Episode 15 Cowboy Trap

Cowboy builders don't just ruin the roofs over your head. They can ruin your life.

I'm not a builder, but I know that's not how you're supposed to do it.

I'm Clive Holland and I'm on a mission to run these shysters out of town.

I give a monkey's about my family. I've let them down.

With the help of the Good Guys, we'll make happy homes out of these dens of disaster.

I'm trying to make a home here.

It's scary. It's...

It's upsetting.

Do you know how to spot a cowboy builder? If you don't, stay tuned.

It could well keep you out of the Cowboy Trap.

Today Cowboy Trap is in the Welsh valleys. We've come to Treharris,

which means Harris' Town. It's named after the local coal mining boss who, in the 1870s,

built the deepest mine shaft in south Wales right here.

These days, with the collieries long gone, the landscape has been transformed.

A spectacular park has helped restore this beautiful valley to a more natural state.

Just a few miles away is the town of Caerphilly that gave its name to this crumbly cheese.

That was the staple diet of many a miner. It's rather apt because today's cowboy builder story

has got me well cheesed off.

Former soldiers Donna and Russ Ryan were his unlucky victims. They've been married for 20 years

after meeting in the British Army. Donna left the forces to bring up their three children -

Liam, Luke and Cerys.

But Russ carried on. He saw action in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan and that took guts.

It was tough for Donna, too.

Living with a soldier is hard. Constantly going away

and then you've got to get back into a routine when they come home.

It is hard on the children, but they learn to adapt.

Daddy goes away, then Daddy comes home, then away again.

Even though Russ was away from home for months on end, his main priority was always his family

and he looked forward to the day when they and their Labrador Misty could be together for good.

That's always been my goal for years, to buy OUR home.

You know, the MOD provide you with houses and it's fantastic

and it's cheap, but it's not home and it never has been.

It's quite difficult to explain that for 20 years we haven't had a home.

As Russ neared his retirement date, he and Donna decided to take a look for a house in Treharris.

Donna had grown up in the town, so it was ideal because she could be near her family.

She found a three-bed former council house and suggested they buy it.

-He was still serving and was going to still be serving for nearly 18 months.

-Mm-hm.

And then I decided that we needed to have a stable place for Cerys

to finish her education.

And so the Ryan family had their first marital home together.

When Russ retired from active duty at Christmas 2011,

the next stage of their grand plan could be put into action. They had big plans for the house.

For the first time, they could adapt their new home just as they wished.

We wanted a new kitchen. The kitchen was utilitarian.

It worked, we could cook things, but it's not what we wanted.

-It's not what I wanted, personally.

-No.

-And outside there was wasted space. An outside toilet.

We're in the 21st century now. I'm not living with that.

Donna and Russ also wanted to change the layout of their living and dining rooms.

We wanted it to flow so you went right through.

So now you come in, straight into the living area, the dining room, the kitchen. It flows.

And that wasn't all. Donna and Russ wanted to incorporate two concrete outbuildings into the house

to create a utility room.

And the last piece of the jigsaw - giving the upstairs bathroom a complete makeover.

The Ryans knew that this was going to be a major project.

Quite aside from the construction work, they also knew they'd need electrical and plumbing labour.

Russ had a lump sum as a gratuity payment when he left the Army,

so what better way to invest it than making your first family home your dream home?

So Donna and Russ set about finding a builder and posted an ad on a "rate your builder" website.

Several contractors replied and came out to look at the job.

Their quotes varied enormously so the Ryans decided to opt for the one in the middle.

It was pretty much on the nail of what I wanted to spend.

I looked into his references that were on that website,

but what I didn't do was ring round, which I should done, and ask people.

But the references he had all seemed legit, they all seemed good.

He was also, which was another mistake, an ex-soldier.

The military connection was too attractive for Russ to resist,

but take my advice.

When choosing a builder, try to take emotion out of the equation.

You might like his background, his face or even his wife, but none of that matters.

What does matter is a set of references you know you can trust.

The best way to guarantee that is going to see previous customers face to face.

But the Ryans went with their former soldier who said it would take eight weeks to complete the project

at a cost of £15,000.

This was for labour only. Donna and Russ were to provide all the materials.

The builder wanted to be paid cash in hand rather than do a properly invoiced job.

And he wanted two grand upfront before work even started.

As a famous ex-England football manager once said, "Do I not like that!"

Soon after the build started, the Ryans were saying the same.

When it came to him laying underfloor heating was when alarm bells started ringing.

We'd said it needed to be put into screed

and he kept telling us, "No, it doesn't need to do that."

And then he put the tiles down as you would a patio slab.

I'm thinking, "I'm not a builder, but I know it's now how you're supposed to do it."

Remember, part of the Ryans' dream was to have underfloor heating installed beneath their tiled floor.

When it comes to a wet system, you need a competent heating engineer or plumber to install it.

When it comes to electrical underfloor heating, that's far simpler, but our cowboy builder

might as well have laid an egg.

And Russ noticed the builder wasn't doing things he'd quoted for.

What's more, this cowboy was spending most of his time on the phone

when he should have been paying more attention to the quality of his labourer's work.

When he fitted the shower, I said, "That tile's not flush."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get to that." It's still not flush.

The plastering was pitiful and the underfloor heating didn't work.

The list goes on.

The pipework in the downstairs toilet is leaking and we've mould.

It's been there less than 2½ months.

The tiling on the floor, all the grout's disappeared. It's got nothing underneath it

to keep it there. We had a leak underneath the sink.

-But I got a local...

-It wasn't a leak underneath the sink. The hot water pipe came off.

And when it came off, the Ryans' brand-new kitchen was flooded and it shorted the electrics.

They were wet, hungry and in the dark.

All the way through, the whole 10-12 weeks he was here, he promised us virtually every week,

"If anything goes wrong, I'll come back. You know me, Russ. You know me, Russ."

That's what he kept saying. Every time he guaranteed us, "I'll come back."

But when the Ryans called him about the hot water tap,

he accused them of sabotaging it and when they complained about the underfloor heating not working,

he said it was their fault for buying it from an auction website.

They called a local tradesman to fix some of the problems.

He spotted there was something fishy about the cooker.

He noticed I'd had the hob moved. I then had to contact Gas Safe to come and check it.

And then I've had to get yet another gas engineer

to come and put the right fittings for my gas hob so I can use it.

Turns out our cowboy builder had no business installing the hob in the first place

as he wasn't a Gas Safe-registered engineer. That is a criminal offence

and could lead to a fine or even imprisonment.

Russ had looked forward to settling down after 23 years of a nomadic existence in the army.

Not surprisingly, he was heartbroken.

I'm trying to make a home for my family here.

And there's people out there that'll just... They don't see it from my point of view.

And, em, it's scary.

It's... It's upsetting.

That's what it is.

I'm always horrified to see the trail of devastation left behind by cowboy builders.

It's something you never get immune to and this story is heartbreaking,

to see a good guy like Russ brought to his knees by one rogue tradesman.

But remember, there are good guys out there and I hope to bring the Ryans' ordeal to a swift end.

'It would be great if I could say I've come to save Private Ryan,

'but by the time he left the army Russ was a sergeant. Never mind.'

-I'm looking for Donna and Russ Ryan.

-Yeah, that's us.

-Nice to see you. I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

-Do you mind if I come in and look around?

-Not at all.

-Come on in.

'While they put the kettle on, I'm going to have a quick look round.

'First up, the utility area.'

Look at the state of this!

Straight away, as soon as I walked in, I can feel underfoot.

This is as dodgy as anything. You can already see here with the tiles, the way they're laid,

the grout has already popped out, it's blown out.

That's because there's movement underneath and the sub-base is not adequate.

I don't know what is under there, but surely we'll reveal loads of problems.

You can feel it creak and move. I know I'm only light, but these are flipping up all over the place.

'Everywhere you look there are signs of sloppiness.'

Take a look at this. This meets my eye.

That skirting board is not running in line with the dry line.

That's a dry line board there. What they've done is cork up so far to probably about two foot of it,

then the rest has a huge gap.

And you've got mould and all sorts at the back of the toilet.

That's amazing. You're looking at that mould and I reckon that must be that they've got a leak

on a pipe behind that board.

'The plasterwork ain't great, either.

'And when I go into the kitchen, my heart sinks.'

You've got again grout missing. The grout's popped out.

And the other worry is...

I just need to have another feel in here. Because it's so hollow...

Yeah. Now normally...

To me, this is a sin when you're laying tiles. I bet there's about five dots and dabs -

four in each corner and one in the middle. Absolutely no good.

When you're laying a tile, you put the adhesive down first, usually about a metre square.

That means the tile is completely on a bed of adhesive.

'And we know the underfloor heating doesn't heat, the cooker hood extractor fan doesn't extract

'and under the boards he wedged the stopcock, so it can't stop. What a clot!

'Russ has joined me to talk through the oven issues.'

The hob's not really fitted. It's balanced and glued down with a bit of silicone.

It's supposed to have L clamps to hold it to the work surface.

-So all that that's sitting on is a bit of silicone.

-Yes.

-OK.

-And have you still got the actual clamps?

-Yeah, I've still got them.

I mentioned it to the builder and he said they were the wrong clamps for that worktop. They're not.

'That's really serious. This is a gas appliance and it isn't fitted securely.

'He must have got something right. Maybe the electrics? What do you think?'

-These aren't fire-rated lights.

-Yeah.

-We were advised that they were fine.

-And we didn't need fire hoods over 'em.

-Who told you that?

-The builder.

-OK.

-We bought fire hoods because that's what I assumed we'd need.

He said, "We don't need those. Send them back." So I sent them back to the manufacturer.

'Ouch! And the final straw -

'the Ryans have no paperwork to validate the work.'

-There's not a single certificate.

-That's the worst thing for me.

-You've got no certification for that or any work that's been done on the gas hob either.

-No, nothing.

That needs addressing because if you wanted to sell the house in the future,

you've got to hand this sort of thing over to the new incumbents, if you like,

but certainly, we need to start addressing all these problems and fast.

'But before that, there are a few things I want to discuss with Donna and Russ.'

OK, so we've got a long list of problems.

What is it like when you consider this is your first property, it's your dream property...

-How does that feel?

-Clive, the money's not a problem.

Money comes and goes. When it's gone, it's gone.

I don't give a monkey's about the money. What I do give a monkey's about is my family.

I've worked my nuts off for the last 20-odd years to get to where we are now

and I haven't done it, I've let them down.

-No, you haven't.

-Do you feel you've let them down, Russ, definitely?

-Yeah, I do.

I find that quite sad

for a guy that has served us for so long, 20-odd years.

And you are looking after your family, Russ, I promise you that. You're doing a great job.

But this is the thing that really gets me angry.

It can affect people like your good selves

because you've trusted these guys, you know?

-And I can see that it's affected Russ big style.

-It has.

Because he feels like he has let people down.

No matter how many times I tell him, "You haven't let us down," it's out of your control.

-You're going to say that, aren't you?

-No, I tell you the truth.

-Yes.

You know, he hasn't let me down.

-The builder has let us down.

-Yes.

-It's not Russ, it's the builder.

I'm going to say something, Russ. I agree 100%.

Because again... You said you lived in a bubble before

and now you're out there in the...

You're almost exposed if you like and you've been tested, you've been tested.

And I've failed at the first hurdle. Do you know what I mean?

There's a few more hurdles to go yet. Even the best hurdlers in the world knock a few down.

And what I'm going to say to you

is I don't want you carrying on beating yourself up over it any more, at all, OK?

Like you said about the money aspect, let's push it to one side,

but in terms of the cowboy builder aspect, I want us to draw a line and get in behind you

because all the time this is in the state that it's in,

you're constantly waking up and you're being reminded of him.

'And I can't wait for the good guys to come in and transform this place,

'so this lovely couple can wake up and have a bright start to the day.

'It's the least they deserve after their loyal service for Queen and country.'

Just tell me what you'd like us to do.

Make it safe.

Especially with the electrics. And with the mould, the plumbing.

But we need the under-floor heating, so we have got heat out there,

and we're not constantly going round in circles.

If there's no heat, we'll have condensation in the toilet, more mould and it'll be a vicious circle.

And make our dream, to be honest.

Do you fancy a bit of that, Russ?

Yeah, it's...

We bought it. It's ours. It's not going away.

But, you know, just make it a home, really, make our home what we wanted.

'Well, call me an old sentimental fool if you like,

'but I want to make this home fit for heroes.

'It's not going to be easy.

'And to make sure I haven't missed anything at all,

'I've asked independent surveyor Tony Owen to come in and take a look.'

In here, I think there's going to be more problems hidden than the bad stuff we can already see,

but just talk us through what you don't like.

I don't like the standard of the floor workmanship.

The floor tiles are hollow. They haven't been laid on a proper screed

or they've been dot-and-dabbed.

There's electrical wires under here, so they could be flexing over the wires as well.

-It's all got to come up.

-You've got under-floor heating there, so all those cables are resting...

-It seems the tiles are resting directly on them.

-It looks that way, yes.

Now, in the downstairs toilet, Tony,

have you had a look at the mould spores that are just behind the toilet?

-I think there's a water leak there.

-I have, yeah.

A pipe is leaking where it goes into the wall, affecting the plasterboard and mould is growing there.

In terms of the quality of the work, bits of skirting, not brilliant,

-and also some of the plasterwork is not so good.

-Yeah, on the edges it's very poor.

So in terms of a mark out of ten, what would you give him, Tony?

Because the carpentry work isn't too bad,

the rest of the work, you described it perfectly, is not very good, so I would think a two or a three.

'Two or a three. Hmm...

'Well, for me, it's more two than three, but let's not quibble.

'I want to increase that to a nice, round ten out of ten.

'When a nice, round fella like me says that, you know he means business.'

It's only a matter of a couple of weeks before some of these tiles start breaking and flipping up.

That will be a tripping hazard. We want to sort out that extractor fan.

Those damp spores in the downstairs toilet are not healthy at all.

So, as usual, I'm going to declare this a no-go zone

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

Talking of which, where are they?

'Here they are, Anthony Williams and his knights in shining armour, a sight for sore eyes.

'Time for me to ask the million-dollar question.'

What are we going to do to get this lovely family back on track?

First of all, we're going to go in and rip up the floor,

rip up the tile floor, rip up all the old under-floor heating

because it's completely botched.

Under there, that sub-floor, I'm concerned about what is there, I have to be honest.

You know, it doesn't look brilliant.

It's OSB, it is.

Obviously, it's not the perfect type of flooring for tiling on.

It's a rubbish type of floor. Let's be perfectly honest.

-It's a rubbish type of sub-base to be putting tiles on.

-Definitely.

What we're going to do, we're going to basically go over that sub-floor using like a 12-mil...

-Marine ply?

-Marine ply.

-Fantastic.

Screwed and glued at 300 centres.

'Well, I'd like to court-martial the cowboy who created this mess

'and there's no doubt Anthony's army have their work cut out.

'With a full frontal assault on the floor

'and a blitz on those tiles,

'these guys are on a mission.

'It's D-Day for the Ryans,

'but can our good guys deliver VC Day - Victory over Cowboys?

'Only time will tell.'

I'm back in the Welsh valleys where former soldiers Donna and Russ Ryan were desperate to put down roots

after living in military accommodation for so long.

They hoped to convert a three-bed, former council house into a home of their dreams,

but sadly, that was destroyed by a cowboy builder they found

on one of those "rate your builder" websites.

'But he reckoned without our posse of good guys

'and I'm here to find out if they saved the day.

'Before Russ and Donna see it, I want a sneaky peek.'

The first thing I do notice when I walk in is this.

It is as solid as a rock.

This is one of the tiles.

Wow! Now, that is slate.

And that's what... Our good guys were talking about this.

Anthony was saying 18 mil thick and on top of 22 mil boarding he was going to put this on,

so, wow, that is amazing!

'What a difference the good guys have made to this floor!

'It's top class.'

Now then, in the toilet, let's just have a bit of light...

Remember the toilet last time? We've got a water leak going on there.

And also, the toilet was sort of more to one side.

That's been centralised and looks much better. Much better.

I'm glad to see something they wanted - under-floor heating.

Is it working? Let's have a look in the kitchen.

Let's look at the extractor. First of all, nice splashback.

That wasn't there before.

But the extractor will now extract all the steam and all the smells straight outside.

FAN STARTS WHIRRING

'Now that's a breath of fresh air.

'Before I bring Donna and Russ out, I want a pow-wow about their cowboy builder.

'I can't wait to hear their responses to his version of events.'

On the under-floor heating, he says you bought it from an auction website.

-Mm-hm.

-And it simply wasn't up to the job.

He says it wasn't up to the job?

It clearly was up to the job.

You know, it was brand-new,

from an incredibly reputable company.

They don't make rubbish. I don't buy rubbish.

-I've said it before and I don't apologise for saying it again. If you buy cheap, you buy twice.

-Yes.

I bought the best stuff I could possibly afford.

It was virtually industrial-grade under-floor heating.

He also says that you insisted on supplying cheap tiling adhesive too.

HE LAUGHS

Unbelievable!

It's that cheap, it's nearly 30 quid a bag.

It's exactly what was supplied with the tiles.

He says that he never did any gas work at all that was illegal.

I'm not a Gas Safe registered engineer,

but when we contacted Gas Safe and the Gas Safe plumbers that we've had in the house,

every one said, if he touched it and he disconnected it, he has to be Gas Safe registered to put it back in.

He also said that he supplied you with an electrical certificate for the electrical work.

-Really?

-Well, I'd like to see it.

Well, if he did, I'd like to see it.

-OK, so you're saying that you didn't get...

-Not a chance.

-No.

'Well, you don't need any documentation

'to see that this officers' mess has turned into the perfect place to wash those combats.

'I can't wait to see the look on Donna and Russ's faces.'

Come in.

Come and have a look at this.

First and foremost...

I'm going to look at the floor for the simple reason it gave us loads of grief before, didn't it?

Just a little bit. It didn't work.

-It didn't work as a floor and it didn't work as under-floor heating.

-Not at all.

Flexible adhesive, flexible grout as well. Really important and it's nice and solid.

Now, you also remember with the extractor hood, we didn't have it extracting outside.

That's now externally extracted and it will go directly outside.

Now, in here, the same situation again.

The difference is the under-floor heating has all been solved now.

I switched it on a bit earlier, so have a quick feel. Have a quick grope on the tiles.

It's nice and warm.

-It works.

-It works.

Now, these tiles are monsters. Look at that - 18 mil thick. Real slate.

That's what you've now got.

One little extra, in the toilet, you've got an extractor fan

-because you need that and also the toilet itself has been centralised.

-Even better.

Really important, we talked about the electrics...

Here, not only do I have the Gas Safe certificate,

but you've also got your electrical certificates as well for part installation

and all your checks.

Will it make such a massive difference to you?

Yes. It's as if somebody's picked it up off my shoulders

and said, "Don't worry about it, get on with it." And that's what I'll do

-It's been fantastic to have worked with you.

-Thank you very much.

-Best of luck for the future.

-Thank you.

-Have a wander round. You can stick the kettle on now in safety.

-Lovely.

-Lovely to see you and look after yourselves.

-Cheers, Clive.

-See you soon. Thank you.

-Thanks, Clive.

Well, what a result!

At last, the under-floor heating finally works.

And what about that floor? It's rock-solid.

I could do my gymnastics routine on there and it wouldn't budge an inch.

All the problems are now going to be behind Donna and Russ because our good guys have addressed them all.

That is another strike for the good guys. It's been brilliant, this job, without a shadow of a doubt.

But I've got one message for the cowboys out there.

Saddle up and ride your pony because we're on your trail!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd