Episode 17 Cowboy Trap

We're on a mission to rescue home-owners across the UK

from the misery left behind by cowboy builders.

They even drove a wedge between us.

Family kicked off and it started to become a nightmare.

With their shoddy workmanship or downright lies,

cowboy builders are unscrupulous villains

who not only destroy dreams, they wreck lives, too.

-It made us feel ill.

-Did it?

-Cos we had to live with it and look at it,

knowing that it could slip into the road and maybe kill somebody.

Here is a shot of the finished job. Doesn't look very finished, does it?

If I was paying for that, I'd be appalled.

We've got the good guys in our posse

to help turn these botched builds into ideal homes.

We can now actually live in here and be happy,

not frightened of what the neighbours are saying or people pointing their fingers.

Even the smartest people forget basic common sense when they get the builders in.

Which is why the next 45 minutes is the cautionary tale

that could help keep you out of the cowboy trap.

'On today's Cowboy Trap, this precarious path

'was supposedly designed for disabled access.

'It was so cracked, crooked and cack-handed,

'it breached all sorts of regulations.'

His exact words to me were,

"If we started using engineers, none of my work would get passed."

'Three years after we saved her from potentially lethal electrical work,

'we catch up with a homeowner in Bournemouth to see how she's doing.'

It just looks amazing! Honestly, it's perfect.

There's not a thing I can see out of place.

'Our first Cowboy Trap saga revolves round a home near Whitby,

'a seaside town in North Yorkshire.

'Whitby's been a fishing port since the Middle Ages.

'In fact, it's where Captain James Cook learned seamanship.

'That adventurous fella met a sticky end

'during a fight with a Hawaiian chief called Kalanimanokahoowaha.

'Try saying THAT after a pint at one of Whitby's many hostelries.

'And Cook isn't Whitby's only claim to fame.'

Bram Stoker stayed in Whitby in the 1890s.

It was here that he found inspiration for his legendary novel,

Dracula.

Today, you find vampires around every corner and every shop window,

but I'm on the trail of a blood-sucking parasite of a different kind.

Yes, our old enemy on Cowboy Trap, the cowboy builder.

'His unlucky victims live in this two-bed semi-detached bungalow.

'It's home to Richard Harland, his wife Cathy, who's partially blind,

'and their dogs Harley and Toby.

'Cathy is a muscle energy specialist

'and Richard makes double glazing window frames.

'Richard and Cathy met through a mutual friend.'

We went out a couple of times and we've been together ever since.

That would be year 2002.

She were a really nice girl.

Obviously, she's got problems, but I help her any way that I can.

'Richard and Cathy got married in 2005.

'Six years later, they sold their four-bedroom house in Whitby

'because they wanted to move to the countryside.

'Cathy spotted a two-bed bungalow

'for sale in the nearby village of Sleights.

'part of the North Yorkshire Moor National Park.'

I kept looking at this bungalow and the view on the internet.

Fortunately, when we sold our house, this house was still up for sale.

'Richard and Cathy's bid was accepted and they moved in,

'but there was a problem.

'To get to the front door, Cathy had to climb steep steps from the road.

'This was tough enough in the summer.

'In the icy Yorkshire winter, it would be nigh on impossible.'

With Cathy's poor eyesight,

this house wasn't going to work for her and Richard

without some sort of disabled access ramp.

Whether it was carrying shopping bags into her home

or being able to safely take the dogs out for a walk,

Cathy knew that only by installing a ramp would she have any independence whatsoever.

'In May 2011, Cathy began to look for someone who could do the work.

'Her brother recommended a relative who was a builder.

'When he came to quote, he seemed to know what he was talking about.

'So Cathy thought he was the right man for the job.'

Thinking that him being family,

even though I was paying him for doing the job,

I thought that I would probably get a better job than going to somebody that I didn't know.

'The builder came up with a quote of £8,500.

'This was for all the materials, labour and the cost of a digger.

'The Harlands gave him the green light.

'He insisted on £2,500 being paid up front in cash, and work began.

'But that 2.5k was just the start of his financial demands.'

Two weeks in, he asked for another £1,000 for some more materials

and I think possibly wages for the lad that was helping him.

'Cathy paid up, but was given no receipt.

'That's not the only thing. You'd think he might have mentioned

'the need for structural engineer's drawings,

'but he didn't.

'He also didn't suggest they notify the Local Authority about the project.

'It's not just the fish that smell fishy in this neck of the woods.

'If you're having works done to the front of your house,

'you may need planning permission...

'..but if they don't suggest you do it, that's a surefire sign

'you've employed a cowboy.

'Another surefire sign was soon to follow.'

He brought the digger to do the excavation work,

and promptly demolished part of next door's wall.

'Demolishing their neighbour's wall was just the start of it.

'The tarmac on the ramp was cracked, the flagstones were wobbly

'and the handrail was horrendous.

'You'd think the builder, being a relation, albeit a distant one,

'would mean he'd pull out all the stops to do a good job.

'Well, you'd be wrong.'

It always complicates things when family are involved

in what should be a business arrangement.

Unless you have real evidence of decent work, take my advice and run a mile.

Cathy was obviously unable to inspect the builder's work herself,

but Richard, who had misgivings from day one,

felt unable to voice his concerns in case it upset Cathy's relations.

It is very annoying when you get a builder in to do work, do a job, and he can't do it.

'If wrecking a neighbour's wall wasn't bad enough,

'this comedic cowboy's next move put the whole street in danger.'

He did go through a gas pipe

and the gas people had to be called to stop the gas leak.

'Just when the Harlands thought it couldn't get any worse, guess what!

'It did.

'The builder was finishing up when a National Parks Officer arrived

'and wasn't impressed with what he saw.'

He looked at the building work being done.

He told me that I had to stop him working straight away.

'The ramp the builder was constructing

'encroached on the public highway - a schoolboy error.

'You can't do that without special planning consent,

'and a builder needs street work accreditation to get it.'

It would be my general opinion

that if a builder comes to look at a prospective job,

then he would ask, "Have you got the plans? Have you had permission?"

That is a professional way of going about your work.

'Hm! This guy? Professional?

'Don't think so. Even if it was ultimately Cathy's responsibility,

'he should have checked she had done it.

'So, Cathy had to apply for retrospective planning permission.'

I got some plans drawn up, which cost me £400.

I then had an engineer's report, a structural engineer's report done,

which cost me £380.

'And the final bombshell for Cathy and Richard?

'The Local Authority said the ramp was fundamentally flawed

'and needed to be ripped up and started all over again.'

I rang the builder and told him what National Parks had said

and what the Highways had said.

His exact words to me were,

"If we started using engineers, none of my work would get passed."

'That would be funny if the situation wasn't so tragic.

'This guy was clearly a rank amateur.

'The Harlands asked him for a refund of the £8,500 they'd handed over,

'but he was having none of it.

'Cathy and Richard threatened to take him to the Small Claims Court.

'In the end, he came up with just £3,000,

'5,500 less than he'd been paid.

'The dispute has caused a heartbreaking rift between Cathy

'and her brother, who recommended the builder in the first place.'

He's the only brother I've got and through no fault of my own,

I've been penalised through not being able to speak to him.

What a mess this one is.

It sounds like an amateur could have done a better job.

Encroaching on a public highway by three feet?

I mean, this is basic stuff.

I really feel for Cathy - unable to project manage the job herself,

trying to juggle family loyalties, but ultimately losing everything.

'Heartbreaking stuff.

'That's why we sent our independent building expert, Karl Tumman,

'to give the ramp a good once-over.

'What he doesn't know about ramps isn't worth knowing.

'Now he's completed his investigation,

'I'm going to hear his verdict on the builder's efforts.'

So, Karl, here's a big shot of the finished job.

-Doesn't look very finished, does it?

-No.

One of the big issues with it is, aesthetically, it is pretty awful.

It looks totally unfinished.

In fact, if I was paying for that, I'd be pretty appalled.

-It looks like a very, very poor DIY job, doesn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

The way that the flags have been put in place

to support the structure of the hill,

it looks as if it's been thrown together.

'And thrown together in a way

'that was bound to upset the Highways authority.'

-There's the road.

-Yeah.

-The pathway encroaches onto the public highway.

-It does. Yeah.

What's the legal requirement here?

Well, from my perspective, they need planning permission for the ramp.

-Yeah.

-I know that they've not obtained planning permission for it.

The Local Authority can turn up at any moment and say, "Rip this up"?

They can do, and the biggest issue is it's in the National Park.

The planning requirements are much more stringent.

'The rules will be more robustly enforced, too.

'Legal or not, it's questionable whether Cathy should use this ramp anyway.'

It looks like a death trap.

When you look at the way that the ramp meets the roadway or driveway,

it again just looks so unfinished.

It's uneven and for somebody who is partially sighted,

it is a bit of a no-no, in terms of getting access up there.

You could quite easily trip on that ramp.

'On to the flags. They're supposed to be acting as a retaining wall,

'stopping the earth behind them falling into the road.

'There are no weep holes for water to get through,

'so the earth is going to get saturated,

'putting irresistible pressure onto the flags.

'They already look like they could fall at any moment,

'and that's not the only problem.'

This tarmac looks like it's been laid like icing over the garden.

That's right. It's not level.

-The landings aren't level. They undulate.

-Yeah.

And it's starting to slip down the slope into the street.

At that point, it's seven or eight feet above street level but fairly close to it,

so you can imagine it being in the street fairly quickly.

'And the handrail is like something out of a Tarzan movie.

'The evidence has been examined.

'It's time for Judge Karl to give his verdict.'

What would you give the person out of ten who built this?

At best two, probably one.

-Is that all?

-Yeah. It's pretty poor.

'Pretty poor? No kidding! You've just got to check out the evidence.

'An encroaching threshold, cracking tarmac,

'trip hazards galore, a horrible handrail,

'corners too tight for wheelchair access

'and add to all that the lack of weep holes.

'It's enough to make you cry.'

In short, on the bodge-o-meter, this one's off the scale.

Time to bring in the good guys.

'And here they jolly well are - head honcho Richard Attridge

'arrives at the scene of the construction crime.

'Cathy's desperately hoping Richard and his team can sort the ramp,

'which would enable her disabled friends to visit again,

'reviving her once-busy social life.'

Friends who have problems would visit.

Also, I have friends who do have MS,

who obviously can't get up the steps, they would visit.

'No hanging about. With relevant planning permissions now sorted,

'Richard gets the road closed so the Attridge army can swing into action.

'So much needs doing, the Harlands are chipping in.

'Yep, it's all systems go!

'First step, digging out those perilous flags.

'Next task, removing those rubbish rails.

'And hey presto! It's time to bring out the big boys' toys

'and get those foundations sorted once and for all.

'It's a great start, but can the good guys get the Harlands' ramp back on track?

'Only time will tell.'

I'm in North Yorkshire in the seaside town of Whitby,

where Cathy and Richard Harland were relying on installing a disabled access ramp at their new home.

But their cowboy builder simply didn't know what he was doing,

leaving Cathy with an unusable road to nowhere

and, what's more, in breach of regulations.

With a bit of luck, our good guy builders have dealt with all that.

Let's see how Richard and Cathy are getting on.

'Even covered in snow, the ramp is in fine fettle.

'Before, that handrail was totally unfit for purpose.

'Now, it's just what is needed.

'And the path itself? Before, it was a monumental mess!

'Now, it's just what the doctor ordered. Nice one.

'Time to check in with the Harlands.'

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Cathy?

-Yes.

-Hi. And Richard?

-Hi.

-How are you doing?

-I'm Jonnie.

-Come on in.

-Thank you very much.

Oh, ho! It's icy out there, I tell ya.

'Before I take a closer look at the good guys' work,

'I'd like a chat with Cathy and Richard about how they got into this mess.'

When did you think things were going wrong or awry?

I suppose, when he put these paving slabs in.

They didn't really look that safe.

When the ramp was complete, could you use it? Did you use it?

-We were told we hadn't to use it.

-Who by?

-National Parks and Highways.

So it were just sat there, a white elephant outside.

'And a pretty dangerous white elephant at that.

'The ramp had more trip hazards than a British Army assault course.

'After all that stress and an outlay of almost £9,000,

'imagine being told you can't use the path outside your front door.'

-What emotions were you feeling?

-Upset.

Angry. It even drove a wedge between us, really.

Because family... Then family kicked off.

It started to become a nightmare and we've lived it for two years.

'The nightmare was compounded by feelings of humiliation.

'The ramp was such a fiasco, it became a laughing stock for the locals.'

They used to stop, look and point.

-Really? People were stopping and looking at your house?

-I've known them sit on that wall, pointing.

'What a shame. It's even more of a shame that this poorly executed path

'has driven a wedge between Cathy and her family.'

-The family member that carried out this work, have you spoken to them?

-No.

-Have you tried to contact them?

-I don't want to.

What would you do differently, if you were to do this again?

-Get a proper builder.

-Ideally, the one that we used for the path.

-The good guy?

-The good guy, yeah!

-Well, yeah.

Anybody watching would like to use the good guy. He's a great builder.

'He is, indeed, and it's time for me to compare Mr Attridge's handiwork

'with what went before.'

-LAUGHING:

-This looks absolutely fantastic.

I mean, aesthetics wise, it looks the part.

It matches the bricks on the bungalow,

which is probably a requirement for the National Parks.

Let's look at where it is.

I'm stood on the highway.

This is now dug out and set right back from the highway.

This was encroaching on the highway, contravening planning consent.

Now, it looks legal, at least!

'And here's some more good news.

'That terrible tarmac has been replaced with fit-for-purpose concrete.

'Cathy's much less likely to slip on this surface.

'And I like the look of these walls.'

These are retaining walls. They're carrying a massive load.

'Before, it was down to those ugly flagstones to hold back that soil,

'and they were teetering under the pressure.

'The good guys' wall not only looked better,

'it also has a crucial added feature.'

See these plastic things? These are weep holes.

This is a huge retaining wall.

You've got soil behind here.

You have a huge amount of water and moisture.

This allows that moisture to escape without an extra load on the wall.

'As a young man, I spent a lot of time on building sites.

'The builders I admired most saw things from their customer's point of view.

'Cowboys don't, but good guys do.'

Let's look at it from Cathy's perspective.

Visually impaired, coming up here, the guide rail.

Not going to get any splinters. It's one continual uniform run.

And it's going nowhere, this bit of metalwork.

It's non-slip as well. This is properly tamped concrete.

There's snow everywhere but it feels really firm.

The other thing we wanted to see, a flat landing area.

This is perfectly flat.

Why does this feel so solid?

Because it doesn't have these rubbish paving slabs

pretending to be a retaining wall.

Behind this stone - that's what's behind it.

Proper hollow breeze blocks.

This is a really, really good job. I'm chuffed to bits.

'Yup, ten out of ten on the chuff-o-meter.

'Good guy Richard's giving me the inside track

'on the challenges he faced salvaging the situation.'

I've got to say, Richard, it looks fantastic!

What were your thoughts when you came up to site

and you saw the work that had been done?

It was a nightmare. It was daunting.

We didn't know what we were going to uncover. We had the gas main,

but nobody knew where it was.

It was just dig steady away, a lot of hand-digging.

It was just very steady until we got the main platform in the bottom.

We got an engineer to check the steel reinforcement.

Once we got that in, I was a little bit happier.

'That cowboy was SO sloppy,

'but our fellas ain't and unlike their predecessor,

'they don't leave a job until it's complete.'

Is there anything left to do? It looks pretty good.

The only thing left is we've got the handrails to paint black.

We'll give them a rub down, another coat of primer,

a coat of black and it's all done and dusted.

'Well played, Mr Attridge.

'Before the Harlands reveal what they think to their new ramp,

'there's a sensitive issue to discuss - their cowboy builder's version of events.

'I wanted to find out his side of the story and I can't wait to hear their responses to what he said.'

First off, he said it wasn't a ramp.

It was a footpath he was building for you. What do you think of that?

No, that's not fair because when we first talked,

he said he'd done disability work, access which included ramps.

Secondly, he said he did everything you asked for and what's more,

you paid him in full for it.

I paid him in full cos he asked for it,

thinking, obviously, with him being a family member

-we were hoping that he'd come right in the end.

-Hm.

This might upset you. He said there's nothing wrong with the work.

-Although it was cracking?

-Yeah.

He said that were just levelling out.

-CHUCKLES

-It was levelling out? Oh, right.

-Outside was going to level out.

-Well, it had levelled out - unlevel.

How does it make you feel now, after all this, that they're arguing that their work was fine?

I can't see how he can say there was nothing wrong with it,

when he's got people telling him that there is something wrong with it.

He says it's simply incomplete.

He'd have come back and sorted it had he been allowed to.

That was taken out of our hands.

National Parks said that I hadn't to allow him back on.

'Looking at this catalogue of disaster, I can see why.

'Anyway, the good news is our guys have transformed this place.

'I can't wait to hear what the Harlands think to their new ramp.'

Well, I must say, this looks completely different

-to how it looked before - this is a proper job!

-Hm.

-It is.

-You're smiling. Both of you are smiling.

-You must have been grimacing before.

-Grimacing, yes, definitely.

The most important things for this, it had to be functional.

-It had to allow you to get from the road to your house.

-Yes.

-Does it?

-It does, absolutely.

-That's the main thing. Full marks.

'The Harlands' revitalised ramp has given them something priceless -

'peace of mind.'

We used to look out of the window on a morning and think,

-you know, well, it made us feel ill some mornings.

-Did it?

We had to look at it, knowing that it could slip into the road and kill somebody,

and we'd be responsible for that person's death or injury.

One reason why it's not going to slip into the road

is they took so much earth out in order to build this.

That's the main difference between this and what those cowboys put on.

-This has been "built".

-Yes.

-It must be a weight off your mind.

It's a brilliant weight. We can now live here and be happy

and not frightened of what the neighbours are saying

or people pointing their fingers when they pass.

'It's going to be admiring glances from passers-by from now on.

'There's one more thing I'd really like to do,

'and that's see Cathy use this ramp with confidence.'

How would you normally come down here, just...?

-You get a bit of pace here.

-I just walk down with the handrail.

-If we pause here a moment...

-STOMPS FEET

-It's cold. It's icy. You walked down with no problem at all.

-Yes.

-Could you have done that before?

-No. We couldn't have walked down it.

Let's go to this part here. This was another problem.

Beforehand, if you came down that slope, there was another slope here.

-You'd just be doing roly-polys down.

-That's right.

-This is a nice firm footing. It's what's called a landing area.

-Yes.

-Are you happy with this?

-Happy? Yeah.

-Very.

I can bring my dogs out quite safely now.

It's wide as well, isn't it?

You could even get a wheelchair up here, if need be.

'That means Cathy's wheelchair-bound friends can visit

'and her social life get back to normal.'

How do you feel now you've got a solid structure?

-Very happy.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

It means my friends can visit without worrying about steps.

Especially when leaves are falling.

When leaves are on the ground you cannot see edges of steps.

It's like snow. You can't see the kerbs or the edges.

So this has given me safe access to my own home.

'And VIP access at that.

'This ramp would befit a mansion.'

I think you should name it! Call it the Whitby Serpentine!

No, it's the Great Wall of Cath! ALL LAUGH

Perfect, the Great Wall of Cath.

I'm so pleased there's a happy ending here.

I know you've been through it, what with the family rigmarole and the money that you lost.

-Now you've got something that sets your house off a treat.

-It does.

-And something that gives you some independence.

-That's right.

-That must make you feel pretty good.

-Yeah.

'It makes me feel pretty good, too!

'The Great Wall of Cath? I love that.'

Richard and Cathy have clearly been through the mill with this one.

They've endured a financial and emotional roller coaster.

Let's not forget, this is a visually impaired lady who struggled to get into her own home.

But thanks to the good guys, they've come out the other side.

Cathy not only has her independence back,

but they both have a home that they're clearly proud of.

'For our next shocking Cowboy Trap saga,

'we revisit someone we met three years ago.

'Like with the Harlands, a cowboy was happy to take a homeowner's money

'and leave a dangerous disaster in his wake.

'His unwitting victim was 51-year-old Liz Cutler,

'a mother of 13-year-old son Jake.

'And we mustn't forget the dogs, Lily and Ling-Ling.

'Liz had fostered children all her life.

'After moving to Bournemouth in 2009,

'she wanted to do the same there.

'Liz was delighted when she found a house for sale that ticked all the right boxes.'

The property was appropriate for what I needed at the right price.

It could do what I wanted to do

to make it appropriate for fostering.

'Liz made an offer for the house, which was accepted and she moved in.

'But a lot of important work needed doing if she was to have any chance

'of achieving her dream of fostering again.'

Liz's new house needed central heating.

More importantly, her home-buyer's survey had shown that her wiring upstairs was unsafe.

She needed an electrician to rewire the property,

put in a new circuit board and sockets

and issue an Electrical Safety Certificate.

Then she could prove to the council that her home was safe enough for foster children.

'Not surprisingly, authorities set the safety bar high

'when assessing foster parents' houses.'

You need fire alarms put in, fire blankets,

windows have to be secure and able to be locked.

There's a lot of safety and security that we run through to become a foster carer.

'Liz's plumber recommended an electrician

'who said he'd have no problem bringing the house up to spec.

'He quoted £1,600 to do a full rewiring job

'and update the circuit board.

'It also included erecting an aerial and installing sockets,

'all backed up with a certificate to prove everything was safe.

'Liz gave him the green light.

'Work started in January 2010 and Liz moved out for the duration.

'She assumed everything had gone fine when the electrician said the certificate was ready.

'How wrong she was.'

Whilst I was away, the electrician went to my son's property

'to give him the final certificate.

'My son was able, then,

'to give him his final payment of £500 on my behalf.

'But the payment was premature.

'The quality of work by the sparky was - you guessed it - shocking!

'Liz's heart sank when she returned to her home.'

Straight away, I noticed things weren't right with the electrics.

The sockets along the work top were all uneven.

Also, as you come into the main door, the light switch,

that hadn't been plastered round.

'As well as the pitiful plastering,

'some sockets weren't properly attached to the wall

'and the mains cable wasn't earthed properly.

'Many house fires are caused by faulty electrics.

'This wasn't just a cowboy trap, it was a death trap, too.'

Liz was left with loose sockets and potentially lethal wiring,

putting her and her son in danger,

and putting paid to her hopes of having foster children in.

What's more, her brother-in-law was a retired electrician.

When he looked at the electrical certificate, he knew straight away there was a problem.

It was not complete.

A completion certificate is four or five pages.

There's test results on there, insulation resistance,

earthing resistance - none of that was there.

'Liz got the electrician back in

'and he made some changes while she was at work.

'When he left, something mysteriously seemed to leave with him.'

The test certificate was on the side and the list of jobs that needed doing.

When I returned from work, the test certificate had gone.

Some of the jobs were completed,

but I don't feel that he did everything he should have done.

'Not kidding! Sockets were still hanging off the walls.

'And a socket had been put in behind a dresser that couldn't be reached!

'If faults on the surface were this obvious, how bad were problems underneath?

'And the fact that, as Liz's brother-in-law pointed out,

'the paperwork wasn't legit was the final straw.

'That would scupper Liz's fostering application.'

Liz's certificate wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

By taking it away, this cowboy had covered his tracks.

Liz now had no proof that the installation was safe.

'And that's probably because it wasn't.

'This electrician was clearly a bungling bodging cowboy.

'Not surprisingly, all this had a massive emotional impact on Liz.'

It's a huge effect on me. I can no longer pursue my career as a foster carer.

And when my grandchildren are here, I have great concerns

where they're plugging things in, lights and things.

'Liz was in a terrible situation,

'but she was partly to blame for her predicament

'and being £1,600 worse off.'

Liz made a common mistake. She handed over cash without seeing the finished work.

That's a schoolgirl error

and there's an easy way to ensure that it doesn't happen to you...

'..What happened next for Liz? You know the plot.

'Enter our good guys.

'They set about putting right

'what the cowboy sparky had got so badly wrong.

'They repaired the reckless rewiring in the kitchen.

'Not only that, they titivated the tiling, too.

'The change was dramatic.

'From worrying wiring...

'to reassuring rewiring.

'And non-existent tiling

'to terrific tiling.

'Our boys certainly did the business.

'At last, Liz had the Electrical Installation Test Certificate she so badly needed.

'Our fellas comprehensively tested her smoke and fire alarms, too.

'Liz was very much back on track.

'But would our helping hand help Liz to create her perfect home?

'And would Liz get over the trauma of being so badly caught in the cowboy trap?

'Only time would tell.'

It's been three years since we saw Liz.

With those dodgy electrics sorted

and with an Electrical Test Certificate in her pocket,

we left with peace of mind. I wonder how she's getting on.

'Word on the street is Liz's life has taken an unexpected twist.

'She's got married to someone from the building trade.

'Not one of our good guys, I hasten to add.'

DOORBELL

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi, Liz. How are you doing, Kevin?

-Nice to meet you.

You too. First of all, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Newly-weds, eh?

-Yeah.

-Can I come look into the marital home?

-Come on in.

'Before I check out the work Liz has done to the house,

'there's an even more pertinent issue to address.'

First of all, I've got to ask - how are you finding married life?

-Great.

-Good!

-Fun!

-Well, it's nice to have fun back in the house after all that's gone on.

-It is.

Yeah, definitely.

So much more for Liz than me.

When I first met her, I'd seen the state she was in.

Of course, the builder doing what he did to her as well.

'What he did was put Liz's life and the lives of her family in danger.

'As you know, our good guys made this kitchen safe to cook in.

'Thanks to that, it's now seeing a lot of action.'

-How do you feel now you've got a kitchen back?

-Oh, it's great.

-Yeah?

-No worries at all. Before, I was concerned.

Everything you plug in, you're thinking twice - is this safe?

All the sockets were wonky and loose.

I was concerned about the wires behind it. I didn't give a thought about the main earth cable.

Well, you take that for granted. You have a tradesman in your house.

-You don't think he's going to leave you in a situation where you could get killed!

-No.

Obviously, looking round, it's a work in progress, isn't it?

There's some cosmetic bits and bobs to be done.

-That's right.

-You've got a room you can use again.

-It's the heart of the home, the kitchen.

-It certainly is.

Especially when the grandchildren come round.

All they need is food, drinks.

The washing-up stacks up as they go along wanting, wanting.

It IS the heart of the home.

'The heart of the home is in fine fettle,

'and so is Liz's heart, by the looks of it.

'The changes to her home have been dramatic. Check out the lounge.

'When we first met Liz, there wasn't one to speak of.

'But look at it now.'

-Wow! Whose handiwork's all this?

-Kevin's.

-Is it really?

Yeah. When I first came in it was a disaster zone.

I've taken all the ceilings down,

re-plaster boarded them, re-coved it and decorated the whole room.

Now we've got a lounge that we can actually sit in and enjoy.

Perfect, isn't it? There's not a thing I can see out of place.

'Kevin needed to ring the changes.

'It's not just the electrics that suffered the cowboy treatment.

'A few days ago, the bath got blocked and Kevin uncovered evidence of another cowboy.'

Took the side panel off...

..and he's literally got the bath sitting on bricks.

What the hell is going on there? Look at that!

The pipework's sitting here off the floor suspended in mid-air.

'The plumber who did this took out some bath struts to find room for the pipework.

'The pipework should have been under the floor.

'Because of that bodge, this cowboy had to do another - support the bath with bricks. Unbelievable!

'And remember, the cowboy plumber who did this

'recommended the cowboy electrician in the first place. Crikey!

'More cowboys than an entire series of Bonanza!

'Liz and Kevin have given their lounge their personal touches.

'And Liz's son Jake, who's now 16, has converted his crib

'into something resembling NASA mission control.'

Flipping heck! It's like Cape Canaveral in here!

Now I feel like an old man!

I don't even know what half that stuff does.

-This is a tech pit.

-This is what it is, a tech pit?

When you look at all the "tech", look at all the electrics,

all the plugs and think, "Hold on. This place wasn't earthed."

I know. Yeah.

-That's putting a child's life in danger.

-Yeah.

-Full stop.

'And that truly is appalling.

'How the guy that did this can even call himself an electrician is beyond me.

'Right, time for a chat with Liz. She may have moved on,

'but she's still feeling the grim effects of the cowboy to this day.'

What was your lowest point throughout this whole process?

The lowest point was my concern for everything.

Everything was my responsibility and I'd let everybody down.

The children, I'd let them down.

My career as a foster carer, I was not able to pursue that.

A couple of years down the line and we're still trying to put things right.

Although the electrics are done, we've found a few other things.

The house is still not appropriate to be able to foster in.

'That's such a shame!

'Because Liz is still sorting the house out and thinks it isn't quite ready, fostering will have to wait.'

We've got to spend a lot more on the property.

But the thing is, we're safe.

We're not worrying about everything going up in flames or one of us being killed.

'And what a relief that is!

'I wonder what Liz learned from her unpleasant encounter with the cowboy fraternity.'

I just thought you could have any electrician in your property that says they're "registered".

I wasn't aware of the paperwork that needs to be signed off correctly.

-No.

-I parted with money prior to the work being done.

'Liz also realises she needs to be more careful when it comes to following recommendations.

'It's no surprise a dodgy plumber suggesting a dodgy electrician.'

I think I was very naive

in trusting this person that came into my home

to go and find other people that could work within the property.

I do like to go on recommendation at the time.

But now I know, with my homework, that there are governing bodies

that I could phone up and find out if these people are registered.

'Poor Liz didn't do that - and suffered the consequences.'

When I look back at that particular time for me,

it's really heart-wrenching to think that, you know,

I was a single person, on my own with a child.

£8,000 of my savings, cash, went to these guys

and I'm left with absolutely nothing.

I'm trying to, now, still make a nice family home

and I just haven't got that money.

When you hear your wife talk about what went on, how do you feel?

It makes me really angry and makes me wish I'd been there that few months earlier.

'If Kevin had been on the scene, I somehow think this cowboy wouldn't have tried it on.

'They never do when someone in the know is around.'

-This man here has been a knight in shining armour!

-Oh, yeah!

LAUGHING: Very much so!

Well look, you stuck at it and you've been so strong.

And mate, Kevin, you've been an absolute hero here.

-Well done, mate. Good for you.

-She deserves it.

'She certainly does. Liz is clearly in a happy place.

'That's great to see.

'Time to leave her and Kevin to enjoy their lovely home.'

Well, fascinating, wasn't it?

All those problems that Liz's husband found once he'd moved in

just goes to show it's not what something looks like on the surface.

In the building trade, it's what's going on underneath.

This place is moving forward.

In these last three years, Liz has stepped it up a couple of gears.

If the house ends up like that living room, it will be a beautiful family home.

As for marrying a builder? Well, it shows that Liz has her faith back in the trade!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk