Episode 19 Cowboy Trap

It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from,

you could get caught out by a cowboy builder.

Stress, anxiety, frustration, disappointment.

It got so depressing to come home every night.

You know, these bodgers cause misery with their dodgy excuses

and their shoddy workmanship.

We both felt like we'd failed our boys,

cos we made a wrong decision.

Now, then, I've rounded up the good guys to turn these

homes from hell into divine dwellings.

We just couldn't do this any more, it was just ripping us apart.

Think you know what makes a cowboy builder?

Well, you might not have a clue.

So stick around for the next 30 minutes,

because it could well keep you out of the Cowboy Trap.

Today, Cowboy Trap is in Essex in the town of South Ockendon.

Once a small rural village, South Ockendon became heavily urbanised in the 1940s

when it was chosen as a site to re-home London's East Enders

bombed out of their homes in the Blitz.

Just a few miles from here is a spot that has great

significance for UFO buffs.

It was claimed that, back in 1974,

an entire family were beamed aboard an alien spacecraft in what

was known as one of Britain's first ever alien abductions.

Now, if you think that story is a bit far-fetched,

wait till you hear the story of Peter and Vicky Norcott,

who had a close encounter with a cowboy builder.

Yep, the owners of this three-bedroom house had an

experience Steven Spielberg could easily make into a disaster movie.

No wonder its unwitting stars - Peter and Vicky Norcott, their children,

Teddy, Liam and Jack, and their family dog Max - look so miserable.

Peter is a transport manager and Vicky worked for a leading

clothing retailer until she gave it all up to become a full-time mum.

We'd got engaged, which was lovely,

and then a few weeks later I found out I was pregnant with Teddy.

As soon as we had Teddy I knew it was absolutely wonderful.

I turned round to Pete and said, "I want another one."

Peter and Vicky have lived in this house for 12 years

and have always loved it.

But with a growing family, they realised it was simply too small.

We've got three boys, they were all in one bedroom.

They all get on well, but, boys being boys

and siblings being siblings, they have their moments where they argue.

So we decided that we would be better to have their own bedrooms,

and seeing as we had the space, we thought we'd do an extension.

For the whole family, these were really exciting times.

After all, who gets to plan from scratch exactly what

they need in their home?

For the Norcotts, they wanted two new bedrooms for the boys,

a utility room and an extra bathroom.

To create the space for all this, in February 2011 the Norcotts

decided to commission a double storey extension.

Their ambitious plan included access from the living room

to the garage, where the boys park their bikes,

and a new front door to the carport for Peter.

The access downstairs into the hallway is an idea that we

had where we could obviously get into the new bathroom,

the utility room but, more importantly,

to get access to the front of the house so that when we came

in with the car we was able to get into the carport, get the kids

out, it's raining, and we obviously avoid getting wet and muddy.

Peter and Vicky hired an architect who'd done some work for them

in the past and got him to draw up the design.

But planning permission proved tricky

because the Norcotts' neighbours objected to the plans.

The concerns the neighbours had over the extension was the

fact that they was worried about the sunlight into their garden

and also overlooking their gardens,

so what we done was we brought the extension in a metre,

both from the front and the back, and we put frosted glass in the back window.

The Norcotts' compromises led to the council giving the green light

to their plans. So, the Norcotts were ready to go.

And, do you know what? They didn't even have to find their builder.

Because he came to them.

Due to their successful planning application

they got loads of unsolicited mail through the letterbox.

They decided to sift through it all

and chose the builder that they thought was the best.

Big mistake.

Take my advice...

Some councils even sell on lists of these applications they've received.

Your address and proposed works will be there for everyone to see, so...

Thing is, most good builders are busy and don't go touting for work.

So...

..especially if they turn up at your door.

The builder who approached the Norcotts quoted them

£38,000 for the double storey extension,

including two bedrooms, a utility room and a shower room.

Peter checked out the builder's references, which were positive,

but the couple simply couldn't afford to spend that much money.

The finances was coming from, obviously,

a remortgage on the house, which we had equity in,

and we didn't get the valuation that we thought

we were going to get on the house, so we had to adjust our budget.

By raiding their life savings,

Peter and Vicky were able to raise 32 grand.

It was a big financial stretch,

but they were desperate to achieve their dream.

The builder accepted this revised figure,

much to the Norcotts' delight.

The builder told them that the job would take about three months

to complete, so they agreed on a payment schedule.

But part of that agreement was that the builder asked

if they'd transfer the money into his daughter's bank account.

Now, then, that got me thinking. That means he's

possibly not paying his VAT and he's not paying his income tax.

On top of that, there would be no paper trail - no invoices,

no receipts and, worst of all, no contract.

To me, that's a massive tell-tale sign that they were dealing with a cowboy.

When work started, Peter and Vicky immediately ran into problems with their neighbours.

They'd always had reservations and now,

thanks to the builders' slapdash approach, their fears had come true.

I was clearing up the rear garden, I was clearing up their mess,

the neighbours were coming in with bits of wood

and brick that had fallen into their garden.

The strained situation went from bad to worse

when the builder put scaffolding up.

He erected it much too close to the neighbours' property.

In my letter to him, from day one I was very clear,

he needed to build from the inside and he would not be allowed

to put any kind of scaffolding anywhere around the neighbours' areas.

Peter and Vicky's neighbours called out

health and safety inspectors, who said the scaffolding was dangerous

and showed the builders where they should have put it.

Moving the scaffold held up work for days.

So, the job got off to a bad start, but you ain't seen nothing yet.

Within weeks, the builder had become more and more unreliable.

There was weeks where the builders just didn't turn up.

And you're in contact and the builder would say, "Yeah, we've got it sorted, trust me,

"don't worry, we'll sort it out."

So you're trustin' 'im to do this job, cos that's what you're

paying him to do, but on the same hand he wasn't turnin' up.

On the rare occasions he did turn up, this cowboy

had a habit of demanding money for ever more outlandish reasons.

One time it was because he'd crashed his van,

another because his wife had run off and taken all his cash.

Like the fools that we were, we felt sorry for him

and we felt that, you know, we're in here, we're so far down the road

with the build, to turn it off now would probably be quite difficult.

So we said that we tell him on the basis that he would help us.

I think the most frustrating thing is that we actually

believe now that these were all lies.

What's that famous saying? "Lies, damned lies and cowboy blooming builders!"

OK, I made that one up, but you get the idea.

And it wasn't just the porkie pies that dismayed the Norcotts, it was the sheer incompetence

of the little work the builder had actually done.

I had to protect the rear garage roof where he'd never made any protection.

Plastering was done upstairs

and it was open to the elements for probably at least six weeks.

It got so depressing to come home every night to it.

Six months after the work started the plot took an unexpected turn.

It went from disaster movie to detective story.

The builder vanished into thin air.

And Agatha Christie herself couldn't have dreamt up what happened next.

Peter received an e-mail from the builder's e-mail address

purporting to be from a friend.

He said the builder was so down he'd decided the world would be a better place without him,

so he got drunk, took a load of pills and tried to commit suicide.

Apparently the friend found him just in time.

At that point we discussed it together, me and the wife,

and we just thought, "We've got to let go of this builder."

We just couldn't do this any more. It was just ripping us apart, really.

The builder's next move was to e-mail the Norcotts to say

they owed him money and had seven days to pay up.

The additional costs that he was claiming that he'd

incurred on our build was, in my eyes, totally incorrect.

It was to do with scaffolding et cetera and the delays that were

tied around the actual brickwork part of the build.

Not surprisingly, Peter didn't see the funny side.

He refused to pay another penny.

Nine months later, he and Vicky are left with gaping holes

to their beloved home and their life savings.

It caused me and Pete to snap at each other, "Why ain't...?", do you know what I mean?

You'd say, "Why ain't they here?" Do you know what I mean?

But I'd be blaming Pete because Pete was sortin' it out.

Stress, anxiety, frustration, disappointment.

All this all rolled into probably around about two months' worth,

and was taking its toll, you know?

Not sleeping, literally wondering,

"Is this builder ever going to come back?

"Is he going to finish this build?

"Do we have enough money to finish the build?"

The Norcotts' hopes had been dashed, their lives decimated

and their savings depleted. They were at rock bottom.

You know, it's always amazing that even the most sensible of people,

when they get the builders in, seem to put their brain in neutral.

And the Norcotts' story sounds a really sad one.

I hope with the help of the good guys we're going to be able

to get them back on track.

So let's find out a little bit more.

DOORBELL RINGS

-Hello, you must be the Norcotts, Vicky and Peter?

-Yes, we are.

-How are you? Nice to see you.

-Nice to meet you.

I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

-I hear you've had problems with cowboy builders?

-Yeah.

-Do you mind if I have a quick nosy round?

-You go ahead.

-No, not at all.

Great, you go back inside, then.

Kick back, relax, have a cup of tea, maybe stick the kettle on, and I'll see you later.

-OK.

-OK.

-Cheers, guys.

-Thank you.

Well, we've covered most of the film genres,

let's see if this is going to be a horror story too.

Well, here's a scary sight for starters!

It always worries me, especially when you've got a pier like this, how it's actually been tied in.

You know by now I always love to see them

bonded in to the existing brickwork, and that isn't, it's just butted up.

You've got the exposed catnic lintels there as well.

So original building, this is part of the extension.

You notice, one thing you always notice with these things is,

again, lighter mix, darker mix.

That just gets right on me, I tell you now.

Just to do a simple mix, that's all it is, and keep it consistent, you know?

The original building, that's consistent.

This building, not consistent.

And do I not like that! Check that out! Oh, man!

This wall should have been flat. Instead, it's, er, fat.

Look at it!

It's another one with my belly on it. Look at that!

I tell you what's happened here, I guarantee. See how tight it is here?

They haven't put scaffolding up, for whatever reason,

they haven't put scaffolding up.

They've actually laid those bricks overhand from inside.

And, you know, it's a technique that can be done, but it needs to be done

by a professional, somebody who knows what they're doing.

Looking at that, they don't know what they're doing.

Crazy paving is one thing, but crazy brickwork - no thanks!

Time to see what's been going on inside.

Here we go.

We've got cables, that always worries me, cables.

You know what that means, don't you?

I've got to get out my trusty tracer.

I was just going to say, "Hopefully there's no power." Look at that

Totally exposed cables, and we are live!

James Bond himself would be shaken and stirred by this,

but I don't think even 007 could find his way into this extension -

unless he had a stick of dynamite, of course!

I can't see any way that you actually get through from the original building into here,

so I don't know what the plan is for that.

And I've got to say, this is a big job

and it's sort of beyond our budget.

This is quite a big extension, and they're in such a mess.

But the one thing I'll make sure that we can do is get them back on track.

I've seen enough. Time for a powwow about this cowboy builder with his unlucky victims.

-How did you go about finding your builder?

-There was quite a long process, really.

I mean, we got quite a few flyers come in through builders that obviously heard that

we were getting the extension done through the council, I assume.

And then the process started to come in in terms of people making enquiries to us,

builders obviously approaching us and things like that.

And we made... I would say about six or seven different builders coming round,

and from then on we went on to, obviously, narrow it down.

With the help of references, Peter and Vicky selected their man and, to begin with,

they thought they'd chosen well.

The initial start of the project was going OK, the footings and everything like that.

Up until, I'd say, the brickwork, we didn't really have any problems with.

It was from, really, a certain stage early on in the brickwork that we started getting a few

little complications and delays and things like that.

And as the brickwork went higher and higher, we got more and more concerned about the builder -

him turning up, not turning up, not sending the tradesmen through and things like that.

Initially we just thought that he was working back to front, do you know what I mean?

So he'd done the plastering without any windows in, he'd done, like, woodwork without any windows.

We had... and all this was being done and there weren't no roof on it, do you know what I mean?

Everything just seemed to be taking a long time.

We kept ringing him up and he's saying, "Yeah, it's going to happen. Yeah, it will happen by Thursday."

Then Thursday would come and it still ain't happened.

"Oh, it'll happen by Tuesday." Do you know what I mean?

And you're getting all these dates and then you just have periods of time when you don't

hear from him for a few days, and then he'd come back on board again and do a little bit again.

Which made you feel good that he was back, and then he'd disappear again for a few days.

So you'd have your highs and then you'd have your lows again.

Was it driving a wedge between you guys, emotionally, as well? Were you getting angry with each other?

It was stressful, do you know what I mean? The boys obviously see us that way.

-So Mum and Dad are arguing round the kids and they are taking it all in?

-Yeah.

They can see, obviously, things are wrong.

They can see, yeah, that we're getting tense. Sorry.

Do you know, this is the thing that drives me crazy about cowboy builders.

They are dream wreckers if you allow them to be.

More than just the financial cost of their shattered dream,

Peter and Vicky have paid a huge emotional price for this builder's bodged work.

And they still can't see a way out of this cowboy trap.

The more I think about it, the more I'm just thinking, "How's it ever going to be done?"

-But with your help, hopefully we can get there.

-We'll make a good start on it, that's for sure.

-Absolutely, yeah.

-This is going to be one tough job.

To make sure I haven't missed anything,

I've asked independent expert Michael Marriot to give a second opinion.

Just go through what is not to your liking.

Well, I think one of the main things is it's not finished.

-That's true.

-It's incomplete.

-And there are some parts which have not been completed properly.

-Yeah.

There is a big problem internally as well as externally. That gable wall there, it looks pretty poor.

-Yes, it undulates...

-It does.

-And it looks unsightly,

both because it undulates and because the mortar pointing, the bit between the bricks, has not been done well.

And the other point is this, as you rightly pointed out, it's not what you can see -

-who knows whether it's got enough ties in there?

-Precisely.

-So there's all sorts that absolutely send alarm bells ringing for me.

-Yes, yeah.

So taking all that into consideration, what you've seen and what you haven't seen, potentially,

-what sort of mark out of ten would you give it?

-I would give it only a five out of ten.

-A five out of ten?

-Yes.

Half marks isn't a great result when you've forked out 32 grand, is it?

Do you know what? I've just about had a belly full of this, and that's a big belly.

We've got live cables, tripping hazards all over the place.

It's not safe for anybody to be going in there. That's why I'm going to declare it a no-go zone.

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

And here they jolly well are, Gary Fenn and his posse. Time to ask him the million-dollar question.

Tell us what you're going to do?

Well, initially we will check what's been done by others.

That's involving checking the electrical installation,

-the plumbing and heating installation, alter that where we have to.

-Yeah.

We will then cut an opening through this wall here.

OK, great, we need that. At the moment the only way of accessing it is coming out the house to get in.

-So we'll be doing that, cutting that opening through there.

-OK.

We would then put this floating floor here.

We have to put a floating floor here because, as you can see, this studwork's been put up which is...

-Well, it's untreated, for a start.

-It's untreated timber.

So if we put a wet floor on that, during the drying out process it's going to absorb moisture...

-And swell and shrink and crack...

-And you're going to have all sorts of problems.

-We'll put on a new front entrance door and frame.

-Great.

-Trim this area of joisting here, which you can see has not been done very well.

-Definitely.

So structurally, that will be sound.

-Tile this lobby floor, then put the skirtings on top of that and then decorate.

-Brilliant.

The other thing I will say is, as far as your boys are concerned,

-there is live cables dangling around in here.

-That's right.

-So obviously getting the sparks in is going to be critical.

-That's the very first thing that we will do.

This is going to be a big job, so the Norcotts are chipping in to help get the work done.

Gary and his team waste no time getting started.

The Norcotts' extension becomes a hive of activity.

Cement mixed, screws drilled and joists, er, joisted.

Can Gary's gang get the Norcotts' dream back on track? Only time will tell.

I'm back in Essex, where Vicky and Peter Norcott had set their hearts

on making their home large enough for their young family.

But their dreams turned to dust when the cowboy building their two-storey extension vanished,

taking their cash and leaving them on a building site.

Our good guys have now finished their work, and I'm here to find out if they've saved the day.

Before I talk it through with the Norcotts, I'm taking a sneaky peak.

Remember, before it was a Hammer House of Horror.

Hopefully we're on our way to a happy ending.

Peter hired a builder to complete the boys' rooms back in January 2012.

And it looks like our good guys have now sorted the downstairs too.

Remember last time, all that was there was a bit of timber framing and some plyboard?

That wasn't secure, and this is something the family were worried about.

Look what we've got now, solid, solid door.

Of course, security big style, but it now enables them to take through the bikes

and all that sort of thing without having to go all the way round. And that is real solid.

In fact, my nine stone wet-through won't push that!

But what lies beyond?

Oh, you see?

This is the thing that I'm always talking about, and that is you just don't know what is behind doors.

You don't know when the good guys have been in what the finish is going to be like.

I mean, you're always expecting great things but, man, this is just amazing. The transformation.

Remember, last time we were in here, there was all bare plaster boards and timbers and all sorts,

no decent flooring in. Well, now you've got...

I see quality, this has got quality slammed all over it.

And, hey presto, an access route from the house to the extension. What a bright idea!

There was no door here before, now we've got a door just in the opening here around the reveal.

As I see where the beading has gone and where the plaster finish has happened, real, real quality.

All the upstands, fantastic, door looks great,

radiator in. We've got the smoke alarm there as well.

Nice light.

The whole thing, even down to, you know,

where they've actually mitred the joins there of all the skirting, spot on.

You know, we've always got to expect quality, but when you actually see it in the flesh,

so to speak, it does look, quite simply, brilliant.

What a result!

Before I do the grand tour with the Norcotts, I'm going to chat to them about their cowboy builder.

We've been in touch with him to find out his version of events,

and I can't wait to hear their responses to what he said.

He says he never walked away from the job, first and foremost, he said he had a breakdown

and he asked you to give them a bit of time to sort things out,

but you weren't prepared to.

-How true is that?

-Well, it's not entirely true, because we did give him time.

We gave him about five or six days, and we still didn't get anywhere near a conclusion

as to when he would be able to come back.

And, don't forget, we were six months into a three-month build at that point.

He agrees that the job went on for too long and he accepts part of the blame, but he says that

the main problems was your relationship with the neighbours, why the job couldn't get done.

Our relationship? Did he mention anything about the warning that he had from us on numerous occasions

about the neighbours and the fact that you will not get access to the garden?

Funnily enough, the builder didn't mention any warning about the access problems,

but he did say that the dodgy pointing wasn't his fault.

He claims it was because he couldn't get the right scaffolding up.

He had various types of scaffolding up at various points but, at the end of the day, that's no excuse

for the pointing when he was advised quite clearly how and what he had to do to get that brickwork done.

He also says that his original quote was too high for you,

and when you talked him down on the price and agreed a figure of 32 grand,

so the 32 grand was just for the upper level to be completed, not the downstairs?

-That's a complete lie.

-Yeah.

-Absolute lie.

He said he'd finish all of it for 32.

-I mean, our quote indicates the complete build.

-The only thing that we had to do was supply the bathroom.

-Yeah.

-But he would do all of it.

I'm quite frustrated at the fact that he said that the price was just for upstairs,

because why did he start the studwork and the plastering downstairs

-if that was the case?

-Yeah.

-And the drainage...

-And the drainage.

-Which was wrong, but he started it.

Yep, whatever you start, you should finish. That's one of my mottos.

Anyway, enough of that!

It's time for the bit I've been waiting for.

The Norcotts have been living with the work going on, and now it's time to reveal it in all its glory.

Now, before we go in, the interesting thing is we've actually got a door here now

-that wasn't there before.

-Yeah.

-Which is a rather nice door, too.

-It is, it's lovely.

And, again, I have to say, from a personal point of view,

-looking at that makes such a massive difference.

-Yeah, it does.

Come inside. Have a look at this.

-Now, it's quite...

-Oh, wow!

-It's lovely.

-Oh, that's fantastic.

-It's quite compact and bijou in here.

-It is, but, oh the difference is amazing!

-Now, what a difference!

-Oh, what a difference!

-Really, really nice.

-Fantastic, hey?

-Yeah, it's lovely.

-Now the quality... It's the quality.

The first thing that hit me when I come in was the quality of the workmanship.

-That is brilliant, absolutely fantastic.

-And the light they let us choose,

-that looks fantastic up there, doesn't it?

-It does look great.

-Yeah.

Just the way they've done the architrave of the doors, the way they've done the reveals

-and the way they've beaded it up and plastered it, it is phenomenal.

-It's really good.

I love the floor as well.

-It's got this glittery finish to it.

-Yeah.

-I get a feeling he'll be doing his John Travolta out here.

Busting some moves and throwing some shape on the floor! I mean, it's amazing, really.

There's still work to do behind these doors, you know? But it really is a super step forward.

And, of course, the door that you've got now at the front, that's the first thing that hit me

when I came up to the property, was you've now got a door there rather than...

I think it was a bit of ply that was up there before.

-Yeah. And we had no security.

-No security, that is the biggest thing, is that we've got security, yeah.

-Which is really lovely.

-How do you think this will change things?

-I feel a lot more positive now.

As where before, we just didn't want to carry on because you didn't know who you can trust.

Now we feel a lot more positive that we can actually finish it off, do you know what I mean?

This is a great start, do you know what I mean?

The boys have got freedom, they're getting all their bikes and scooters

and everything out of the garage and we've got security. The main things that we wanted have been done.

And you know where the good guys are.

That's the key thing, is we know where we can go to get the rest finished when we can afford it.

Yeah.

-That's the important thing, because we just didn't know where to turn.

-Yeah.

I'm not surprised Vicky and Peter are delighted with this. Our good guys have played a blinder.

Well, I think we've got them back on track.

Now, Vicky and Peter have still got work to do,

but I'm hoping that the quality and professionalism of our good guys will give them fresh hope.

I tell you what, I'm going to wish them all the best.

And I've got a message for all you cowboys of Great Britain -

look behind you, because we're coming at you!

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