Episode 9 Cowboy Trap

I've seen some really dodgy building work in my time and builders with no regard for homeowners whatsoever.

On top of that, they haven't even got the most basic building skills.

There's a stink from the sink and that is bad.

I want to reveal the methods and tricks the cowboys use to get their hands on your hard-earned cash.

Moving into a bungalow was our dream, but it's been a nightmare.

It's not just the elderly who get caught out by unscrupulous builders. Young professionals get caught out.

You come into my house with my family, my children, and you leave them in a state

where you endangered their lives.

Today we're dealing with two very different cases and two very dodgy builders.

My team will right the wrongs these cowboy builders leave behind

and I'll give you hints and tips to avoid falling into the cowboy trap.

'We're travelling across the country putting right the disasters left behind by two heartless builders.

'In the south-east, one family didn't just get a dodgy extension,

'they got a whole lot of sewage into the bargain.'

-The first time we did it there was toilet roll and...

-OK, halt.

'And in Wales, a family falls out of love with their home when a cowboy builder butchers their bungalow.'

I don't want to be here. I just want to walk out of the door,

shut the door and walk away.

First we're heading to Sunbury on the outskirts of London.

I'm on my way to meet Tamara and Leeyon Phelan, a young couple with a four-bedroom semi-detached property.

Leeyon is a sales manager and Tamara is an engineering manager.

If that's not enough to keep them busy, they've got three children, all under the age of five.

The Phelans bought this house in 2006. It was their first home,

but it just wasn't big enough to accommodate their family needs and they didn't want to move again.

We've got a lovely big garden and we thought it would be too much hassle moving.

We knew what we wanted as well and we thought we could do it with the house that we had.

Rather than move, the Phelans decided to extend their property

by adding a larger family kitchen, a children's playroom, a utility room

and a bathroom upstairs.

For Tamara and Leeyon, this was a huge project to take on,

but it would be worth it - they wanted a real family home. It would be a dream come true.

The couple remortgaged their house to pay for the £70,000 project

and used a builder recommended by friends.

But some four months on, the building work was unfinished

and the couple began to notice lots of little things they were unhappy about.

-I just thought it was...

-Some cosmetic stuff.

-Cosmetic.

All of the plugs are at different levels. That was winding me up,

but I didn't realise the electrics behind it were dangerous.

In fact, it was a lot worse than that.

The electrics were lethal and there was a smell of sewage coming from the kitchen sink.

In the end, the couple had to wash up in the bath to avoid a major health risk to their children.

I'm here to find out where things went so badly wrong and to see if we can put things right.

-You must be Leeyon.

-Yes, I am.

-I'm Clive. How are you?

-Not bad.

-I know you've got a few problems. Mind showing me round?

-Come in.

'So where is that smell of sewage coming from? Let's check out the kitchen.'

Tamara, how are you doing?

Hello.

We had a new toilet installed upstairs.

The down pipe, which we've found out is the wrong type of pipe as well...

The waste goes directly down under where your sink area is?

Right down into the corner. The sink connects into the corner.

-When you flush the toilet, does it get kickback?

-The first time we did it, there was toilet roll.

-OK, halt.

That's it for me. We'll get Tamara to go and flush, if that's OK?

Here we go. The flush is happening. Oh, yeah! Look at that! It's coming up in both of them.

Oh, that is just crazy. I'm telling you now, that is harbouring

so many germs. Now the water that's coming through there now harbours more germs

that have gone on from the toilet.

It's a case of cease and desist. We cannot use that any more.

That's got to be sorted - and rapid.

'This is alarming.

'Waste from the new upstairs toilet is not only coming into the kitchen sink, but it's not draining away.

'I think there's a blockage in the main drain which is causing this back-up of waste.'

-You've now taken out the stopper for the sink and that water should just be going...gone.

-Yeah.

Look at it. You can't have that. That is harbouring germs and you've got young children.

-'There are more horrors under the sink.'

-All the pipework is now leaking as well.

Yeah. OK, so we've got problems there. Another thing that worries me, Leeyon, as I look around

is the state of the way that's been fitted. All wonky.

What worries me is that this guy carried out the electrical work.

-You probably don't know if he was qualified.

-No.

-Have you had a periodic test done on it since?

We had someone come in after he'd left, due to the fact that he'd left the fuse board exposed,

which is dangerous itself.

They put the fuse board right and then carried out the tests and it failed miserably.

Now we're talking about real dangerous things. It's not just aesthetics

and having germs and bugs all over.

This is now getting really serious when you talk about electrics.

'And the list of hazards goes on, like these badly-finished drain covers

'in the children's playroom,

'this leaking window,

'the cracked ceiling

'and the sloping floor.

'It's time to get to the bottom of what's really been going on here.'

What convinced you to select this particular builder?

-Did he have all the dialogue, the silver tongue?

-Yeah, he said he had a lot of connections.

-When we went to choose the kitchen, "I know someone."

-"Get it at cost."

And one of my best friends, he was her friend as well and he just felt at ease with him.

We just felt at ease.

So beware. Don't be taken in by the silver-tongued talk of cowboy builders,

even if recommended by friends.

Make sure you see samples of their work before employing them.

As work got underway, the family temporarily moved out. Tamara was heavily pregnant,

so to avoid the mess they all went to live with her mum.

-That's when...

-That's when he started.

-Things slowed down.

But I don't know, in all honesty, if it was because we weren't here.

I just think he's incompetent. I think if someone was here, watching,

he'd still have built the walls crooked, he'd still have put the roof on... Do you know what I mean?

Because we didn't know the quality of work, how it should be done,

we couldn't see that the walls were crooked and the floors were off. He was still doing work

and you just accept that that's what he's meant to be doing.

It was only after warnings from the surveyor and Tamara's dad

that the couple realised they'd been taken for a ride.

Unfortunately, this family had already paid £4,000 upfront

and had been paying almost £8,500 every two weeks.

You've got a contract, written contract, between yourself and the builder.

And a breakdown of payments.

He suggested that he would get paid every two weeks

and we said as long as you're on schedule for a four-month finish,

we were happy to do that every two weeks.

OK. No is the answer to that. It's always best to do it at a specific stage in the build.

When you're happy with each individual stage of that build,

and if that means bringing in Building Control to say it's fine, then you hand over the cheque.

'In total, they had parted with a massive £70,000.

-'The stress was taking its toll.'

-I was signed off from work,

I had all sorts of sleeping tablets that just wouldn't work.

Four, five, six nights when I just wouldn't sleep. At all.

Within four months of the building work starting, the extension had turned from a dream to a nightmare.

-Wow.

-'Later, I get an independent expert's opinion on just how bad the building work really is.'

This is the worst I've ever seen.

'Now I'm heading west to Wales to meet our second family

'who have fallen into the cowboy trap.' I'm in Dinas Powys on the outskirts of Cardiff

to meet Sylvia Penny, who has lived alone since her husband passed away.

She's had a real tough old time bringing up two grown-up children with disabilities.

What's worse is that Sylvia has health issues of her own. Do these cowboy builders have no shame?

'Sylvia suffers from limited mobility, while son David is autistic

'and daughter Michelle has asthma and chronic fatigue syndrome, ME.

'Michelle's condition means she needs 24-hour care.

'And when Sylvia isn't looking after her children, she's caring for her 88-year-old mother.'

I care for three people without any support from anybody. I do it on my own.

All I wanted was somebody to come in and do a decent job for a decent amount of money.

I didn't want to be ripped off.

Sylvia and her family have lived in this bungalow since 2009.

Sylvia purchased the property to have everything on one level to make life easier.

We were very attracted to it because it was a bungalow.

It's very important that things were on the same level. Michelle spends so much time in bed

because she's so poorly. Being on the same level means I'm not running upstairs constantly.

On moving in, the family planned to update the bungalow by replacing the interior doors and skirting

and doing some plastering and electrical work in Michelle's room.

Sylvia was quoted £2,080 for the work

by a builder she'd used before.

She thought he was also a qualified carpenter and electrician.

But it wasn't long before she realised her costly mistake.

Having the work done has achieved the aims we set out for,

but unfortunately it's left us in a bit of a mess.

I can't decorate because the work all needs redoing.

When I invite people into my home, I have to apologise and say, "Please don't lean on the door.

"Don't touch that. Put your fingers there and you'll get splinters.

"Please don't push the door because there aren't enough screws and I'm afraid it might come off."

I'm here today to see if I can help Sylvia get her life back and get this bodged building back on track.

-Hello there.

-Hello.

-You must be Sylvia.

-I am.

-Hi.

-Come on in.

-I'm really sorry to hear about your problems with cowboy builders.

Just be careful as you come through. The glass doors don't open properly. There aren't enough screws

and I'm afraid they'll fall. It is toughened glass, so that should be secure, but I don't want accidents.

-I'm no good at first aid.

-That's a real worry. Put your feet up and I'll come for a chat later.

-In the meantime, I'll look around.

-Yes, you carry on.

-Thank you.

That is a real worry that we've got glass in this door not secured properly.

It doesn't matter who lives here, children or adults,

a pane like that, that size, falling out of that door or the door falling off,

is definitely going to do some damage. No two ways about it.

Check this out. This guy, without a shadow of a doubt, has got no skills at hanging doors

or when it comes to woodworking.

These are very lightweight hinges and he hasn't rebated them into the actual door itself.

He's just sat them on the surface, so it will never close properly. This is just bad workmanship.

I can't believe it. If I just shut that...

Well, we'll try.

That gap, eventually, as you'll see, around the edge of the door,

over a period of time will swell completely and never shut.

I'm also guessing... He's got to be responsible for the skirting board, hasn't he?

Look at that.

I don't know how he's fixed it. He's probably put the odd screw or nail in.

But that's not finished well.

'And the dodgy woodwork continues on the rest of the doors.'

Now with these hinges, the problem here is he's only got four screws in, for sure,

but on this side, on the actual inside here of the frame, you've got one screw. That's all.

That's all that's holding the top of this door to the actual frame itself.

At the bottom, again he's got one.

So in actual fact, in truth, if you're pulling on this door,

there's only two small screws that are holding it to the frame.

As you'll see from this side, because he's miscalculated the size of the doors,

he's put a packer on there of...of an inferior timber.

And then here...

on the escutcheon plate, you see there?

That's all buckled and bent. You'd never put that on and think it was a good job.

Never in a million years.

Looking at the skirting, if you look at the top, there's a massive gap.

You can just knock that and it's all over the place.

It's the same here. The actual finish again.

It's poor. And yes, filler can cover a multitude of sins,

but it can't make up for quality.

And the quality of the workmanship, at best, is poor.

I just want to check inside here in the bedroom

because the plasterwork is... Again, I think it's been put on with a yard brush!

Look at the state of it.

It is terrible.

No way.

And I wonder who's done the electrics? There's trunking here.

It's plastic trunking. It does hide a multitude of sins. It's a good idea

if you don't want to chop into the wall. So trunking's been rested

on the top of the 75mm skirts there as well.

Leading into a socket there. I hope he hasn't done anything with the electrical aspects.

This looks like a new pendant drop and ceiling rose.

Oh, dear.

Look how that's fixed. Hardly at all. I'd almost certainly guarantee

that this guy's had his hands on it.

Without a shadow of a doubt.

Look at that.

'I need to find out from Sylvia how this room ended up in such an awful state.'

Sylvia, come in here. Just try to explain to me,

in the best way possible, what the heck has been going on?

Well, the builders put the door on, the architrave,

the skirting board. He's plastered this room, but in the process he's plastered over half the plug

and he's put the light up here. I'm afraid to put a lampshade on because it doesn't look safe.

Do not put a lampshade up there. Lots of things are in breach of the 17th edition regulations.

-Oh, heck.

-But we'll get an electrician in to sort it.

-OK, thank you.

-Don't you worry. And there's remedial work got to be carried out here.

It is really, really poor.

'Sylvia's dream of modernising her home has turned into a hatchet job on the woodwork.

'So how did this lady, who devotes her time to caring for others, fall into the cowboy trap?'

-How did you find the builder in the first place?

-The local paper. We found him from there.

He did some work for us and, to my opinion, that work was to satisfactory standard.

'But not long into the job, Sylvia and the builder began to disagree over some double doors.'

He said that the doors didn't fit and he wanted to either put another... I don't know the terms.

-Packers?

-He wanted to put a piece on the side of the door like he'd put on that side. And I said, "No.

"Please don't do that." So he said the only other way was to put pieces on the doors.

I said you'll need to put new doors in, but he still did it.

'By now, Sylvia was beginning to question his skills,

'so she and her children decided to take a closer look at the quality of the woodwork.'

We went around looking at all the skirting boards and the doors

and looking up at the light fittings and things, thinking, "I don't know.

"There's a gap there. Look at that radiator." And I thought this doesn't look good.

'Sylvia then discovered the builder had been made bankrupt

'and when he failed to turn up to finish the job, he said he'd been in hospital with cancer.'

-What's your feeling about him?

-I don't hold him any malice.

If he's genuinely been ill, I wish him well. If he's lied to me, he should be ashamed of himself.

I'd like an apology.

But at this stage I don't wish to speak to him

because I'm too emotional about it.

-PHONE RINGS

-'During my chat with Sylvia, the phone rings.'

Hello? 'Sylvia is screening her calls, but I suspect it's the builder.

'And I'm right.' Are you happy to have a conversation with me? Great. OK.

'He knows we've been trying to contact him. Sylvia is refusing to talk to him,

'so I take the chance to get his side of the story.'

Why didn't you give Mrs Penny the standard she required in the first place?

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

'but I can tell you he apologised. He even offered to return to put things right,

'under supervision.'

I have to look at the electrical factor. Are you Part P-registered? Basic Part P-registered.

'He was unable to confirm he was qualified to carry out electrical work to national standards.'

So what you're saying is that you think you're allowed to actually put on a spur of a socket,

you can put on a light switch, hang a pendant, without being qualified to do so?

I will go away now and talk with our team and we'll come up with a strategy.

Thank you for talking to us.

He wants the opportunity to come back and put everything right.

That's not my decision. That decision has to be with Sylvia and the family.

If they don't want him back, there's nothing anybody will do.

Later: is it D-Day for Sylvia's builder or will he get a second chance?

Would you be prepared to give him that opportunity?

Back in Sunbury, Tamara and Leeyon Phelan wanted an extension to be proud of

and a family home for their three children, but what they got was a house of horrors.

Sewage was backing up into the kitchen sink.

The floor in the children's playroom was hazardous. And the electrics were lethal.

We've called in building scrutiniser Peter Appleby.

He's been inspecting and identifying defects on newly-built homes and building work for 11 years.

Now we want his verdict on this job.

Wrong specification of pipe. ..Never seen anything like it.

-You must be Peter.

-I am. Good morning.

What have you found that is not to your liking?

Every trade that has been associated with this build has a defect.

Just look anywhere. It's atrocious.

If I was to ask you what mark out of 10 you'd give these guys for this,

10 being the best, zero being the worst, where will you go?

Without any hesitation, a minus zero. In the whole ten years, now eleven years,

-this is the worst I've ever, ever seen.

-It's so important to get your input and great to meet you.

-I'll leave you doing your exterior survey and maybe catch you again.

-Thank you.

-Cheers, buddy.

Well, well, well. A minus score. That's a damning indictment of the quality of this builder's work.

It's time to bring in local builders to sort out this mess.

'The cowboy builder has left Paul and his team with a smelly problem,

'so I need to talk to the man with the plan.'

The boys are back in town! How are you, Paul? Great to have you onboard.

-Who have you brought with you?

-Dave, our plumber.

-I don't think we met.

I tell you what, Paul. It's great to have you guys.

Lots of problems have gone on here.

-You've seen loads of different aspects of this job. What's your plan?

-I think we'll start

in the kitchen. We just have to take the whole lot out

from the branch to the floor level. And perhaps under the floor level.

-Sort the blockage out and replace it with a suitable pipe.

-Well played, boys.

-Thank you.

As Paul and his team get to the bottom of what's causing the stink in the sink,

they discover that this cowboy builder really did plumb the depths.

There's a blockage somewhere within this pipework here which runs down to the mains.

We've got to rod it through now to see if we can unblock it

or find where the problem's coming from.

The boys have a big job on their hands. The next step is to open up the main drain

and put a camera down to see if they can locate the blockage, but that needs a specialist team.

'After some award-winning camera work, the drainage analysts have cracked the problem.

'The cowboy builder had been putting his old mortar down the drain.'

-Was it like a complete blockage?

-It was, yeah. 100% blocked with concrete and screed.

-You can see coming up now...

-Ah!

-This is it.

-Stop it there. Stop the camera. Look at that.

That is absolutely rock hard. That's causing almost like a dam, if you like.

This was causing the problem that when they flushed the toilet, it was backing up into the sink.

Yeah. They'd connected all the pipes from the sink to the toilets.

So it backed up and came out the first place it can - the sink.

'I can't believe how irresponsible this cowboy builder has been.

'Now the Good Guys have cleared the blockage and relined the pipes, making them as good as new.

'But it's not the only mess.'

-What's happening on the electrical front?

-Well, the electrics, really, is in a bad state. Well, it was.

We've made it all safe. It was almost like a comedy sketch.

Turn one switch and a light came on in the other room. We've had our guys in making everything safe.

'This cowboy builder left the Phelans out of pocket and living in a Hammer House of Horrors.

'I want to give them the chance to confront him about his dodgy work.'

When was the last dialogue with your builder?

The last time I spoke to him was when we gave him a letter.

That's the time I said to him, "The electrician's been round and told me you left my house dangerous.

"Have you?" And he said, "I'll put my hands up. I did."

-How does that make you feel?

-I'm angry at his incompetence.

And his inability to care that his incompetence has left us with a dangerous house.

Because we have to give him a right of reply, I'll give you an opportunity to speak to him.

It's calling now. Just put it on the speakerphone.

-'Hello?'

-Hello? It's Tamara.

The first think I'd like to ask you is why did you, as an unqualified electrician,

wire our house and leave it so dangerous?

'For legal reasons, we can't broadcast what the builder said,

'but I can tell you he's denying he endangered the family's health and safety.'

You're a despicable disgrace.

You come into my house with my family, with my children,

and leave them in a state where you could have endangered their lives.

How could you do that?

He's gone.

Well, this is really tough. I know that's been really tough for you.

He has to have a right of reply, but you know what? He's typical of a cowboy builder.

He didn't have anything to say. But, listen, well done.

We'll help you as much as we can.

'Later: the Phelans get to see the good work done to rectify those cowboy wrongs.'

In Wales, the Penny family wanted to update their home and improve their interior decoration.

But their builder did a hatchet job on their woodwork and doors,

leaving them in a cowboy trap.

He wants to return to make things right.

The family are about to decide whether to have him back.

But first let's hear what independent surveyor Tim Lawley thinks of the work.

You've had a chance to look round. What's your opinion of the work?

I'd say it's the work of someone who isn't skilled in the work he's purporting to be doing.

For instance, the joinery, a lot of the work is poorly cut, ragged edges, poorly affixed.

The architraves around the door and the skirting has no proper jointing where they meet up.

Look at the door. A very ragged cut to the top of the door,

fitting in around what's there existing.

What sort of score out of 10, if you were to mark him, would you give him for the work?

-I would say probably no more than two or three.

-Two or three is the score he deserves, no doubt.

-Totally invaluable, your opinion. Thanks for coming along.

-Pleasure.

'That is a damning score.

'2 out of 10! So, based on that, will Sylvia and her children agree to have the cowboy builder back

'to put things right?'

Would you be prepared to give him that opportunity

to come back under constant supervision? He'll never be on his own.

-What would you feel about that, David? How would you feel?

-I really don't want him back.

I've got no trust that he'd actually do the work properly.

Michelle?

No. There's no way. He's made the mistakes.

Why does he think he can do well now?

-And Mum?

-As I've said all along, I don't want him back in the house.

No, I don't think so. Thank you.

'Well, that's their verdict and I don't blame them. They've suffered enough with this cowboy.

'I'm packing the family off for a few days and as they leave, the local builders arrive

'to rebuild their dream. Tony and his team are here to right those cowboy wrongs.'

The Good Guys are in town! How are you? Good to see you.

The carpenter - you're going to have a laugh in a minute!

-So we've got our sparks, we've got our carpenter and our builder.

-Correct.

-Lovely.

First, just talk us through exactly what the plan is.

First, the electrics. Mark's here to go and check those out.

Then we've got to take all the doors off. There's plastering to sort and start from new.

Nice one, boys. It is so good to have the real Good Guys onboard.

As Tony and the guys get to work, they discover there are more hidden horrors than they first thought.

The skirting, none of them are any good. They were held on by tiny pins and grip fill in parts.

Some lengths six foot long with one pin holding it on. The hoovering would hit them off.

The door frames have been damaged too much. They've been repaired.

The light fittings were hung on with screws into the plasterboard, which wouldn't hold anything.

And the trunking that was put on was on with solvent, I think. It was so loose.

With a mountain of problems to put right, there's no time to waste.

Tony's team has already stripped out the old woodwork and started replacing the doors and architrave,

but that's just the beginning.

'Later, the Penny family get to see what our guys can do.'

Oh, my gosh.

We're back in Sunbury where the Phelan family had four months of torture

when a cowboy builder turned their new extension into a no go zone.

There were loads of serious problems including sewage in the kitchen sink,

caused when their builder blocked the main drain with old cement.

Within days, the local builder had removed the underground blockage and water is flowing freely again.

It's time now to see what the Phelans think of their handiwork.

-Remind us what was happening down here.

-First of all, you'd flush the toilet upstairs

and it would gurgle up in the sink.

The test now is to say once you actually switch the tap on...

whereas before the water just wasn't going anywhere,

now it's just washing away cleanly. But there is one other little test before we move on from here.

And that is to say, remember the time when we flushed before.

If you would be so kind as to do us a flush and we'll see if we've got any problem with it backing up.

Do you mind doing that, Tamara? Brilliant.

-So that's a flush?

-Yeah.

-Nothing at all. Can't even hear anything.

It's loads better now. There's nothing backing up in the sink.

How does that make you feel from a health and safety view?

Very pleased. Just to know there's not any problems for future illness, which was a concern raised.

And, of course, you had the problem with the venting that was terminated inside the property.

As you can see now, that's gone. It's an external vented stack.

That's neatly put away now.

Remember the problems with the leaking sink? Now there's no bucket.

'Apart from stemming the stink in the sink, Paul and his team have straightened out the electrics,

'including those wonky switches. The leaky window in the playroom was reseated,

'and the sharp-edged drain covers tidied up. There's loads more to do, but it's a start.'

What is your general feeling about it now that allowed you to move on?

Knowing the building's safe, is not going to leak,

-the drains...everything's safe. It's never going to be the wow that it was meant to be...

-Yes.

But it's not the horrible disappointment it's come to be.

-What about you, Leeyon?

-Just being able to use the basic things we weren't able to use,

knowing there won't be water dripping on the playroom floor

and that the electrics are safe,

knowing they are in a state where something is going to happen.

'Well, it's a happy ending for the Phelans, but what about the Penny family in Wales?

'They've been counting the cost of handing over more than £2,000 to a cowboy builder

'who made a real bodge of their doors and woodwork. Now the local builders have sorted out the mess.

'The family have been staying with relatives during the work.

'Now it's time to show them what Tony and his team have done.'

Hey! Good to see you.

-And to you.

-How long have you been away?

-A week.

-A week!

-Tonight you'll be able to go back into your own beds.

-Lovely.

-Are you suitably excited?

-Yes!

-Down to the bone!

-And very apprehensive.

-Come on.

In you go.

'I'm thrilled to bits. This family have been through a lot

'and I can't wait to see what they make of the new doors and skirting.'

-Now this door here, this is a new door. Remember...

-It's got screws and hinges!

Screws on the hinges - that's the key! Take a closer look.

It opens all the way. Oh, wow!

- That's a surprise. - Look.

-Great finish.

-Oh, wow.

-That's a great door. Of course, safety glass as well.

-Thank you.

-But what about your skirtings? You had problems before.

-They're behind the carpet, look.

-Fitted properly behind the carpet. I'm so chuffed you're chuffed!

I'm ecstatic. It's brilliant.

-There's still loads more to see.

-Oh, crikey!

-Still loads more to see. Like...

..the doors behind you.

Look - they shut!

- They've actually shut properly. - And they're straight.

Look. They're straight.

-They're brand-new doors.

-They actually fit the gap now.

I'm going to go through them. Stay where you are because...

-They do!

-New hinges.

-Look at that.

-Oh, my gosh!

-No packing.

-No packing.

No botched job around the door. They've been bespoke made, especially for the opening.

So that's the beauty of it. It's been done properly.

And again the fixings. We've got proper bolts on this side.

So this door will shut and lock off. And this door shuts beautifully as well.

Look.

Come through and take a look. You've got all new panelled doors now.

-Six panels. And aren't they beautifully painted or what?

-Yeah.

-Oh, it's fantastic.

-Look at the light.

-- It's not hanging from the ceiling. - No builder's chalk on it.

-No, there isn't.

It sits properly into the joists now. It's had to be moved slightly to one side,

but it's now fixed to a joist rather than the ceiling board.

What sort of a difference is this going to make to your life now?

Oh, fantastic. A huge difference.

We can now start to sort of put the house together again,

put lampshades up instead of looking... It hardly looks appealing to anybody who comes in.

-No lampshade.

-We've got one extra little feature going on.

And it's happening... in Michelle's room. OK?

A few things have changed in there. After you, Michelle. Have a look.

'Tony and his guys have pulled out all the stops in Michelle's room.

'Remember the walls? They were so badly plastered they couldn't be painted

'and the sockets, cabling and lighting were a disgrace.

'Now that's all been sorted out. This family really deserve a break.'

I'm really chuffed with this room. Me personally, I think it's great.

-It looks amazing.

-It's gorgeous. Do you like it?

-Do you like it?

-Yeah. It looks amazing.

-You can put your posters up and things like that now.

-It looks like a proper bedroom.

-It didn't before. We couldn't paint it as it was.

-No.

-The plasterwork was so bumpy.

This guy's bad work had a massive impact not just on the house, but on family life in general.

It did become depressing. I didn't want to invite anybody in.

I felt ashamed of my home, but I don't know... They've done such a fantastic job. Thank you so much.

Listen, it's been an absolute pleasure. Great to see you.

Look after yourself, all right? And enjoy your home as it should be.

I'm really sorry that this guy messed your lives up,

but it just goes to show there are good guys out there and if you do your research,

-you won't fall into the cowboy trap again.

-Oh, we won't be. Believe me.

I've learnt my lesson the hard way, but I've learnt my lesson. I won't be going that way again.

OK, Sylvia, Michelle, David, it's been fantastic to meet you.

Good luck for the future. I hope all goes well.

And tonight enjoy sleeping in your own bed! You take it easy.

-I'll leave you looking around.

-Thank you, Clive.

-See you soon. Bye.

Wow, this is gorgeous, Michelle.

I know I keep saying this, but I'm telling all cowboy builders

that your days of conning people and taking their cash are numbered -

Cowboy Trap are on your trail.

If you've had a problem with builders and would like to tell your story, please call us.

Standard geographic charges apply. Calls from mobiles may be higher.

Or you can send us an email.

Help us round up the cowboys.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2012