Episode 20 Cowboy Trap

I'm back on the road again and on the hunt for more cowboy builders

who've left homeowners in the lurch and done total bodge jobs.

The shower leaks, the ceiling's a mess.

It's a little disaster area, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm hoping to help homeowners badly let down by cowboy builders

and left counting the cost.

It's been such an awful experience

that I never want to go through again.

And 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.

'We're travelling across Britain to meet two sets of homeowners,

'both of whom have fallen into the Cowboy Trap

'when they hired builders lacking the right skills for the job.

'All Virginia Graham wanted was her basement bathroom

'restored to its former glory.

'She didn't expect to be left with a catalogue of catastrophes.'

I'm cross, annoyed, hurt. And not knowing who to turn to.

'And we'll meet a couple whose terrible tradesmen left them

'with a bunch of bodged jobs throughout their entire home.

'Today, the cowboy trail brings me to one of my favourite places -

'the seaside city of Brighton.'

I would love to buy a gaff here.

It's no wonder that 200 years ago,

Prince Regent made Brighton his home.

And what a home!

As beach houses go, the Royal Pavilion would take some beating.

'This was the perfect patch for Virginia Graham,

'who moved into her three-storey townhouse over 30 years ago.

'The former actress fell in love the moment she set eyes on it.'

My idea of what a house should be is exactly like this.

Little nooks and crannies,

interesting places.

and, I guess because I just love old-fashioned things,

an old-fashioned house.

Virginia's home was a former guesthouse

run by a group of nuns called the Sisters of Mercy.

Virginia loved the house so much, she wanted to buy it,

so asked the nuns if they were prepared to sell it.

But it wasn't up for sale.

Later, the nuns posted a letter through her door,

saying they were now interested in selling the property.

So, all of a sudden, her prayers were answered.

Oh, it was absolutely a mixture of being elated and scared.

Because the house had been virtually untouched in over 100 years.

'Virginia set about renovating her home.

'And a few years ago, turned her attention to the basement.'

I wanted a functioning shower, um... a shower area

and a kitchen area that would be...

used as a laundry room.

'Virginia wanted her basement to reflect a bygone era.

'But bygone turned to bungling

'when she hired cowboy after cowboy in an attempt to get the work done.'

I haven't been very successful in my choice of people to do work for me.

Perhaps I'm rather naive.

When they get into the basement of my house,

it all seems to go a little bit wrong.

'Determined to beat her basement once and for all,

'when a friend recommended a handyman, she booked him.

'He promised a one-week completion time

'and quoted £240 per day in labour costs.

'Virginia agreed to pay for materials as well,

'bringing the total cost to around £2,200.

'The handyman got started.

'But it wasn't long before Virginia once again saw slapdash work

'and noticed him using modern materials.'

I wanted reconditioned wood which would have had age to it

and would have not warped or twisted because it was seasoned.

Um, but I ended up with modern pine.

'When Virginia complained, the handyman lost interest

'and then stopped coming altogether.

'She'd already spent thousands on previous cowboys.

'The latest had cost another £2,200.

'Devastated by the experience of yet another hapless cowboy,

'Virginia closed the door on her basement.'

It's still like a badly-finished building site.

The shower leaks, the ceiling's a mess.

It's a little disaster area, as far as I'm concerned.

Virginia has come across so many cowboys in the last few years,

she must think she's living in the Wild West,

rather than the sunny south.

But I've got news for her. There's a new sheriff in town.

'It's time for me to meet Virginia

'to see what I can do to get this bodge-job basement back on track.'

Hiya.

-I'm guessing you're Virginia.

-That's correct. You must be Clive.

I am indeed. I hear you've had problems with cowboy builders.

-Would you like to have a look?

-Please. Where is it?

-In the basement.

-It's down in the basement!

-Yes.

-OK.

-Mind how you go. You're a big bloke.

-Thanks a lot.

-Cheers.

'And bingo, Virginia's basement of bodge jobs.'

It's not bad, this. Nice little kitchen, vestibule area.

It's nice.

'But it's the shower room I'm interested in.'

This is it. This is definitely it.

Well, it's certainly bodgey.

My first instinct with the plasterwork,

the plaster's been put on and it's started to craze.

It's dried out too quickly.

The problem with that is they haven't put PVA in the mix.

It not only acts as a bonding agent,

which is great when you're putting it onto the wall,

but it also prevents the original wall

sucking all the moisture out of the plaster, causing it to craze.

The timberwork that's been done here is not bad.

But it's not been treated.

Getting moist. It's a bathroom, after all.

That is not going to look good after a period of time.

What I'm not quite happy with is these old-fashioned lights here.

These are glass droplets. But they're exposed.

And again, with a lot of steam in the area, it's not good.

So that light fitting would have to go.

'The hazards continue on the floor.'

The tiling here meets the tiling in the toilet,

but there's a lip on it, like so.

You're going to be tripping up. It's sharp, as well.

It's really jagged. It's not been cut properly.

'And the wall tiles are not much better.'

The tiling's a mess in here.

In the shower area, as you get to the ceiling height,

there's a big gap. All they've done is filled it with grout.

Moisture will get into that and the tiles will eventually fall off.

There's loads wrong in here. I need to go and speak to Virginia

and find out exactly what's been going on.

OK, Virginia, just talk me through what's been going on in here.

I'm sort of guessing here

that many hands have made not light work, but heavy work.

How long has this project been going on for?

-It must have been an on-and-off thing for about four years.

-Wow!

There's a lot gone on that really isn't right.

The lighting, for instance, over the shower.

-The plasterwork is not good.

-It's not anything.

It's just...a child could've done it.

So, how many tradespeople do you think you've had

in this area, working on this job?

-Six.

-Six?!

My problem I've got is once you've had one bad one,

it tends to beget more as you go along.

-It's a trap.

-It is. It is indeed. It's a cowboy trap.

-It is a trap.

And that's what you fall into

because every successive one seems to agree that they would put it right,

but because it wasn't done right in the first place, it just multiplies.

It does. So, shall we get out of here?

-I think so.

-Let's go.

'It's no wonder this shower room is driving Virginia up the tiles.

'I want to find out more.'

I thought, I'll start refurbishing again.

So I started on the basement, which was in most need of work.

Put in a shower, redo the toilet and get that up and running.

Because it was absolutely unusable.

-This was the dream for the basement.

-Absolutely.

But it didn't seem to work out. However much I tried,

I never seemed to get people

who were sympathetic with what I wanted to do.

And it just... It got in a mess and in a muddle.

'This muddle is the work of a posse of cowboys.

'I want to know about the last one to darken her door.'

How did you find your builder?

Recommended from a neighbour.

Assured the work was excellent.

Nice guy. Do a good job.

Was it just really a verbal contract?

It was a verbal contract, with me explaining what I wanted doing.

That seemed to be all right.

It was going to be £240 a day for the work

and I would buy the materials.

The bone of contention was me saying a daily rate means from 8:00-4:00,

and the answer came back,

"No, that's what I charge when I turn up for however long I'm here".

'With no contract in place, Virginia was unsure where she stood.

'Don't let this happen to you.

'If you decide to pay a daily rate, take my advice.

'Agree a contract before any work begins,

'outlining your builder's start and finish times.

'As with all jobs, draw up a work and payment schedule.

'A daily rate doesn't mean paying every day.

'Make sure your work is on schedule before settling up.'

'Virginia's handyman promised a shiny new shower room

'in just seven days.

'But one week in, and after spending a total of £2,200

'in labour and materials, the work was nowhere near finished.'

What is going on in your mind?

I'm cross, annoyed, hurt.

Feeling silly and not knowing who to turn to.

What would you like to happen down in that basement?

I would like it to be safe.

I would like to feel proud of it and not ashamed of the mess that it is.

'Coming up, I call in an independent chartered surveyor

'who makes a potential deadly discovery.'

The lights installed above the shower could be a lethal installation.

You'd be safer showering in the dark.

We're in Blackley, West Yorkshire,

the home of Fox's biscuits

and Robert Palmer.

You know, the guy who sang Addicted To Love.

Well, I'm the guy who's addicted to biscuits.

'Blackley's also home to legal services director Sarah Wilkinson

'and her partner, government advisor, Alistair Burgess.

'They live on a quiet cul-de-sac with Alistair's daughter Holly, who's at school,

'and Sarah's daughter Sophie.'

Sarah and Alistair met six years ago

when sparks flew at a local martial arts club.

When they got to grips with each other,

love took hold and floored them both.

We both did martial arts as a hobby.

Um...and we were both doing it together for a while

and then we got together.

'Alistair was renting at the time,

'but in 2009, he and his daughter decided to move in with Sarah.'

Sarah and Alistair wanted a two-storey extension

over the driveway to create more space for the family.

The children would have some privacy in having their own rooms,

but we'd have a private part because we'd be separated by a stairwell.

So when a former neighbour recommended her builder,

they decided to check him out.

A friend lives on a development and this builder

was working on one of the houses there. So she recommended him.

Other than go down to the house that he was currently building,

we didn't look anywhere else, we didn't take up any references,

which was probably...where we went wrong at the start.

'Sarah and Alistair booked their builder

'who agreed to construct their dream two-storey extension.

'The additional downstairs space would allow for an office, bigger kitchen and shower room.

'Upstairs, the couple would have a larger bedroom with a new en suite.

'The builder offered no contract and no payment plan, but instead,

'he wanted to be paid whenever he required money during the build.

'The work was due to take three months

'at a total price of £46,700.'

While the work was being carried out,

Sarah decided to move into Alistair's flat.

There were three months left on the lease

and their builder assured them the work would be completed

and their home would be ready to move into.

He gave us a date that he said it would definitely be finished by.

So we gave notice on the flat

and then we booked a holiday to allow us a couple of weeks' leeway

just in case he hadn't finished what he said he was going to do.

'But things did seem to be going well.

'The foundations went in, the walls went up

'and the roof went on without a hitch.'

However, it wasn't long before alarm bells started to ring.

When we were on holiday, I was texting him to ask

if the house was ready to move into when we came back from holiday.

And he just said no.

We later found out he was in Spain on holiday himself.

There was no work being done here while we were away.

Sarah and Alistair were now four months

into what was supposed to be a three-month schedule.

Their hopes of having their fantastic family home finished

were left in ruins.

'With nowhere to live,

'the family was forced to move into their bombsite home.

'Sarah's daughter Sophie remembers it only too well.'

It was a really rocky period

because of how stressed my mum was and how stressed everyone was.

And we were all just living under completely erratic circumstances.

'And things were about to get worse.

'Having finished his bricklaying work,

'their main contractor recommended other tradesmen to finish the interior jobs.

'But Alistair and Sarah believed he would be supervising them.

'They couldn't have been more wrong.'

When he finished his building work,

he abdicated all responsibility for the build.

He wasn't taking any accountability for them.

'With no-one supervising the work,

'mistakes were being made and progress began to slow.'

I would not go out to work

to stay in for the tradesmen to come in.

And people wouldn't come and then I'd just be on the phone constantly.

It was a really, really stressful time.

'This couple had lost control.

'They believed their builder was responsible

'for overseeing the tradesmen,

'but with no contract nailed down,

'the areas of responsibility were, at best, vague.

'Don't this happen to you. Take my tip.

'Ensure your contract specifies exactly what jobs

'and materials your quote includes.

'Discuss the amount of man-hours required to do each job.

'And make sure a realistic cost is included in your contract.

'Remember, adding extra hours and jobs later

'can often work out more expensive.'

'Sarah and Alistair ended up paying

'a massive £20,000 for extra work,

'including the electrics, tiling, plumbing and joinery required

'to fit their new kitchen.

'In total, they'd forked out £61,000.

'But they were unhappy with the general standard of work,

'so they decided to pay no more.

'This their cash-crazy cowboy did not like.'

I found him quite threatening. I ordered him off the property

and told him not to return until he could show me some respect.

I never saw him again.

'Their dream, their home and their bank balance was in tatters.'

The wardrobes, they looked quite good.

But as soon as you used them, they started to fall apart.

Tiles that you can land a plane on, they won't crack,

an eight-stone girl walks on them, they crack.

Nobody's been back to finish it off and to put right the problems.

And nobody's contactable. I've lost complete faith in builders.

It's time for me to meet Sarah and Alistair

and find out how we can help put this sorry situation behind them.

Now, I'm looking for two lovely people called Sarah and Alistair.

-Nice to meet you.

-How are you? I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

Now, I know you've had problems with an extension.

Looking from the outside, it all looks fine.

I take it the problem's on the inside.

-Do you mind if I look around?

-No.

-Great.

-You might want to start in here. Into the office.

-OK.

-Oh, into the office.

-Mm-hm.

-Let's have a look.

'This is part of the new extension.'

So it looks like we've got real wood. (What's the rest of it like?)

'Looks all right on the surface.'

I don't know think he's done the floor, though.

These sections should be glued together.

And it looks like to me

that there's a possibility that the floor's not level.

'Next is the kitchen, where first impressions look good.

'But on closer inspection...'

I can see here that... this is on the dishwasher.

That's not sitting back properly.

So that's not fitting right.

'And this corner looks unfinished.

'Worse, though, is the danger lurking here.'

That's an old gas pipe. Look how it's just been capped off.

That needs boxing off completely

or actually terminating below the floor level.

Not just sticking up like that. That's terrible.

(Let's have a look upstairs.)

'Now for the bedroom bodges.'

First thing I notice as I come in,

when I look up at the low-voltage lighting,

we've got two that are offset there. There's absolutely no reason.

Ooh! Looks like somebody's building some wardrobes.

'Or maybe they're part of the problem.

'I really need Sarah to talk me through what's going on

'with this slapdash extension.'

OK. So, in here, we have the kitchen.

Yeah. Now, it's a nice kitchen, this is.

The joiner fitted the kitchen and did all the electrics and plumbing.

'A joiner working on the plumbing and the electrics

'is a recipe for disaster.

'No wonder these lights look so dangerous.'

-Did you check your electrician was qualified?

-At the time, no.

-Did you check your gas guy was qualified?

-At the time, no.

There's a gas pipe sticking up.

That should have been terminated under the floor.

-I hadn't even noticed that.

-It's not good.

'And what about this dishwasher?'

He didn't connect the, um...waste pipe,

so after about a fortnight, it leaked.

We couldn't shut the dishwasher. We couldn't use it.

-So I think the plumber has pulled it out just so we can use it.

-Right.

But he's never been back to fix it.

'The trail of the bodge-job joiner doesn't end there.'

The joiner said that he would use the same unit doors...

-Yeah.

-..to build cupboards.

I gave him some cash to go and get them.

We've not seen him since.

So he's run off with just short of £1,000.

'I think I need Sarah to talk me through the decidedly-dodgy office.'

The things that stand out for me in here was your wood floor.

-Are there other problems?

-Yes. The bookcase.

-It was splitting before we put anything on it.

-There's a reason.

He's put the screws in the side here.

It should've actually had hangers under there

so it could sit properly.

All that shelf is relying on are two very small screws. That's not right at all.

That should have had supports, hanger supports, underneath.

'The cowboy catastrophes continue upstairs.'

OK. Now, when I came in here earlier on, the one thing that did stand out

for me was, why were the lights not in line?

They did them all the same.

-Right.

-The electrician moved them over when the wardrobes went in.

The wardrobes have got no doors, they're coming off the runners.

In fact, you can't use them.

They don't open.

-We've lived like this for two years.

-Wow!

'And in the en suite...'

We've got problems in here...

-Yeah.

-..aplenty.

'The grout is coming out, the tiles are cracking,

'and the shower tray looks wonky, for starters.'

It's the foundation. It's happening underneath.

It's not on the right board, for a start,

so it doesn't matter how flexible the adhesive is

and how flexible the grout is, it's not going to stand it.

'There's certainly an accumulation of bodges both below the surface

'and on show around this house.

'All the work of a variety of tradesmen.

'I want to get Sarah and Alistair together to get to the bottom

'of what's been going here.'

Why this particular builder?

What did he say or do that convinced you?

-He was recommended.

-A personal recommendation, unfortunately.

Right, so you got to have a look at his work?

-We went and had a look.

-The finish looked OK.

OK, so you've ticked a box for me there.

How were the staged payments managed?

He made demands on a weekly basis for cash.

In large sums.

Sometimes it was three, sometimes it was five, sometimes it was ten.

And are you happy to hand the cash over?

Again, naively, we didn't think there was anything

particularly wrong with it.

So we get the building up, are you within your 12 week parameter still?

Not even close.

The shell was here, but there was no internal walls up or anything like that.

As soon as he'd done his bit of the brickwork,

he disappeared then and I think went off on the next job.

-I think that's all he was - a brickie.

-And then in came the next phase -

say, the plasterers, the joiner.

He never managed or supervised them. There's no accountability for him once he'd walked.

With their brickie builder off on his next job,

he wasn't checking up on his recommended tiler,

plumber, and joiner,

so mistakes started to occur.

But the biggest error was when Sarah and Alistair

decided to go on holiday.

We gave him an extra two weeks by booking a holiday,

and no work whatsoever was done, to our knowledge, while we were away.

He actually went to Spain!

I wonder whose money he was spending in Spain? Interesting.

So, by this stage, you'd paid him how much?

41,000.

-What had you got?

-You couldn't live in it. We were technically homeless.

So you find the builder and said what?

HE contacted us and said, "I need some more money."

I said, "You're not getting more."

The couple had paid a staggering £41,000

when their builder stopped coming.

They then forked out an additional 20 grand

to the builder's recommended tradesmen.

This £61,000 outlay had bought them a home riddled with problems,

and left their dream in tatters.

What is it that we could do for you to help?

In our bedroom, the wardrobes, they've got no doors on them.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Would be quite nice if clothes were out of sight,

and drawers that work.

And what about the bit round by the utility?

We've no storage room whatsoever, so to actually put a door on the bit

under the stairs would at least give us a little bit of space

where people don't see how many boxes we've still got to unpack!

Well, look, I'll tell you what we'll do, I'll get the good guys in

and we'll see what we can fit in in that allotted time.

But, for now, thanks for talking to us, and I'm sure you've learnt

some really tough lessons.

Pretty painful ones.

It's almost...

It-It-It's almost like, um,

you look at it and you think,

"I'm not going to let these get me," you know?

They have got me.

They don't deserve your laughter,

-they certainly don't deserve your tears.

-I know.

There's no two ways about that.

Because it's been such an awful experience that I would never, ever

want to go through again.

It's just been horrendous.

'I'm determined to wipe away these tears

'and turn this house back into a home.

'Coming up, I prove that the good guys are out there,

'when we transform this family home.'

They are majorly better than what was up there before!

'We're travelling back to Brighton, where Virginia Graham

'spent thousands hiring cowboy after cowboy

'to sort her shoddy shower room.

'But it's been left with terrible tiles, lethal lights,

'and pathetic plastering.'

There's so much bodging gone on here,

and I've seen enough of it, to be honest!

So I've called in independent chartered surveyor Stephen Pook,

to come and take a look!

-I know that man! How are you, Steve?

-Hello, Clive.

I'm all right, thank you.

Now, you've had a chance to have a look around at the work.

-What is not to your liking?

-The plastering is a bit of a nightmare,

the tiling works have been carried out by someone

who probably likes to think they're competent but, in reality,

has very little competence at all.

Aspects I like the least - the electrical installation is suspect.

It doesn't appear to comply with regulations.

Those lights were installed above the shower.

If they weren't provided with the appropriate safety circuits etc, it could be lethal.

You could be covered in water - I can touch it and I'm not the tallest -

and, frankly, you'd be safer showering in the dark.

OK, now, important point for us is work that's been carried out here,

-as I say, it may have been done by many hands, not just one.

-Yes.

What mark out of ten would you give the work that you can see?

-Right, in terms of the plastering, I would give two out of ten.

-OK.

It's shocking, it's very poor.

The electrical installation, I would give zero out of ten.

OK, so we're going to fall on the zero out of ten

for the electrical work, and two out of ten for the best bodge, the plastering.

-Yes.

-But the rest of it is also a zero?

Rest of it is poor, very poor indeed.

Stephen's report is a crucial piece of information.

Now for action!

And what I really want to do is get Virginia's life back on track

by putting this basement right.

So, I'm going to cordon it off,

and the only people allowed past the tape are the good guys and myself.

'Local builder Neil Horton is here to sort out this shower room.

'With tools at the ready, Neil's team is set to get cracking.'

Hey, it's the big man!

-You must be Neil!

-Hi, Clive, nice to meet you.

-How are you, mate?

-Not bad, not bad!

What have you seen on this build that you're not happy with?

The lights is the big one for me, I think. They're not IP rated, very dangerous, I think, in the shower.

Touch them in the shower, that could be it.

So we need to change them,

update the fuseboard, do quite a bit of carpentry,

replaster the whole place, and also, put an extractor fan in as well.

-Of course! Never thought about that.

-Bit of ventilation and new regs that come in October.

-Yeah.

-New ceiling going in I think.

-Oh, OK.

Yeah, take up the floor, level it all out, put the toilet back down,

re-tile it, make it look nice and decorate it for the lady.

Fantastic! Now, that is exactly what we want!

Good man! I'll let you carry on having a look at that.

Don't worry too much about the outside, I think it's just age, a bit like meself, you know?

-Cracking up! See you, mate!

-Cheers.

'Coming up, I can't wait to show Virginia her shiny new shower room.'

Look at the shower, it's gorgeous!

'In Batley, West Yorkshire, Sarah Wilkinson and Alistair Burgess

'hired a recommended contractor to build their dream extension.

'They thought he was overseeing the tradesmen he introduced to the job.

'But after their builder stopped coming,

'and they had forked out 61 grand,

'they've been left with a house chock-full of dodgy work.'

There are a catalogue of builder bodges around this property,

so I've asked independent chartered building surveyor Colin Harrap

to cast his expert eye across this extraordinary extension.

-Hello, Mr Harrap!

-Hello, Clive, how are you?

-How are you, sir?

Um, I've got to be honest.

First of all, I'm just going to tell you where I am.

Brick work is fine.

Everything else, got to be honest, dodgy.

I think when you probe a bit deeper and have a look at

the standards of finishes, some of the things that have gone on,

the little bits and bobs, they soon add up.

And you soon start to think,

"This just hasn't been finished off properly

"by someone who knows all the different trades, as well as the brickwork they've done."

Bearing that in mind, what score out of ten would you give the work carried out inside the property?

Inside, certainly, I wouldn't give it much more

than a sort of three out of ten score.

For me, I think that is a generous score,

but three out of ten is what it shall be.

-Thank you very much, sir.

-Thank you, Clive.

'With the low-down on that low-scoring work,

'I now know exactly what's needed.'

So I'm going to tape this area off, declare it a no-go zone,

and I think it's now time to get the good guys in.

'We've called in local builder Darren Haymer to get stuck into this job.

'Sarah and Alistair want their woodwork sorted.

'Darren has brought his joiner along too.

-'I'm keen to hear about their plans.'

-How are you?

-Hi are you? Good to see you, Darren. And you are?

-Kevin.

-Hi, I'm Clive.

What is the overall plan? Go through that one with me again.

The drawers need remaking and fixing.

New lever doors would be nice. There's a badly fitted flooring in the office.

-Shelving is inadequate.

-And what about in kitchen, off the utility?

Some new doors to fit under the stairs which weren't finished off.

I'll let you carry on talking drawers. Cheers, boys.

'But when it comes to wonky woodwork, it doesn't take long for the good guys

'to strip out the botched job joinery and put things straight.

'Sarah and Alistair are still living at home

'and after just two days, they are already thrilled by the progress.'

They've been brilliant. Really good.

They've turned up on time, done what they said they were going to do.

This time, it's been a pleasant experience, generally.

There is light at the end of the tunnel now.

'While the good guys keep cracking on with the job,

'I want to help Sarah and Alistair put their cowboy builder

'and this whole sorry saga behind them.'

-When was the last time you spoke to your builder?

-September 2009.

We are giving him the opportunity with a call of a right to reply.

Who is going to grab the mantle?

I think that's over to you.

-I don't particular want to speak to him again.

-OK.

So, here we go, let's call him.

Hello, it's Alistair Burgess from Batley.

I've got the BBC with me doing a review of the work that's been done.

Basically, they've commented on some pieces of your work.

Hello?

-Hello? He's hung up.

-OK, that's a shame.

Rather than face the music,

he decides to put the phone down and do a disappearing act.

-It's the cowardice that runs within him, I'm afraid.

-Yes.

-He's got his money.

-Exactly.

'We did manage to contact the builder

'who claimed Sarah and Alistair owe him £7,000

'and stated he's never had any complaints about his previous jobs

'and said this couple's problems are due to poor joinery work.

'Something he denied has any responsibility for.

'Well, thank heavens for the good guys.

'Sarah and Alistair wanted their storage sorted.

'Our lads have done them proud.

'With the job finished, time to find out what Sarah and Alistair think. I can't wait!'

-What are you hoping for?

-A nice office,

nice working conditions. A nice bedroom.

Somewhere without the shelves on the floor.

-And somewhere to hang the clothes up.

-Office first.

-Right.

-Let's go.

'Although they've been living here,

'we've managed to keep the finishing touches a secret.'

Oh, that's fabulous. That is so much better.

-I'm really pleased, thank you.

-That is so much better, isn't it?

-It makes the room look bigger.

-Yeah!

'Before, the wooden shelves bowed under the weight.

'These new stronger shelves are more practical for the storage needs in a busy family home.'

Now the flooring, I have to say, is laminate.

So your original flooring was wood.

The problem with that, you can sometimes get indentation marks.

It was quite badly scratched, the other one.

-It just looks like real wood.

-It does.

-Looking good. Looking good so far, Alistair, yeah?

-Yeah, it's nice, an excellent room.

So our next move then is to go and take a look up in the bedrooms.

Let's go, come on, onward and upward!

Oh, brilliant. Look at these.

It is slightly different because it was going to be a bespoke wardrobe, which is what you wanted originally.

But I think they are just so suitable for this room.

They are majorly better than what was up there before!

-Yeah, that wasn't difficult, was it?!

-It wasn't.

-No.

-They really... We've got so much space in here. Again.

-Yeah.

-It gives you that feeling... Before, you had drawers on the floor.

-I know.

-Yeah.

Mornings were a nightmare trying to get across in the dark without tripping on something.

'All this clutter and these clothes are now tastefully hidden away.

'And behind these doors are new drawers to keep their drawers tidy!'

Now, in the girls' bedrooms,

we've managed to salvage the original wardrobes.

-Do you want to check those out as well?

-Yeah, that would be good.

-Come on.

-Wow!

-It's now got the closures on it.

-Yeah.

-Much better, isn't it?

-Yeah, that's much better.

The same has happened in the other bedroom as well.

We've done exactly the same. All been nicely sanded down, painted up.

-Oh, good.

-It looks so much better.

-So there's only one thing left to look at now and that's the kitchen.

-OK.

-OK.

'In the kitchen, the dodgy electrics are now fixed

'and the spotlights are on. But that's just the start.'

Now, do you remember this bit under here?

-That's great.

-It was a minefield.

-That is really good.

'Before, a dangerous gas pipe stuck out above the floorboards.

'And all this clutter was out on view.'

The door being there hides a multitude of sins as well, doesn't it?

-Oh, it does. We've got a storeroom now instead of just a...

-Hole.

-A hole.

-Yeah.

Come with me. The light will come on.

'This light has a movement sensor.'

-Shazam.

-HE CHORTLES

-Oh, brilliant.

-As if by magic.

-Oh, that's great.

Finally, we don't have to look at that eyesore.

'Eyesore indeed.

'I'm so glad the good guys have covered up the boiler.'

-Much better all round?

-Oh, much better.

So, is everybody happy at this stage?

Definitely. Definitely.

Get the kettle on.

-THEY LAUGH

-Come on! Semi-skimmed milk, one sugar.

'Back in Brighton,

'actress Virginia Graham's dream of a sparkling shower room

'was shot to pieces by not one, but a corral full of cowboys.

'Her final attempt to sort things out using a recommended handyman

'left her another two grand out of pocket.

'Just as well we brought in the good guys to lasso this job into line.

'Since arriving, they've ripped out the rotten work,

'flattened that uneven floor and installed an extractor fan.

'They've even put right the pathetic plaster job and fitted woodwork

'to recreate the old-fashioned feel Virginia longed for.

-'She's thrilled at the progress.'

-It's been absolutely fantastic.

They've been a great bunch of guys, they really, really have.

And it's been so exciting to watch it finally come to fruition

and not be the terrible mess it was.

'And there's still plenty to be done.'

This morning, we are tiling the walls in the shower room,

tiling the floor, putting the architraves on the wall

ready for the painters to be done, and general prepping

for the decoration to be done on Monday.

'It's reassuring to know the good guys are here making this room safe,

'especially when it comes to these dangerous unsealed lights

'so close to the shower. They could have put Virginia at real risk.

'Her last cowboy charged her over £2,000

'and was meant to sort the shower room out once and for all.

'I reckon she was lucky he DIDN'T finish the job,

'or those dangers might have gone undetected.

'Thank goodness for the good guys.

'It's time to check what they've been up to.

'I'm sure this shower room's scrubbed up nicely.

'The last few finishing touches have been added

'and our boys are now heading off.'

I can see pink. Let's find out what's been going on in there.

Oh, yeah. What a difference.

Come on!

What a difference.

The first thing I noticed straightaway -

the floor, if you remember, we had that little step...

I don't know, about 15 mill?

That's gone, that's all nice and smooth now, into the toilet.

I'm loving all this. This has been done out nicely.

That looks like picture framing or picture rails,

so they've done nicely, there.

That's wonderfully mitred, too. The light fitting's gone.

-HE CHUCKLES

-It's gone there.

New boiler!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, YEAH!

Let's have a look in the shower room. Yeah.

Shower's in, shower door's in.

We've got a new chrome upstand to that tap.

The tap's got a little duck on top of it.

That looks really neat, all been finished off lovely.

I tell you what, that ticks all t'boxes.

'Now, there's a man I'd like to thank.'

Not perusing paperwork, are you, Neil?

-Hello, Clive.

-All right, son?

-Not bad, mate, yourself?

-Good, mate, I'm fine.

-Now, the job looks amazing, I have to say.

-Thank you very much.

Just talk us through exactly what, first of all,

problems you may have come across,

and, secondly, what you actually did to put all that right.

What we did, we found the floor was on two different levels,

so we re-fixed the subfloor, we re-tiled the whole floor lovely.

Inside the shower, the tiles were cut incorrectly,

so we've had that all redone, we've re-plastered the whole area,

we've put a new multi-point water heater in for the lady,

with a new balance flue outside.

-OK.

-We cored through the wall, put an extractor fan in there for her

to cover her for the building regs. We've changed all the lights to IP-rated lights

-and decorated the whole place.

-It looks fab.

-Thank you very much.

It looks absolutely fab, mate. Such a difference. It's a transformation.

But the main thing is, now, that it's safe as well, which is the absolutely critical thing.

Do you know what, mate? All I can say is lovely-jubbly.

-Lovely. Thanks, Clive.

-Cracking job.

I let you carry on looking through the paperwork. See you later, mate.

'There's one approval I still need, though -

'Virginia's.'

SHE GASPS Wow. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

-It's so beautiful.

-(What a difference.)

I know.

-It's gone from Grey Gardens to House And Gardens.

-Yeah.

-It just looks amazing now, doesn't it?

-A few things have changed.

Do you remember that step down into the toilet?

Yes, but look at the shower.

It's gorgeous. Look at it.

Absolutely wonderful. See, and the little sink...

The whole thing.

The woodwork... It's beautiful. Looks really old-fashioned, but new.

It does. It is amazing. And you've got, I think, one of the most important things -

a new boiler.

SHE LAUGHS

A brand-new boiler, which is fantastic, too,

so this whole area now, the way it's been painted.

State-of-the-art. It's lovely, it really is.

-It just looks amazing. Do you like it?

-Love it.

If it gets the thumbs-up from Virginia, then I'm really happy.

-I'm really happy. Lovely to meet you.

-And you. Thank you.

You take good care. Enjoy that shower.

-See you, Virginia.

-Yes, thank you.

'Before we brought in the good guys, the shower room was a shocker,

'but our transformation has made Virginia's dream come true.

'We've fixed the floor tiles, put right the pathetic plasterwork,

'and made safe those dangerous electrics.

'At last, a shiny shower room Virginia can be proud of.'

I hope you'll agree, that job is a top job and no mistake.

The good guys are out there if you do your research,

but to all those cowboy builders out there, I have a message for you -

don't go looking 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 on...'

'Help us round up the cowboys.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd