tatters.

In 2009, Ruth embarked on an eight-week building project

which has made her life a complete misery, leaving her over £40,000 out of pocket

and sleeping on the sofa for nine months.

I've been waking up in the early hours of the morning

and it's been cold, dark, listening out for drips,

wondering where the drips might be coming from.

Some of the tiles aren't nailed down, they're held down by gravity.

Strong winds and we're going to wake up to find the roof missing.

It's snowing, if the walls aren't strong enough,

the roof is going to come in because the weight of the snow.

There's no gutters around so water is splashing on the floor

and coming into the inside.

Not knowing what I am going to wake up to the next day.

Then having to go and try and do a full day's work on a couple of hours sleep.

It all started when Ruth decided to turn the crumbling flat roof

on her garage into a pitched roof.

She needed planning permission so took the opportunity to submit additional plans.

She wanted a new sun lounge extension on the kitchen

and an en suite bathroom upstairs.

A neighbour recommended some builders who quoted her

£31,500 for the eight-week job.

She agreed to pay in weekly cash instalments.

I'd found this particular company as a personal recommendation

by someone very local who they'd done work for already.

I did actually go to the house of one of the builders

and saw the en suite bathroom that he'd done

but I didn't see any construction work that they'd done.

That, with hindsight, was an error on my side.

This was Ruth's first mistake.

Taking on builders without construction experience.

No surprise then that not long into the job alarm bells started to ring.

Quite soon progress wasn't as it should have been.

There were some complicating factors and some extra permissions had to be obtained

related to some waterworks on the property.

Actually, they weren't interested in doing the paperwork to achieve those permissions.

They thought they could get away without it and that wasn't going to happen.

This was a bad start. It was about to get a whole lot worse.

A lack of plumbing in the en suite meant there was no heating in the bedroom

and so Ruth had to sleep downstairs.

I've been sleeping on the sofa for a long time.

That's not doing me any good.

I wake up at two, three or four o'clock in the morning with the stress and can't get back to sleep.

It's just desperately cold. The mains water froze several times.

I was without water for a couple of days.

The knock-on effect of the gardens being wrecked,

which is my pride and joy, but it's not at the moment.

The work was now ten grand over budget

and had stretched from an eight-week job to a 12-month job.

Trading Standards advised Ruth to stop paying the builders

and it was then that they stopped turning up.

I want to find out more and see what I can do to help.

Hello. Dr Watson, I presume?

I'm Detective Holland from Cowboy Trap.

Do you mind me looking at what problems you've got with cowboy builders?

-Let's investigate.

-Please come in.

Let's start up in Ruth's bedroom.

She hasn't been able to sleep up here for nine months

as there is no heating because the work on the en suite is unfinished.

-So this will be like a master bedroom.

-Yes.

-OK.

-Where is the problems we've got here?

-Plumbing, or lack of it.

Most things are there, they're just not connected.

I mean, the shower area and everything else,

a nice big shower but the problems are, of course,

if that's not plumbed in, there's no waste in there.

The waste isn't even connected.

The waste isn't connected and possibly worse than that the tray

isn't resting on anything other than a couple of batons.

That could crack and certainly flex.

So nothing is plumbed in, you've got no sink. Toilets?

The waste is connected, you can see that through the wall outside

but there's no water feed to it. It's not usable at the moment.

There's grouting needs to be done in places, by the looks of things.

There's settlement going on where the two lots of tiles are splitting apart.

When you've had a new build or extension,

it's not unusual to find minor cracks appearing in the plasterwork.

Normally, this is nothing to worry about

and is simply known as settlement.

The bathroom is only half finished.

The shower tray is unsecured and needs to be on a solid foundation.

There's no plumbing and the vanity unit needs fixing in.

If we can sort this out, Ruth can have her bedroom back.

So, looking at the bedroom in general,

what sort of impact will this make on your life if we can get this turned around?

Because the plumbing hasn't been completed,

there's very little heat up here.

so I've not been able to sleep upstairs while it's been cold.

It would just be fantastic to be able to come back and have my bedroom back again.

It would, I completely agree.

All right, let's go downstairs now.

Time to check out the sunroom-cum-extension.

Things are bad up here, but that's nothing compared to the chaos downstairs.

This is where the greatest problems are.

Although it looks, on the face of it, pretty good, really.

Yes, the surface and the finish, I have to say, from the naked eye looks fine.

-It looks OK.

-Describe where the problems lie?

The builders admitted there's not enough insulation in the roof space.

-So it doesn't meet building regs?

-No.

The tiles on the roof are not the correct ones for the pitch of roof, so they have to come off.

They don't meet building regs. There's not enough insulation in either wall

and the insulation is just resting, it's not clipped in to the inner leaf.

Let's just say that's the inner wall, is the inner leaf

and the outer leaf between the cavity gaps.

The new regulations, over the last couple of years, you've got to clip the insulation to the inner wall

so it doesn't bridge between the two, the inner leaf and the outer leaf,

so that moisture from the outside can't travel through and come inside.

If they've just left it loose, bang wrong.

That's the case everywhere.

And, also, there are not enough wall ties to tie the two leaves together anywhere.

Now, I have to say, that now becomes scary.

Without the correct number of ties holding your walls together,

your building is unsafe and you could be in danger.

I want to show YOU how the experts do it.

I'm visiting a specialist college in Warrington where they train the next generation

of skilled builders.

Here I am with Dan who's the college lecturer for bricklaying.

-Dan, why do we need wall ties?

-Wall ties are so important

because they tie the outer leaf of the brickwork to the inner leaf of the block work,

making the wall more stable and secure.

-Tell us the reason for the kinks in the middle?

-It allows any moisture not to run down

the tie wire into the building but actually drops off.

Tie wires should be placed every 900 millimetres long

and every 450 millimetres high.

So it's easy enough to spot the wall ties that are in there.

If you don't see them anywhere at the beginning of the build,

you can guarantee they won't be there at the end of the build.

Talk to your builder or seek advice from your local building control officer.

Back at Ruth's house,

I get to see the full extent of the cowboy job on her extension.

Not only have they failed to install the ensuite bathroom properly,

is the extension even safe?

The lack of wall ties and proper insulation is a clear breach of building regulations.

Let's have a look. First of all, obviously being exposed like this,

how long has it been open to the elements?

-Since at least August.

-Obviously, this is no good.

I mean, being exposed like this, it's no wonder you were cold.

That tells me everything and particularly if you haven't got any insulation.

Even if you've got the best insulation in there,

still having that open to the elements and the wind howling in.

We've had some pretty tricky winds of late, as well.

I can see just from here, we need to look from the side, really,

the pitch is all wrong for this type of tile.

-Yes.

-That's all got to go as well.

Just looking at the various bits of expansion foam that they've put in down the sides

and where the frames are for your doors.

It doesn't look particularly good, even where they've put the packers in.

They are quite big gaps. Did they clean any of the mortar of?

-They haven't cleaned any mortar off anywhere!

-Right.

-They haven't, you are so right.

-It's shocking.

Once mortar grips onto a porous brick like that.

-You can see better there.

-It's a real pain to get it.

At least you've got your damp course in, which is pretty critical.

A lot of these guys tend to miss that.

The thing is, we need to try and get an inspection for wall ties

and see how many wall ties there are in there.

That will have to be addressed. Let's have a look down the side.

I just don't get why that has been left open to the elements.

Rain driving in there is going straight down into the cavity.

I'm amazed it's not worse inside.

This is malpractice when you see exposure like that to the elements.

That is undermining this whole new extension from the inside,

from the middle, from the outside.

The whole thing is a right old debacle.

It's totally wrong.

Again, as you're outside, what's your heartfelt feelings

-about what you're seeing?

-I can't look at it.

I can't bring myself to look at it because it's just dreadful.

I can't look at the brickwork,

and I can't face looking at the garden.

They know how much my garden means to me as well.

That's what makes it worse.

It took me five years to get it looking beautiful and it's wrecked.

People don't realise it's not just about the finances,

it's about how it affects you as a person.

And what impact it has on your life which really does your head in.

I'm gutted by what I have seen.

This is the state of Ruth's garden now.

It used to look like this,

but her cowboy builders have turned it into a wasteland.

I need to find out how she got into this sorry state,

especially when the builders came recommended.

Why did you actually trust them?

What made you make that decision to go, OK,

they've been recommended.

It surely wasn't just the recommendation?

The recommendation, the work that I did see looked OK.

The thoughts and ideas that they had seemed to be inventive,

but more than that they had the gift of the gab

and they said all the right things.

They sounded completely plausible.

When I brought them in originally,

the initial plans were quite simple and straightforward.

Then the job grew into something bigger.

I didn't think to go back and reconsider

whether they had the skills to do that

because the ball started rolling and it went on from one stage to another.

I didn't stop to think, actually, it's a conversion specialist company,

are they really a construction company.

Remember, if your plans change, think whether your builders

are still qualified to carry out the new job specifications.

It will save you a whole lot of grief down the line.

Ruth's final build plans included replacing the flat roof

on the garage with a pitched roof,

building an extension onto the kitchen,

and incorporating an en suite in her bedroom.

So, work begins in earnest, hopefully.

Did everything seem to be going right?

What was the first alarm bell that you had

that you might have thought, "Oh, that's not quite right?"

The first alarm bell was probably pouring the concrete

for the foundations.

-As early as that?

-Yes.

Because the building inspector called me to say,

"I'm going out to site to inspect, but I won't be passing anything

"because they haven't asked for permission to do that yet."

So, she came out and she called me back

and said, "They're about to pour concrete.

"I have told them not to because they haven't submitted the application.

"See what happens when you get home."

When I got home they'd poured the concrete.

No, no. No, no, no.

That is not just an alarm bell.

That it is just... a horn, a siren going off

that they've already breached the building notice.

-The concrete had to be dug out again.

-You're joking?

-When was the next biggie?

-General rate of progress, really.

The neighbour started to make comments

that the guys were going home at 1 o'clock or so.

Not actually doing a day's work.

When I was asking them how long it would take to finish,

it was always, "a couple of weeks, a couple of weeks."

The building work had stretched from eight weeks to nearly a year.

By this time, Ruth had handed over £40,000

and there was still no end in sight.

What are you seeing around you,

bearing in mind you wanted the dream,

you are now standing in what?

-Describe to me the problems?

-Nothing is actually finished.

There's walls not finished,

there's roofs that are not correct.

Plumbing work that's not finished,

because plumbing work isn't finished I can't get carpets down.

I can't go back into the bedroom that I moved out of over a year ago.

The house is desperately cold. There's dust everywhere.

I did have my mum coming to stay to try

and encourage the builders to stay longer than a few hours a day.

It didn't make any difference to them.

It put a strain on the relationship with my mum

because we're not used to living together

and with everything that was going on, there were few arguments.

Her health suffered massively with the stress of it all

and she ended up in hospital.

Ruth felt powerless to sack the cowboy builders.

They held all the vital paperwork and invoices.

But in the end, not only did they have no skill, they had no heart.

One day I got a phone call to say that the business was crumbling.

-Their building company you mean?

-Yes.

The business was going under, they needed more money.

Unless I could provide more money for wages,

then they didn't know when or if they could come back.

What can we do that would help you to climb out of this mess?

Finishing the plumbing work is a relatively straightforward job.

If that was done, including getting the radiator into the sun room,

then I could have my bedroom back.

Carpets can go down and that can be finished quite easily.

That will make a huge difference,

just being able to have a proper bed back.

I can't wait to show you what the good guys are capable of

and maybe we can start to lift this heavy weight

from your shoulders and from your mind.

And get you being able to move forward.

'Later our independent surveyor gives us

'his verdict on the extension.'

I think, honestly, we are not far from a take down and rebuild.

'But will it come to that?'

Don't you worry. We'll sort it out for you, Ruth.

Ruth has been left with a building disaster

that has cost her over £40,000 of her life savings.

Worse still it could be in danger of collapsing

because of a lack of these.

Wall ties that hold the inner and outer walls together.

I've called in independent surveyor Alun Jones

to see if he confirms my worst fears.

-Here he is.

-Hi.

-You must be Alun, how are you?

-How are you?

-I'm very well.

Always great to have you on board

because we need a second opinion, if you like.

An expert's eye view.

-You've had a chance to look around.

-Yeah.

What have you found that's not to your liking,

and what do you think is wrong?

-Where do we start?

-From the beginning.

The first thing that strikes me is the roof,

the pitch of the roof, it's too flat for the tile.

For the type of tile they've got on there.

Which will induce wind-driven rain and snow into the building.

We don't need to really think about rain going in there

because rain, snow, sleet, hail and wind

is already going into the open section on the side.

On the open sides as well. So it's completely unfinished.

It's definitely not very well put together.

The brickwork is not very clever. It's very dirty.

The doorframes... Why have we got timber spaces each side?

-They could have been measured far more accurately than that.

-What about in the cavity?

Rumour has it that there isn't enough ties in there.

Difficult to say but certainly,

looking at where the cavity is exposed in the garage,

the ties should be every block course within 225mm of the opening,

and they're certainly not there.

So one has to question whether they are there everywhere else.

Remedial action for something like that is going to be a real pain.

-It's a partial takedown.

-It is a partial takedown.

Removing the inner wall, or leaf, of this extension

would be disastrous for Ruth.

It's an enormous and costly job

and I'm keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't come to that.

If you'd like to go up there and have a quick look for yourself.

This is where the problems normally lie...

where you can't see.

Alun's using a special scope

to see if he can see any ties in the wall cavity.

I can swing that through the whole arc and don't feel a wall tie.

So we've got an arc there, 440mm, and there's no tie.

And there's no insulation here in this return.

None in that return.

What do you believe now the remedy should be?

Because this has given us a clue.

Honestly, I think we're not far from a takedown.

Total takedown and rebuild.

We could possibly leave the outer leaf up,

take the inner leaf out.

Putting supports in for the roof and the openings.

I just think...

..this is just one mad, bonkers, crazy build.

I need to just get my head around it.

Alun has confirmed my worst fears.

This building doesn't meet regulations.

This is a huge blow.

Do we really have to take down part of Ruth's extension?

I need to get a second opinion from building control inspectors.

Fantastic, thank you, sir. Bye.

I need the local building control officer

to come out and give us the decision

as to whether we've got to take a wall down or not.

Whether there's ways around doing it.

If we've got to take a wall down,

I'm going to hate to have to break it to Ruth.

Because I think this will break her.

There's no two ways about it.

It's devastating.

While we're waiting for the final verdict from building control,

I get our independent surveyor's opinion on this build.

Your mark out of 10.

I'll say one, because it hasn't fallen down.

One because it hasn't fallen down.

-That's nothing to be proud of at all, is it?

-Not at all.

A damning score from our independent surveyor.

And there's worse news to follow after a visit from building control.

My worst fears have been realised about the property.

We've had building control in, to come and have a look.

They were good enough to come down at short notice.

We've now realised the severity of the build.

The interior walls have got to come down.

The correct insulation has got to go in.

The correct ties have got to go in.

And then the walls rebuilt, re-plastered,

the roof's going to get done correctly

and also the insulation on the side wall.

Obviously this bowled us a massive googly

because I didn't expect it to happen.

What are your feelings right now, now that you know that?

We've come a long way really, but what are you feeling?

Pretty much worst case, almost as bad as it gets.

I don't know where I'm going to find the money to pay for it.

We, as a team, are not going to leave you in a mess.

I think you've suffered enough. This has been a nightmare.

There is absolutely no doubt about it.

And I think that it's now time you had a bit of run of good luck.

-Do you think so?

-I could do with a bit.

All right, well we'll sort it.

OK. Don't you worry.

We'll sort it out for you.

I'm determined we are going to right all those cowboy wrongs,

and I have a plan to put this extension back on track.

You just dry your eyes, no more tears or sadness.

We don't want any of that no more.

-We are going to look after you, promise.

-OK.

Right, I've sealed off the area, this is now a no-go zone.

And it's time to bring on the good guys.

Gareth and Alan are here to tackle this cowboy's job.

And they've brought along a team to help.

Now that we know that the inner wall has got to come down,

this is a much bigger deal.

Fellas, it's always great to have the good guys in town.

There's been a lot of different factors involved in this particular job.

The one factor we do know is it's a right bodge.

Faced with knowing that we've got to bring the inner wall down,

what do you think the plan is now?

We had to take off the tiles anyway.

Then we had to restructure the whole of the roof.

We had to strip out all of the inside, so that all has to come out.

The extra we've got to do now is take down these leaves.

No choice, we've got to take it down.

What do you think in terms of time? If you give me a rough scale.

Time-wise, it's going to put another two or three days on the program.

-We'll get more bodies on it.

-We'll do our best.

Thank you, boys, I can't wait to see the finish.

It's not a pretty sight, but this demolition work is crucial.

It also confirms what I suspected all along

about the lack of wall ties.

There should be one wall tie on every course of breezeblock on here.

And we have...

there's just one on that whole section there,

whereas there should be at least four there.

This is a tough time for Ruth,

but with Alan and his team on the job

we'll soon put a smile back on her face.

I'm feeling pretty sick and trying not to cry,

but it's heartbreaking seeing the hammers go through the walls.

I think once I've got today over,

then I can start to see the end to it.

But it's quite a stressful weekend thinking,

heck, it's all starting again.

This time with the good guys.

I'm sending Ruth away for the rest of this build.

I want it to be a surprise when it's finished.

And as she heads off...

-OK, see you in a couple of days.

-Will do, bye-bye

I've had a tip-off this isn't the first job

these cowboy builders have botched in the neighbourhood.

It's bad enough that Ruth was caught out by cowboy builders.

But I've been tipped off that this property,

which is literally a couple of miles down the road,

also was hit by the same cowboy builders.

However, they were using a different company name.

I want to find out exactly what was going on.

I'm here to meet owner Jackie Morgan,

who employed the same builders as Ruth

for her 32-grand loft conversion.

-Hello, are you Jackie?

-Yes.

I'm Clive from a program called Cowboy Trap on the BBC.

I hear you've problems with cowboy builders in the past

that might be linked to a job we're looking at.

-Yes, that's right.

-Can I come and have a chat about it?

-No problem. Come in.

-Thank you.

Just follow me upstairs.

Jackie wanted a loft conversion in her bungalow

to make room for her elderly parents to move in.

She first became suspicious of her builders

when they suggested installing a Juliet balcony,

which wasn't in the plan.

It turns out that was the first part

of everything that started to go wrong.

Because the builders had actually deviated

away from the original plans.

It turns out we weren't allowed to do that.

Because they didn't get permission to do so?

In the first place, yeah.

-It wasn't in the plans.

-OK.

-In the first place.

Don't let your builder persuade you

to deviate from your structural plans.

If you want to make changes,

ensure your building control department knows about it.

Otherwise you'll never get sign-off on your project.

They said that we could also turn the top of the conservatory roof

into a walk-on area.

I wouldn't have let them do that.

-That would have been a walk on, walk in and walk down.

-Exactly.

-I'm glad we didn't.

-I'm glad you didn't.

I've seen these guys' work and I know what it's like.

Much of the work here looks fine.

However, scratch the surface

and you'll see the horrors these cowboy builders have left behind.

It wasn't until they'd actually walked off site

that we realised the consequences

of what was going on within this build.

And that has just magnified.

We're still battling, trying to find out exactly what it is

that building regs want in relation to what's behind walls,

what's above ceilings, what's below floor in every single room.

I wish we'd have known Ruth before she took them on

because I'd have warned her about them.

The thing is at the moment

-you would not have sign-off from your local council.

-We haven't.

That's a problem because it means you're stalemate.

-If you ever wanted to sell this property.

-We can't.

-You couldn't.

No. It's literally affected everything.

It's caused me, Keith, my mum and dad so much misery...

..and upset and anger

that all we've tried to do is provide a home

for my mum and dad to live in,

so they didn't have to go into an old people's home.

That's all we've tried to do and this is how we've ended up.

-Thanks, Jackie. All the best for the future.

-OK, thank you.

This is the problem.

You get involved with cowboy builders

and get a job like Jackie's that looks complete, but underneath it's not.

Back at Ruth Watson's house,

Alan and his guys have demolished the old inner wall

and replaced it with a new wall,

complete with those all-important wall ties.

Ruth's been through a lot with this build

and I want to give her the chance to confront the cowboy builder

and hear what he has to say.

Ruth, when was the last time you had any dialogue with your builders?

The last conversation we had was in August last year.

If you had an opportunity to speak to them right now,

what would you like to say to them?

I would give them the opportunity to put right the remainder

of what is left on the project.

This is interesting because a lot of people would think,

I do not want them back in my home again.

Just explain why.

Regardless of how I might feel about the situation,

the fact remains that I have paid them to do a job

and they should come back and finish it.

I'm going to give you that opportunity

to give them a call for a right of reply.

It is their chance of a right of reply.

All I'd say is, have an idea of a couple of succinct questions,

like that one, you want them to come back.

When you're ready, the number is already in and ready to go.

If you want to press the green handset button.

Here we go. It's ringing.

Hello, it's Ruth Watson here.

For legal reasons we can't broadcast the builder's voice,

but he tells Ruth not to communicate with him on the phone.

He's gone, he's put the phone down.

He had no intention of speaking to you whatsoever. He didn't want to.

Because basically, these guys are on the run. They don't care.

We know already that they've had a lot of businesses,

a lot of companies and just liquidated them and moved on.

They leave behind a trail of people

that they've destroyed in a lot of cases.

Like you, it's brought you to your knees.

We've seen that.

It's stunning that nobody can stop these people

from starting up again and again.

There doesn't seem anything that anybody can do about it.

There's no recourse for people like myself to go after them.

Our local builders have been working round the clock

on Ruth's sun lounge and en suite bathroom,

after cowboy builders turned her home into a no-go zone.

The bathroom had no plumbing, the shower tray was unstable

and the sun lounge extension didn't meet building regulations.

Building control told us we had to tear down the inner wall

and Ruth was devastated when I broke the news to her.

But now Alan and his guys have done us proud.

It's good to be back. I'm excited about this.

Let's find out what's been going on.

Boys, boys, boys how are you?

Cor blimey!

How are you, Gareth?

All right, Alan? How's it going, son?

-All right.

-Nice to see you again, Paul.

-Nice to see you.

-And you.

Tell us what you've come across, what's been happening since I was last here.

Any further problems?

Once we took the wall down, we noticed the outer leaf

wasn't tied into the main building and we could see fresh air.

-We could see daylight through between the two walls.

-Can't believe it.

It wasn't tied into the existing property. That is crazy.

-Any other problems you found?

-We've had to alter... reinforce the roof.

Obviously, new insulation in the roof. Replaster, you name it.

The roof's all been done externally.

Yeah, we're finally getting there now. Finishing touches now.

So the roof has been done for Ruth, that's the key.

I can't wait to show it now.

We've got about, by my calculations,

about 50 minutes roughly before we get Ruth here.

Do you reckon you're going to crack it in time?

We're going to Hoover now, I'm sure you can give us a hand.

I don't mind a bit of that! I don't mind mucking in for sure.

OK, it's time to take the tape down

because now the good guys have been in and completed the work

so it's access all areas.

Ruth's been away during the building work

so I can't wait to show her what Alan and the team have done.

She's late. I'm expecting Ruth any minute really.

Here she is.

Ruth, good to see you. How are you?

Now, I'm really excited about what's cracked off inside there

-so are you ready to come with us?

-Sure am.

Let's go and have a look, come on. Take my hand.

I'm saving the best till last.

First, I have a bonus for Ruth upstairs.

For the last nine months, she's been sleeping on the sofa

because there was no plumbing or heating in her bedroom.

Stop at the top of the stairs a minute because I would like,

first of all before we go in there,

remind me what the bedroom and en suite was like

before the good guys have been in.

There was no carpet.

There were items in the en suite, nothing was connected.

The shower tray was hanging in mid-air almost.

-What are you hoping to see?

-I'd very much like to see a bed.

-I haven't seen one of those in there for a very long time.

-So, today

we'll see if the bed's in there, have to wait and see.

Today could be the first day you have a decent kip

-in I don't know how long.

-Yes.

-OK, Looking forward to it?

-I certainly am.

-Good, let's go.

I'm going to open the door and I'll guide you in.

I'll take your hands.

Just keep stepping forward. Slightly to your right.

Tell you what, let's get straight in. Look, this is like Christmas.

You try and shake your presents, see what you've got.

-You can't do that! It's not allowed!

-OK.

OK, you know straight away that there's something different on the floor, don't you?

-Certainly is, yes.

-Are you ready to open your eyes?

Go on then.

Oh, my word! It's a bedroom.

It's a bedroom! I like it.

Do you think you'll be able to sleep in here tonight?

I think I'll be sleeping there within about half an hour.

I tell you what, it looks great though, doesn't it?

I am loving the style as well, by the way. It looks absolutely fab.

-I am loving the whole thing. Are you?

-Stunning.

It's totally different from what we had here before.

It was like, floorboards up, bits everywhere.

There haven't even been any curtains up for a year.

Now you've got curtains. It's a real sort of,

hope you don't mind me saying this, like a minx's bedroom.

HE GROWLS

It's one of them. I'm loving it.

I think we've hit the gold standard here in the bedroom

but what will Ruth make of the en suite?

-Wow! I've got a shower.

-It looks good, doesn't it?

And real plumbing.

And real plumbing! You see, it's the basics, isn't it?

You know, running water, heating. The toilet works.

Everything about it looks really good. I'm loving the lines of it.

It's lovely and clean and again, especially with the sanitary ware,

it really does work well with the size of area you've got to use

and I think it's a fantastic little layout.

-Really looks the business. Are you happy?

-Very.

Alan and his guys are ticking all the boxes with Ruth.

Now she can say, hello, bedroom, and so long, sofa.

I'm going to take her downstairs now for the piece de resistance -

the extension.

And now, you can open your eyes.

Ooh. Wow!

-It's back!

-Wow! Fantastic.

-And above all else, safe.

-Yes. The walls aren't falling down.

-The walls are finished.

-The walls are finished, the walls are painted.

The paramount thing was to make sure that ties were

now in the building. Obviously, all the interior leaf,

all this interior wall had to come down.

Even parts of the exterior wall, it was so bad.

Worst of all, that leaf there on that side,

that whole wall was not even attached to the original building

so you had a gap of light. It's crazy.

That all had to be addressed from a safety point of view.

It just feels to me, I feel safe walking in here.

It's a proper room, finally after all this time.

-Just superb, eh?

-I can't believe it.

The inside of this extension is looking tip-top,

but it's the outside where Ruth will really see the difference.

Alan and his team have turned this dodgy cowboy job

into an extension to be proud of. The previous tiles

have been replaced with the correct ones for the pitch of the new roof.

The doors now fit and the end wall has been properly finished off

but I have one more surprise in store for Ruth.

Now you know the problem I said before,

that there was no chance of selling this property

because you hadn't got building control approval.

Yes.

Within here, we have this. It's official and everything.

It's all typed out, written words all spelt correctly. Look.

-A certificate of completion of work.

-Fantastic.

-That's all yours.

Thank you very much.

HE HUMS A FANFARE

-I'll frame it.

-Definitely.

Do you know what, I didn't think we'd ever get to this stage.

No, not in such a short length of time as this.

-Does that make you feel happy?

-Worth its weight in gold. Wonderful.

Really important, that is. Is that worth a bit of a hug or what?

Thank you.

Our job is virtually complete here apart from one final thing.

I've got all the evidence on the builder and I'm going to take it

to the local Trading Standards office so they can investigate it further.

Let this be a lesson to all you cowboy builders out there.

We're on your trail. Your days of conning people

and ruining their lives will soon be over.

If you've had a problem with builders

and you would like to tell your story on Cowboy Trap, please call us.

Or, you can send us an email.

Help us round up the cowboys.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd