Episode 2 Cowboy Trap

I'm on the road again

and hot on the heels of those dastardly cowboy builders,

whose botched work causes chaos to people's homes

and blights their lives.

No washing facilities, no cooking facilities. We had no heating.

Today, I'm hoping to offer my help to an unfortunate family

who've been left in the lurch by a dodgy builder.

We're just tired now.

It's been three months, and they left us like this.

Along the way, I'll be giving you loads of hints and tips

in the hope that it will prevent you from falling into the cowboy trap.

Today I'm in Bexleyheath, Kent,

a town that boasts a real who's who

of famous people. Like ex-Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath,

TV chef Delia Smith, Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone

and, of course, even 007 himself, Roger Moore,

were either born here or lived here.

And it's easy to see why.

Just 30 minutes from London's glitzy West End,

Bexleyheath offers the best in town and country.

And it's popular with families too,

who are looking for a safe and attractive location.

For husband and wife team, Benita and Mark Ager,

it was the perfect spot.

Benita's sons and her two precious grandchildren,

Harry and Archie, also live in the area.

We lived in Eastbourne for a while.

The whole thing is about living here, near the three boys,

Sean, Lee and Mark.

We were too far away before.

Also nearby is their business, which trains young people in building

and construction skills.

We run a company to train people, to help them get into the industry.

But it's very basic - it's plastering, carpentry.

The business has taken off. We've been fortunate.

Yes, things are all right.

In 2006, a move to Bexleyheath became their dream.

All they needed was to find the perfect home.

We looked and looked at houses. We looked at hundreds.

I think in every road in Bexleyheath,

Welling, all around the area.

-Yeah.

-And we walked in, and within a minute of being here,

I knew I loved the house.

Saw the potential in it. We could see what we could do with this.

It just had a warm feeling. We knew we could be happy here.

It took a whole three years to find their dream home,

but a matter of months before they started their dream extension -

a place where they could entertain family and friends.

We moved here about 18 months ago with a view to extend

the back of the house to be an open-plan lounge,

kitchen/diner with a utility room.

And the whole thing for me was about having a home for the grandchildren.

We'd get that sense of family togetherness

in a big enough space to hold a big family gathering.

The couple hired an architect to draw up their dream plans.

When planning permission was granted, they were ready to find a builder.

If you want the job doing right,

you need to find the right person for the job.

Doing all your research is crucial

if you don't want to end up falling in the cowboy trap.

But what happens if the builder contacts you?

We had a whole load of letters in from building contractors saying,

"We can build your extension for you.

"We see you have applied for planning permission."

There were dozens of those.

We had to cut them down to a more manageable number, which we did.

We'd conversations about what they would do, how they'd approach it,

what prices they were talking about, and we selected one.

Benita and Mark didn't want to fall into the cowboy trap,

so they made sure to research their builder's work.

They went to see a previous client.

We spoke to the lady of the house and asked her how things had been.

She said, "Oh, yes, everything was fine." "Did they turn up on time?"

"Yes." "Did they do the job that they'd asked them for?" "Yes."

"Had they sprung any surprises with extra money or anything?"

"No, no problems at all."

So, as far as we were concerned, everything seemed good.

Even better, the builders promised them a Christmas completion date.

It was a deadline Benita had set her heart on.

I love Christmas.

To me, Christmas is family, it's children and it's everything.

So what we'd said - it was me pushing it more than Mark -

we'd tell every builder that it's got to be finished before Christmas

cos we'd agreed to have the family round for Christmas.

And some builders walked away and said they couldn't do it,

but three said they could.

That is was doable, yeah.

We thought it was doable, cos not everybody said no.

That was the driving thing - getting the build finished for Christmas

and then we could have a Christmas together as a family in this space.

Their chosen builders issued a contract for an eight-week job,

to be completed by 22nd December.

They were to build an extension with a kitchen, living space

and utility room.

They quoted £44,500 plus VAT for the job.

Last October, building work began, but it wasn't long before Benita

had that sinking feeling that things weren't going according to plan.

They were hand-digging the footings.

Even I knew that you don't hand-dig footings. You get a digger thing in.

They did eventually get a digger in, but by then, they were behind.

But we were assured that they weren't.

Not only was the build slow, it was also chaotic.

One day we came home, and they were knocking down a wall, but they hadn't warned us.

We said, "Warn us when you're knocking down the kitchen wall, because we want to move some bits."

They ripped out our fridge - don't even warn us.

All of our stuff, they just chucked here. It was chaos.

-I think that was what we were seeing.

-Yeah. No control.

No sort of sense of order. No managing the whole process.

But the more they raised their concerns,

the less their builders seemed to listen.

They got so aggressive. They wouldn't listen, wouldn't talk, wouldn't accept there was a problem.

"Let us get on with it! You appointed me, this is what I do.

"Let me project manage it. I can assure you, you'll be ready on time."

You know? "Don't make life difficult. If I'm losing time, it's because I'm discussing it with you."

Benita's sons, Lee and Mark, witnessed the cowboy chaos.

Things like the flooring was just completely wrong. The roof leaks.

The toilet's unsafe to use at times.

A constant sewer smell coming through the house

where all the pipes are exposed...

It's just... It's just living in a building site.

My mum was upset with everything that was happening in the house.

The house was sort of open to the elements,

it had no electricity, no hot water.

Christmas was fast approaching, and so far,

Benita and Mark had made five payments, forking out a whopping 40 grand.

By the 20th December, we kind of knew that things

were so bad between us and the builders,

and we cancelled all our friends coming round.

The callous cowboy's false promises

had dashed all hope of any festive cheer.

I was in a supermarket, standing at the meat counter...

I still remember. ..looking at turkeys that we weren't going to buy and just crying.

I don't know what people must have thought.

Christmas music was going on, and people were laughing,

children running around, and I'm crying my eyes out.

Christmas bells had turned to yuletide hell. The dream was over.

We got up Christmas morning, and there was no water,

there was no sink, there was no toilet in the house, no heating.

-No cooking.

-They'd cut the gas off. We couldn't cook.

We couldn't even have a cup of coffee.

I sat in the lounge on Christmas morning crying my eyes out,

-and, um, it was awful.

-It was pretty grim, wasn't it? It was pretty grim.

Don't you get upset, love. Don't. Yeah?

It wasn't finished by Christmas. It's not even finished now.

The builders have gone.

The house is in a mess,

and Benita and Mark's dream has been left in tatters.

It's now been three months

since Benita and Mark last saw their builders.

I'm here to find out

what we can do to get their botched job back on track.

-Morning.

-Morning.

-You must be Benita. Nice to meet you and your wonderful building site.

-Do you mind if I come and have a look around?

-Come in, please do.

Thank you.

Whoo. I tell you what, it's nice and warm out there.

-I'm going to have a nosy round, if you don't mind?

-Yeah.

-I'll catch up with you in a while.

-OK.

-OK. Thank you.

OK, so this is the original part of the building...

..and this is the extension.

That looks like it's probably the end wall, the original end wall there.

It's been taken out to expand all of this.

But as soon as I come in,

the first thing I realise is the floor looks well dodgy for a start.

These are the old boards that are in here.

Just in general, this place looks really, in places, unsafe.

When I see cables hanging around... these should all be tied off.

Where these eyelets have been created for down-lights,

normally you would see insulation pads in there.

I can't see a squeaky bit of insulation up there at all.

So, therefore, any heat that's in this property in this area that's rising

goes straight through the roof. Just like your energy bills.

'But there's worse to come.'

I'm not sure, looking at this RSJ that that's right either.

There's way too much pressure, looking at it.

'The job of this RSJ, or reinforced steel joist,

'and the vertical steel pillar it rests upon, is CRUCIAL.

'They support the entire rear wall of this house.

'The pillar should reach below the floorboards to the foundations.

'Seeing it like this

'makes me seriously worried for the family's safety.'

Where that pier is, where you've got a steel pier,

it's directly onto concrete block.

They've made a little concrete pillar of concrete block

rather than actual solid concrete.

I think that's carrying way too much weight.

I'd be really concerned about how long that could stay in place.

It's carrying this whole upstairs onto here, and that's where,

for me, the real weak point would be.

'There is no doubt a cowboy and his team have been crashing their way

'through this build.

'Outside, the work is equally alarming and dangerous.'

Loads of things keep screaming at me. Firstly, the lintel above there

is carrying too much load, particularly on this side.

I think, already, you can start to see that that is not only starting

to bow under the pressure, but it's actually slipping backwards as well.

There's another tell-tale sign there, where that block has already started to move.

That means too much weight bearing on it, and it's started to flip back.

This whole thing looks SO damn dodgy.

'At the front of the house, the headaches continue.'

Straightaway, from a danger point of view,

there's a tile that's virtually hanging off the roof itself.

Anybody passing by or under there, that drops off and hits you on the napper, you're in trouble.

That's got to be sorted and rapid!

'I have a growing feeling that this construction is a real risk.

'I need to speak to Benita and Mark to find out more.'

Can I say, have you had Building Control in the property to take a look at it?

Yes. Building Control came with the builders and our surveyor.

And then they wrote a...

Had minutes of the meeting and 20-something points.

So Building Control said there were 20-odd faults that they'd picked out.

The majority of those were...?

They didn't meet Building Regulations. None met Building Regulations.

So getting on to the structural aspects, I'm sort of concerned

in terms of the stress calculations and everything else. Looking at the outside,

you've got a concrete lintel out there that looks like it's twisted

and it's also bearing down on your bi-fold doors already.

-Yes.

-I'm worried about load-bear calculations. Is that in the...?

Yes, that's what Building Control are worried about as well.

'If you're having sections of wall in your home removed,

'load-bear or stress calculations determine the size

'of steel or concrete support beams you'll require.

'These beams support the weight of your home standing above them.

'It's crucial they're calculated correctly. Take my advice...'

'Benita and Mark didn't call in Building Control

'until it was too late.'

I'm concerned about how the calculations were made for the steels here too.

So I don't know if they've done any calculations since then,

but these are the concerns - a lot of weight, load bear is crucial

when it comes to meeting Building Control regulations.

-This, um...

-I don't like that.

Our surveyor thinks that that was never meant for this building.

They've brought it to this job from somewhere else, because it's a cavity wall steel or something.

-Yes, a cavity wall steel. That's correct.

-It's not the right one.

-We've learned a lot since this.

-I'm sure you have, a painful amount.

'They've learned a hard lesson about gas regulations too.'

The builder put the gas cooker in, which we've found out is wrong.

He did some pipes. I said to him, "Should you be doing that?"

Cos I wasn't sure. And he said the guy who fitted the boiler...

-Who is Gas Safe registered.

-..who is Gas Safe registered...

-Told him he could? Rubbish.

There's no way in the world he's allowed to do that.

'Benita and Mark's builder was unqualified to fit a gas cooker.

'Don't put yourself in danger! Remember,

'to work legally on appliances and installations in your home...

'So before work starts...

'Benita and Mark feel into the cowboy trap by not thoroughly checking up on their builder.'

If we can now, I'd like to take you outside,

because there's things I want to look at. Come with me.

Watch yourself when you come out here, because it is well dodgy.

-It is.

-You know, the whole thing.

I'm not happy with the pitch of that roof.

-It just looks a complete and utter mess.

-That is a temporary roof.

What?! They tiled a temporary roof?!

It was to be skylighted - that's in the plans.

I don't believe it. I honestly don't. What about the lintel?

You can see it's already tipping back in.

For me, it can't carry that load bear.

It was going to be a bedroom above that eventually. The plans got for us to go upstairs,

-and that's going to be a bedroom.

-Not with a lintel like that, it ain't.

The plans have a steel across there,

um, but they put a concrete lintel in instead.

'This is getting worse by the minute.

'What horrors are in store round at the front of the house?'

This is the first thing to show you.

Where that plastic membrane is, it's being weighted down by loose tiles.

-One is about to fall.

-You can see it.

There's big gap in the roof. When they went through, they never filled the gap.

When it rains, it all pours into the bathroom. So that's what they did to remedy it.

I'm concerned about it, because it is right about to drop.

Looking down the gap there,

he was hoping to put a Stonecoat render on there,

or you wanted a render to match the rest of the property.

How was anyone going to get in there to do that?

That was one of the questions they were asked by our surveyor.

He asked them that, but they didn't have an answer.

-Part of the contract is to render and paint it.

-Paint and render outside surfaces.

They hadn't got a chance of rendering that.

This is going to be troublesome for anyone to try and get in there.

'This entire job is shaping up to be one of biggest challenges we've ever faced.

'Coming up, I call in a structural engineer whose verdict

'sends shivers down my spine.'

-Have you ever seen anything as bad as this?

-Er, not as bad as this, no.

'And Benita and Mark reveal the anguish

'caused by their callous cowboy.'

We're just tired now.

It's been three months, and they've left us like this.

In Bexleyheath, Kent, Benita and Mark Ager

dreamed of having an open-plan kitchen and living space completed in time for Christmas.

But instead of pulling crackers, they were driven crackers

when after shelling out £40,000,

they were left with an incomplete and dangerous home.

It's essential we make this house safe.

But first, I want to find out how Benita and Mark

found themselves in this nightmare.

What was the initial plan? What was the dream?

We wanted to open this space out, bring the garden into the house.

These bi-fold doors were meant to open out. Our family could be over.

The youngsters would be playing football in the garden.

That was the dream - to have a big, family open space that we could enjoy together.

So plans were accepted. You'd already got quotes in.

-How many quotes did you get?

-We had about 50 people apply just through the post.

Right, who'd seen it in your local paper.

Who'd seen it on the planning application,

the website or whatever and just wrote in on spec.

Do you know what? I'm not happy with people who are just cold calling.

I want to find my own builder.

I want to go and do my research on that builder.

How much research did you eventually do on the builder you chose?

We did visit a property. We asked them for where they could recommend.

We visited them. We had a chat with the woman who was there

and asked her how things had gone.

-Had they turned up on time? Had there been any disputes about the money?

-Well done!

-I'm liking this.

-So we were comfortable enough

that he was going to be able to do the job that we wanted him to do.

I was embarrassed, cos one thing I've learnt is don't go while the builder's there,

cos I was too embarrassed to ask her questions.

-Don't go... Was the builder there?

-Yes.

-Oh, no!

This is one tip you forgot. Never let the builder be with you.

'Benita and Mark nearly got it right, but they forgot one golden rule.'

'Based on their quote, and the positive feedback they'd received, Benita and Mark booked the builder.'

The amount they quoted, from memory, it was £44,500 plus VAT.

And that was for...?

That was for the extension downstairs, the doors at the back,

the extension out here, redoing the bathroom.

-It'd all be rendered.

-How long did he say it was going to take to do?

-Eight weeks.

-So an eight-week build project?

-Yes. At fixed price.

-At a fixed price?

-Yes.

They said to me verbally that it would be ready for 17th December,

but we'll put the 22nd, but you won't need the 22nd.

When they started the work eventually,

how soon into the build did you think, "This is going..."?

Bear in mind, you've got a bit of nous about this industry.

We knew pretty quickly. They were hand-digging the footings.

Given this was a speedy build, and we knew eight weeks

was a tight deadline, we weren't silly about that, we knew that.

I rang the main builder saying, "I'm nervous."

Then they did come and say when we did have a discussion with them,

"Don't worry, we've got the weekend, we'll make up at the weekends.

"It looks to you like we won't be ready, but we do this all the time. We know it will be ready."

'The reassurances didn't last long.

'In fact, Jingle Bells turned to alarm bells

'when Benita approached a builder on the job.'

He was up on the roof, and I went up to him and said,

"When is the wall being knocked down? Have you got a date?

"Cos we want to plan for that so we get all our stuff out for the kitchen."

He said, "That's not being done till after Christmas.

-"We're not touching that."

-Wow.

-I came in to you, didn't I?

I went, "Oh, I think there's something wrong."

Their contract and cowboy promises were worth nothing.

While work slowed to a snail's pace, their dream was disappearing fast.

I can see what's happened. We were so fixed on the dream,

we knew what we wanted here, we had a deadline.

As long as they were saying, "Look, we're going to get there,"

we believed them, and that was the big mistake.

I still kept believing it right up to the 23rd of December.

I still kept hoping.

I kept hoping it'd be all right. I now know that was silly, really.

Two days before their Christmas deadline,

Benita and Mark's home was still open to the elements

and had no heating, no water and no electricity.

It was a bodged job building site that had so far cost them £32,000.

But that didn't stop their cheeky cowboy

from demanding another eight grand.

They were threatening us.

They wanted their 8,000 and kept going on.

We were upstairs, and he was screaming and effing at me

and then coming down here and saying to everyone, "Off site! They won't pay us."

-You didn't pay him, did you?

-Yeah.

-Why?

-Well, they said that by Christmas Eve,

we'd have something in here, they'd put a sink in for us.

It's madness now, but we were desperate.

-We wanted to have somewhere we could stay on Christmas.

-8,000, though?

£8,000. You'd already seen what you'd got around you - devastation.

They promised faithfully that if we paid them,

then they would make sure that, by the second week of January,

we would see a drastic improvement - it would all be done.

After pocketing their cash, this Scrooge of a builder

disappeared for Christmas,

dashing their hopes of a happy family holiday.

-Christmas morning in here...

-Yeah.

The dream, by this stage, for want of a better word, is dead.

Yeah, yeah.

No washing facilities, no cooking facilities. We had no heating.

-We were just in a...

-No toilet.

We haven't had a Christmas this year, because we cancelled all the celebrations.

It's been very stressful, hasn't it? B's not sleeping well at night.

-You're not sleeping well?

-No, no, I'm too upset.

I'll be honest with you, I don't like you being in this area.

It's very depressing.

It's not the fact it's depressing. I don't think it's particularly safe.

Well, he's told a surveyor this is just snagging.

Snagging? This is more like putting a plaster over a shark bite.

This needs proper TLC.

We're going to be with you, OK? We're going to try and get

as much of the structural aspect of the work done,

so it makes you safe and, therefore, it makes your family safe.

-I'm sorry.

-Don't be sorry. Listen, it's a tough old time, this.

It's a tough, tough time. Dry your eyes.

I'm just tired now. It's been three months, and they left us like this.

I don't know why they keep pretending to come back.

Now we've had enough.

You're in safe hands. We'll look after you, I promise.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

This situation is a heartbreaker,

and I really want to help Benita and Mark if I can.

I'm convinced that this structure is unsafe.

But don't just take my word for it -

I've asked along two independent chartered surveyors,

so I can get their verdict.

It doesn't take long for surveyors Jason Binns

and Ken Mustafa to identify the dangers.

This beam's joins aren't level.

That would fracture because of the span you have there.

It's also not really the correct type of beam.

What they should have is a steel column there.

-Guys, how are you? I'm Clive.

-Hi, Jason Binns.

-Hi, Jason.

-Ken.

-Hello, Ken.

Now, there's loads of problems in this property.

In fact, the job itself is pretty poor at best,

and one of the jobs you were looking at there - the padstone

-and that steel - is pretty rough.

-Er, rough's putting it mildly.

Absolutely. What we have there is a structure, a beam,

that really shouldn't be there.

You'd have thought that's a temporary structure to assist them

in putting these two beams up, but in actual fact, they've bolted it to those pads.

Now, there's loads of other problems. Outside, you've got the lintel.

We're quite surprised to see a lintel above a span

that's that wide.

We would expect a steel beam

rather than a concrete lintel to go in there.

One of the critical things for us is marking this guy's work.

What mark would you give him out of ten?

-One for leaving?

-One for leaving is a good one. Yeah, we like that.

One out of ten it shall be, cos that's all it is worth.

My worst fears have just been confirmed.

This house is unsafe.

I want Benita and Mark to stay out

until I get a structural engineer's report.

I believe this to be an unsafe structure for people to be in,

even for me right now.

I need a structural engineer to come in and give his verdict.

As it stands at the moment, I'm worried about it.

After some frantic calling,

I managed to get hold of chartered structural engineer John Frankland.

Good to see you, sir. Come and have a look at this.

With over 30 years' experience under his belt,

his opinion is crucial.

So, all the load is coming from a stronger material

onto a weaker material,

and that's just dangerous, as it is.

We've got to get the local authority involved

and for them to issue a dangerous structure notice

and get this propped immediately.

-Have you ever seen anything as bad as this?

-Not as bad as this, no.

I'm gutted. Absolutely gutted.

The structural surveyor has declared this couple's house unsafe.

But I'm allowed to bring them back in to break the news.

As soon as he looked at it, he said, "I've never seen anything like this,

"and it should have an unsafe structure notice placed upon it,"

which was my real concern -

that people are coming in and out of here,

including children and yourself.

We've got to completely restructure the steels.

The big problem, of course, is that it's going to cost a bomb.

I'm going to do my best for you, but it's going to be a tough old task.

Fingers crossed, and let's get out of here! Come on.

'Understandably, Benita and Mark are stunned by this latest development.'

I didn't think we'd hear that.

I knew it was bad and I knew that things weren't...but not unsafe.

-I didn't expect that. Didn't expect that at all.

-No.

Now, if ever an area needed cordoning off as a danger zone,

this is definitely it. It is completely unsafe,

it needs an unsafe structure notice putting on it as well,

and I don't want anybody in there other than the structural engineers, myself and the builders.

I tell you what, that is one dodgy build.

It's time to put things right in this house,

so I'm bringing in the good guys.

They've got their heavy duty kit required to hold this house up.

Only once it's supported can they start sorting

this cowboy catastrophe.

But I'm hoping for more than that.

I know Benita dreams of a new kitchen with some designer touches,

including a glass brick wall.

I really want to deliver for her,

but first, I need a chat with builder Jack to see if we can hatch a plan.

What is your plan?

First of all, I'm going to replace the lintel out the back with an RSJ.

-That's a steel.

-Steel, yeah.

-Anything else?

I'm going to change their roof for them as well.

The extension - there should be two skylights there.

-There's none, so we're going to insert the skylights.

-Superb.

I'm so pleased to have you on board. I'll catch up with you again later.

'Coming up, I make more dangerous discoveries in this house of horrors.'

-That could have collapsed.

-No-one should be in here.

And the dream is brought back to reality for Benita and Mark.

The doors! Ooh, thank you! Thank you!

In Bexleyheath, Kent,

Benita and Mark Ager were left with an unsafe and unfinished house

when they fell into the cowboy trap.

They wanted an open-plan kitchen and living area,

but after taking 40 grand of their cash,

the bodging builder made a hash of the job.

We brought in the good guys to make this home safe.

Their first task was to replace the sagging and cracked lintel over the bi-fold doors

with a stronger steel support.

And inside, the unsafe beam has been propped up,

and the dangerous pillar has been removed to make way for a new one.

It's been a massive undertaking, but there are signs of success.

For five months, these doors haven't worked.

But now for the opening ceremony.

I know someone who'll be delighted.

The doors, the doors! Ooh, thank you! Thank you!

THEY LAUGH

To get their extension dream back on track,

Mark and Benita are contributing to the cost

of the remedial work required to get the job finished.

It's now exciting, isn't it?

We're now back to where we feel we should have been in December.

The excitement of things moving forward and you see progress being made.

We're looking forward to having the house in a fit state,

-having Harry and Archie round.

-I can't wait for that.

Just getting our lives back.

'It's time for a catch-up with Jack.'

-Hey, Jack!

-Clive.

-The doors are open, son!

-Yes.

What have you done so far?

At the moment, we've removed this lintel.

-There's a crack in it.

-Basically, this is snapped in half.

Yeah, they've fixed the head of the door into the lintel,

which is cracked, so the sag is even more.

All the weight was on the doors.

-They'd have known immediately what they'd done?

-They'd have known.

But they've left it. That's out of the way, the doors are opening.

Very exciting news.

And inside, one of the main priorities was replacing

the faulty structural steelwork.

So, this is the steel that was actually up against that wall there.

-We've now got the acros in place, so we feel safe.

-Yeah.

-What was the problem?

-Major problem was it was sitting on blocks.

Two blocks. It wasn't bolted in at the top,

so it could have just slipped left or right.

The whole of the back of the house is resting on this,

so all of the force is on one block.

I notice as well, you've also got the boards down on the ceiling.

I was shining a torch through,

where the down-lighters were supposed to be,

and I couldn't see any insulation. Was there any?

No insulation.

There's not even proper height strength joists put back in place.

They've just found any old timber and just screwed them together.

So even more corner cuts. OK.

Thank you, sir. And we'll catch up with you later.

I can't wait to show 'em the finished article.

-Thank you.

-Carry on, Jack.

-Thank you very much.

'While our terrific team of builders keep working their magic,

'I want to help Benita and Mark get some answers

'to those questions they've been asking themselves

'for the last few months.'

Now, guys, when was the last time you had a chat with your builder?

Can you remember how long ago?

-Weeks, certainly.

-Months, isn't it?

A few months now. He just won't even acknowledge us.

Now, if you had an opportunity to speak to them today,

if you could think of two or three questions,

what would those questions be?

Why leave us over Christmas when they took £8,000 off us?

The minute it's in the account, they cleared the site.

For me, it's, "Why did you leave us in the state that you left us?"

You must have realised that the structure was unsafe.

I'm going to give you that opportunity

to speak to the builder now.

So who's willing to take the baton?

-OK.

-I will. I'll start it.

OK. It's calling, and it's over to you, sir.

It's going to answer-phone.

Hi, there, it's Mark and Benita.

We're here with the BBC

and we'd like to give you a chance to have your right of reply.

Please give a ring back

on the number that will come up as your missed call.

Many thanks. Hope to speak to you later, bye-bye.

The phone is switched off for a reason.

But we have to give them this opportunity for a right of reply.

If they don't wish to take it, then that's up to them.

Thanks for going through that.

It can be quite tense, under the circumstances.

Hopefully, as I say, he will get back to us.

But I think the chances are pretty slim.

Thanks, guys.

Benita and Mark's builders didn't respond,

but we did manage to contact them later.

They claimed the Agers owe them £12,000

and stated that,

as far as they're concerned, there were no problems with the build.

I am so relieved those cowboys didn't come back.

All the Agers' structural dangers would have remained hidden.

It's five weeks later,

and the good guys have put things right.

It's time for me to see the fruits of their labour.

That's what I'm talking about.

This looks so much better already.

It's now a workable kitchen, fully usable.

Decorating's been done, flooring's down,

the worktops are on, units are in place.

I'm just taking myself back in my mind's eye

to that very first day that I saw this,

which was a complete wreck, awful underfoot.

But not only that, it was dangerous,

because of the problems with the structural element,

the chances of the actual whole thing collapsing was quite high.

But now, to see it in this condition,

I'm loving the skylights, loving the dome as well,

it just looks so good.

And then of course, as you look out...

Still bits to do in the garden,

but as you look out now onto the patio,

and as you step out of these wonderful doors -

which we said before, now fully open properly -

you've got the finished render, it's all painted up.

It just looks amazing.

Of course, we've also go the fascia on now as well, the guttering on.

The job is just, "Mwah"!

Here's where a lot of the problems were,

because the steel was inadequate, the pier that it was built on

was just built out of ash block, which was no good at all.

And I've got to be honest, I thought in the back of my mind,

we're not going to recover from this.

Look at it now,

just look at it now.

'The good guys have completed an all-round top job.

'There's a man I need to thank.'

Just talk me through everything you have done since we last met.

-We've fitted the carpet, fitted the lino to the kitchen.

-Love it.

Fitted the kitchen itself.

Now we've got a safe extension,

for not only Benita and Mark to use as their home,

but also for their family to come into, or friends.

For now, Jack, all I can say is thanks to you and your team,

-because I know it's a big team.

-Pleasure, Clive. Thank you.

'I am so impressed by this transformation -

'but it's not about me!'

I think it's high time we found out what Benita and Mark think of it.

And I think they're going to love it!

OK, Benita, Mark,

this has been a really long road.

It has been very tough - I think for just about everybody

at some stage or another.

Now, looking forward and moving on, work has been done and finished.

What are you hoping to see?

Clean, safe, bright and light.

Open-plan living space

where we can actually enjoy sitting down, relaxing.

We want to be able to bring our grandchildren round.

They haven't been here since October. And that's ten months.

So let's go and check out what's been done. So follow me, let's go.

As you can obviously see from here,

things have changed quite dramatically.

Quite significantly, yeah.

-Amazing.

-I mean, the door's on the right way.

We've even got a light up there, and that great ugly huge white board

has gone, and the wall's finished and it's painted and...

it bears no comparison at all, does it?

It looks like the front of the house now.

The corner there has all been built up.

There was just a big gap, and you could see all the problems

all the way down the side through the cavity.

All that's been sorted now at the front.

You've also got guttering on, that sort of thing. There is no comparing.

-There isn't.

-None at all.

OK, so now's the time to go inside.

-So let's go take a look.

-Brilliant.

Come and have a look at the almost-finished article inside.

Now, you're reactions to what you're seeing now

in comparison to what it did look like?

Brilliant.

If it was extraordinary outside, then it's absolutely unbelievable.

In just five weeks, this horrible,

hazardous house has been totally transformed.

-Beautiful, beautiful.

-It's lovely.

It's bright, it's light, it's airy.

Absolutely fantastic.

A proper dome instead of two leaky skylights that will...

I love the dome.

The amount of natural daylight it brings into the kitchen too.

This is the dream, this was the dream.

This is going to be Christmas, this is going to be the one we've missed.

And you've even got the glass block wall.

The thing is, the floor itself, do you remember, it was a real mess.

You had boards down, trip hazards all over the place.

'Lovely linoleum has been laid over new safe floorboards.

'And talking of safety, those dodgy structural steel beams

'have changed from death trap to decorative feature.'

Although you can't see it, the steel is in there.

We know it's in there and we know it's safe.

If the builders had covered it up,

we'd never have known until the day it could have fallen down

and killed someone possibly.

-That's what's frightening about cowboy builders.

-Exactly.

That's the scary bit.

But it's almost like trying to get this out of your system

if we can and move on.

'These scenes of cowboy chaos are now a distant memory.

'This couple have a lot to look forward to.

'They hope for a home to share with their family.

'I think this new kitchen and living room certainly fits the bill.'

Imagine that you're sitting on your sofa, your chair,

and looking out onto the garden.

-Obviously still work to do on the garden.

-We'll enjoy doing that.

And, although Christmas is still a way off,

you can now see that you're going to get the Christmas you wanted.

-Oh, yeah, we will.

-And we'll have this summer.

We've got all the summer to go to be able to sit out here in safe, clean...

The whole team have put a massive effort in.

And thank you to you, because you've really supported us

and helped us, and we do thank you very much.

-You've given us our life back, really.

-I think it's a new dawn.

-It is.

-Thank you so much.

Great to see you. You take care, good to see you.

Thank you for everything. We really appreciate it.

We really enjoyed being here with you.

Before we brought in the good guys,

Benita and Mark's house was declared a danger zone.

Their Christmas had been a disaster,

and they'd been unable to host their precious grandchildren.

They were distraught.

But we've transformed their home,

and this couple are ready to welcome

some very special visitors once again.

I'm sure they'll quickly make up for any lost time.

Hello! Look, you're going to like coming here, aren't you?

A home once more, and it's great to see Benita smiling again.

Time for me to get back on that cowboy trail.

I've got to say, that is an absolutely cracking job.

But the problem here is

the cowboy builder didn't just do a bodged job, he did a dangerous job.

So, remember, always do your research

on a like-for-like job that you want doing.

Now, my work is not over yet.

I've collected all the information on this cowboy builder

and I'm going to take it to the local Trading Standards office

and find out exactly what they want to do about it.

And I've got a message for all those cowboy builders out there -

look over your shoulder, because we're right behind you.

If you've had a problem with builders

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

Standard geographic charges apply,

calls from mobiles may be higher.

Or you can send us an e-mail...

Help us round up the cowboys.

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