Episode 18 Cowboy Trap

We're on a mission to rescue home owners across the UK from the misery left behind by cowboy builders.

He said, "We're the A-Team.

"You won't get a better fit on anything than the A-Team working for you."

I'm sorry. If they're the A-Team, I'd hate to see anybody below it.

With their shoddy workmanship or downright lies,

cowboy builders are unscrupulous villains who not only destroy dreams, they wreck lives too.

It's just heart-breaking.

It's taken everything, every solitary thing away from me.

This place is horrendous.

We've got the good guys in our posse to help turn these botched builds into ideal homes.

They've gone back to the beginnings of how it should be done, ripped everything out and started again

which just displays the fact that they really care about the finish of their product.

This looks like a brand-new home.

-It really does, doesn't it?

-They've done a magnificent job.

I can't say how happy and pleased I am with it!

Even the smartest people forget basic common sense when they have the builders in,

which is why the next 45 minutes is the cautionary tale that can help keep you out of the Cowboy Trap.

On today's Cowboy Trap, a building bodge which was so bad, it left the home owner feeling suicidal.

I'd really, really had enough. I'd wish I'd go to sleep at night and not bother waking up in the morning.

-Really?

-Yeah.

'And we revisit some cowboy builder victims who were taken for £27,000 and see how they're doing now.'

-It must seem like your house has just suddenly ballooned in size.

-Yes.

It's amazing how it has now. It was like living in a rather bad bedsit.

Our first Cowboy Trap location is a small village near the sea - Langley in Hampshire.

It's an idyllic place, much loved by tourists and locals alike.

Langley is a village with a history dating back to the Domesday Book in 1086.

It lies on the site of an old manor house which crumbled many years ago.

I wonder if cowboy builders had anything to do with that?

Calshot Castle behind me dates back to the time of Henry VIII

when it formed part of a chain of coastal defences

protecting England from foreign invasion.

They do say an Englishman's home is his castle and if that's the case,

what a shame we're not all as well equipped as this place to repel the cowboy builder!

And this two-bed static caravan is the home of yet another defenceless victim.

Meet Jackie Moore and her two-year-old dog Pippa.

Before she retired, Jackie was a shop assistant.

She's had a tough time of it over the past decade, being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003.

I was devastated, absolutely and utterly devastated.

But I was not going to let it beat me

or interfere with my life whatsoever if I could possibly help it.

Jackie underwent intensive treatment which was successful.

She is now in remission, but the type of cancer she had often comes back.

They gave me originally seven years.

I've gone past that now, but it's not a case of I'll never get it back, it's a case of when it will come back

and I will deal with it when it happens.

With such a scary prognosis, some people might have given up, but not Jackie.

She resolved to live life to the full and as time was so precious,

she set about achieving her life-long dream to live by the seaside in a caravan.

Jackie's health problems made her reflect back on her younger years,

especially the happy holidays she once had with her parents by the sea.

It just made me feel as if I was at one with the ocean and with the surrounding area.

I loved walking and as I grew older, I thought, "When I retire,

"I want to live in a caravan near the sea and near the forest."

And that is all I wanted to do.

And early last year, Jackie decided to stop just dreaming about it and start actually making it happen.

She moved into her mobile home in summer 2012

and having sold her previous house and paid off the mortgage, she had funds available to refurbish it.

It was very dated and I wanted to put my stamp on it because it was going to be my home,

as far as I was concerned, for a very, very long time.

Jackie had big plans for her new mobile home.

She wanted to take out the kitchen and remove a partition wall to make it open-plan.

Taking down another wall would make her bedroom more spacious.

She also wanted to redo the bathroom and install new lights, doors and flooring throughout.

It was a big undertaking, but Jackie was undaunted because she already had a builder in mind.

Jackie had heard about a company when she was house-hunting and she really liked their website.

She invited the boss round to quote and he showed Jackie impressive images of his team's work,

saying he had been in the trade 14 years. The figure he came up with for Jackie's project was £19,898

to be paid on completion.

He gave me the impression that it would look like...they were going to use it as a show home

and it would look like a new home by the time they finished with it and put it in their portfolio,

so at that stage, I thought, "Yippee, I'm going to have a beautiful home!"

It's very difficult to spot a cowboy builder. These guys can fool even the smartest of customers.

A convincing line in patter, unsubstantiated claims about reputation or experience,

even glossy brochures, none of these things are proof you're not dealing with a cowboy.

Jackie was impressed by these guys or, should I say, taken in

and gave them the green light without getting any references. Oh, dear.

..and that their referee isn't their mum.

And it wasn't long before Jackie started to think she had made a terrible mistake.

Work was due to start at the end of July 2012, but the builders were conspicuous by their absence.

The day came, the day went.

Nobody contacted me.

I tried phoning them and got no response. I just thought, "That's not very professional."

A new start date was arranged, but that date came and went,

then another, then another,

then finally, a month later, some builders turned up and demanded a deposit of £3,760.

Jackie had been under the impression she would only pay when the work was completed,

but keen to get things started, she paid up.

They came in, ripped out the gas fire, took out the shelving, said, "See you tomorrow..."

Nothing.

Days went by and there was neither sight nor sound of those builders,

then in early September, some other builders turned up

and Jackie was hopeful work might finally start in earnest, but her hopes were misplaced.

From the start, they were very rarely here. They'd come up with all types of excuses.

They'd been on site for a couple of hours, then they'd go for lunch and I wouldn't see them for two days.

Jackie phoned the company boss to complain about his unreliable team.

He said he would let me have free French doors

as compensation for the fact that it was...for all the inconvenience

and I thought at this stage things are only bound to get better

because it had been acknowledged, but I was wrong.

These guys certainly talked the talk, but they didn't work the work.

They kept saying, "We're the A-Team. You want to see it... You'll love it when it's done."

But exactly when would that fateful day be?

Jackie was bemused by the lack of progress,

but she was even more so when the builders suddenly downed tools

and said they had finished with her home still in disarray.

They finally vacated the site on November the 6th.

So, the four-week job took four months to supposedly finish

and it took just four days for Jackie's dream to totally unravel.

We had torrential rain here and all of a sudden, I had water pouring in my ceiling.

Jackie tried in vain to contact the builders, but nobody returned her calls.

She also wrote them letters and no-one replied.

She was forced to employ another company to carry out remedial work

and that's when the full extent of the bodged build became apparent.

I thought the doors looked OK. I wasn't aware of the fact they'd hung them upside down.

As well as upside-down doors, Jackie was told the boiler was badly fitted

and the plumbing hadn't been connected to the mains water supply.

When the builders checked the waste pipe underneath her mobile home, they couldn't believe their eyes.

The foul waste, it wasn't connected

and that was supported by a flower pot.

And I hasten to add, my flower pot from my shuttle trays.

Building work in a mobile home must conform to similar regulations

to a normal dwelling when it comes to safety, but when Jackie asked electricians to inspect the work,

they were shocked by the state of the lights and sockets.

And when a local builder checked out the leaky roof, he was horrified.

They had just taken the chimney and placed it on top of the plywood that they'd put in my ceiling,

so in fact, there was nothing stopping the rain coming straight through to my home.

Jackie has had to spend her life savings on remedial work.

I haven't got any money left. I've had to pay plumbers to put things in.

I've had to pay to have the ceiling done.

I've had to pay to have the electrics done.

It's taken me right down now that I'm on my bare pension.

And...

I didn't think...

that I would ever come to that. I really didn't.

Not surprisingly, all this had a profound effect on Jackie emotionally.

It's just heart-breaking to think

that every penny that I've got has been sunk into what should be the time of my life

when I should be able to sit down and think, "I've got my dream, this is it."

Instead, I get up in the morning and I think to myself, "What on earth am I doing here?"

This place is horrendous.

It's taken everything, every solitary thing away from me.

Having the builders in can be one of the most stressful times of your life.

There's just no excuse for stuff like this.

This was Jackie's life-long dream.

I wish she'd taken up references on these guys. It would have saved a lot of money and heartache.

'But what is the full extent of this bungled build?

'Cowboys have a habit of hiding their bodges beneath the surface,

'so we asked independent building expert Dan Butt to inspect the work.

'He's been through it with a fine-tooth comb and is about to fill me in on what he found.

'First item on the agenda, the disorientating doors.'

The picture's the right way round. The door is the wrong way round.

They've hung the six-panel doors

with a smaller panel, which would normally go at the top of the door,

but the smaller panel here is at the bottom.

-They've hung the doors upside down?

-I've never seen it before. The doors have been hung upside down.

You would have known if you'd done that.

Presumably, they did it with one and thought, "We'd better match it," then did it with the rest.

'Perhaps they were holding the instruction manual upside down, or they were just rubbish.

'I know which I'm going for. Check out the state of this ceiling.

'Jackie asked them to remove a chimney flue and this is their attempt at making it good.

'Sloppy at best, as is the wiring.'

The surface-mounted conduits weren't fitted properly

and by the kitchen cupboards there was just wiring exposed, rather than being built in.

Again it's... You have conduits to protect the wiring,

so it's not being protected there.

-It's half a job.

-It's half a job.

'Jackie took some snaps of the state of her electrics when the cowboys left

'and to be frank, they defy belief.'

-This is an older photo that Jackie took before you got involved.

-Yeah.

This terrifies me. This consumer unit, you've got fuses in there,

so you've got all sorts of power, different voltages, it's...

The main supply is coming in and from there it should be distributed out safely

and that is not, in my view, safe.

'It's not safe in my view either.

'Unbelievably amateurish!

'And the boiler housing was so badly fitted, it had to be condemned.

'Plus the rank awful wallpapering should be condemned too.'

They've put lining paper up and used the inappropriate adhesive and it's all coming down.

'That will need stripping off and starting again.

'Just look at this photo of how the cowboy builder left the pipework under the mobile home.

'As they say on the Tube, "Mind the gap."'

That joint leaves quite a lot to be desired, doesn't it?

That's a waste pipe from her bathroom sink that runs underneath the mobile home.

-That joint is terrible and is clearly leaking foul water under her caravan.

-That's disgusting.

'And this photo defies belief.'

That's a little bit of the outside coming inside.

That's a soil pipe, so that's taking the foul water from the toilet and that is supported on a flower pot.

-Not ideal.

-'Not kidding! Right, it's make your mind up time for Dan.'

How would you rate the standard of work that was originally done?

It was generally very poor. They had clearly taken the view

that they would do the minimum amount that they could get away with and the standard of work was shocking.

-How would you rate it out of ten?

-I think it's about three or four out of ten.

'I can see why Dan is unimpressed. Check out the evidence -

'leaky ceiling, shocking electrics,

'upside-down doors,

'a badly-fitted boiler, dodgy plumbing

'and a toilet pipe bodge with Jackie's flower pot that really does add insult to injury.'

Dodgy, bodged, slapdash, call it what you will, this place is a right old mess.

Time to call in the good guys.

And here's head honcho John Griffiths leading his posse into the fray.

So much needs doing to make her home exactly how she wants it, Jackie is chipping in.

First up, dumping those badly hung doors,

then the walls are sanded and prepped,

wet wallpaper stripped,

the roof supports accessed and strengthened,

and new doors chiselled and hung the right way up this time.

That's more like it. It's clear they've made a great start.

But can the good guys get Jackie's dreams back on track? Only time will tell.

I'm on the south coast in the village of Langley

where 68-year-old Jackie Moore's life-long dream was to live in a mobile home by the sea,

but the guys she got in to renovate her new property were cowboys

who left the pensioner living in a shabby, dangerous hole.

Our good guys have now finished their work here, so let's see how Jackie's getting on.

'Jackie's had health problems too. I hope she's got something to smile about at last.' Jackie?

-Hello, Jonnie.

-How are you doing?

-Nice to meet you. Would you like to come in?

-I'd love to come in.

-Thank you very much. After you.

-Thank you.

-It's your home.

'As soon as I cross the threshold, I can't resist a quick peek.

'Remember, before, the kitchen was a bodge-fest. Not now.

'And the living room has gone from shambles to sublime.

'The bedrooms were in a state of disarray,

'but our good guys have grasped victory from the jaws of cowboy defeat. Nice!

'Time for a heart-to-heart with Jackie about what it was like being caught in the cowboy trap.'

So when they left with £20,000-worth of your money

and you saw the amount of work to be done and they didn't come back...

I tried phoning them. I emailed them.

They would never get back to me. I got more and more depressed.

I'd got to a stage where I thought... "I just can't follow through with this any more.

"I can't do anything with it." I'd got myself in such a state.

-Honestly, Jonnie...

-You're on your own as well.

You know, and I thought, "What am I going to do?"

'Bearing in mind the terrible impact the cowboys had on Jackie's dream home and her life savings,

'it's no surprise she was in such a bad way.'

It had taken every little bit of money that I had and I'd got to a stage where I thought...

"I just don't want to put up with this any more." I'd really, really had enough.

-I'd just wish I'd go to sleep at night and just not bother waking up in the morning.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-That bad?

-Yeah. I said, "I really, really cannot stand the place." I said, "I hate it."

'And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how cowboy builders turn dreams into a nightmare.

'Appalling, isn't it?'

So, after you'd been so badly burnt by the cowboy builder,

how did you feel when the good guys turned up?

It took me a while to trust them if that's the right word.

-Of course it is.

-I'd been, as you put it, so badly burnt

that...I almost wanted to keep checking up on them

and like that's...

That's the right thing to do though. I wish you'd checked up on the cowboys a bit more.

I thought, "You know, they're the good guys. They've got to be OK."

And they've done... As you can see, they've done a beautiful, marvellous job

and I'm...I'm so grateful.

'Well, Jackie sounds in a much better place now, a huge relief!

'Time for me to take a close look at the good guys' handiwork

'and compare it to what the bad guys left behind.'

It doesn't feel like a mobile home or a park home.

It looks brand-new, actually.

'Unlike when the cowboys rode out of town - it looked pretty decrepit.

'Check out what the ceiling was like. Better now, eh?'

This has been plastered and skimmed and it's a really good finish.

This is the first job you notice that the good guy builder's done.

He's not just put some naff lining paper over it. He's done a proper job.

Now, looking around elsewhere...

The boiler was a huge issue. You couldn't get to it. You couldn't service the boiler.

The only good thing about it was the fact it was on the outside wall for the flue, but here, yeah,

you can get to it under the cupboard or through there. Perfect. It's how it should be.

'So, safety - tick.

-'Unlike before, when it was safety...'

-"UH-UH" SOUND

Remember, there was a horrible bit of conduit going up to the wall, then bare wire at the end of it.

The builders know what they're doing and treated it like any other home,

so they've hidden all the cable and wiring in the ceiling above the job that they've done. It's great.

'So, electrics sorted and there's clear-cut evidence that the gas is fully functional too.'

By the looks of it, the cooker's in use

because there's been some baking done.

I'm sure she won't mind, will she?

'So, thumbs up for the kitchen, but that's only the start of what needed fixing.

'Remember the living area before? Deeply depressing.

'Now it's clearly been given the TLC it should have had in the first place.'

It's been plastered and skimmed throughout. It looks tidy.

It looks tidy right up to these kitchen units as well.

I think these must have been taken off and re-hung

because the edges look fantastic, but also it's right in line with these base units.

And another thing I seem to remember is this was a right old mess before,

but it all looks square and in line.

It just goes to show that they haven't just made as good as they can.

They've gone back to the beginnings of how it should be done, ripped everything out and started again,

which just displays the fact that they really care about the finish.

'For me, that's the major difference between good guys and cowboys - pride in their work.

'Right, into the bedroom.'

A little tip for the cowboy builder if you're watching...

See these small bits on these doors, these six-panel doors?

They go at the top, not the bottom.

As you can see, all these doors now are the right way up because they are...

All the handles work and the doors close properly too.

Doors that open and close properly - funny how that's beyond some builders, isn't it?

Not our fellows though. They've clearly gone the extra mile to make Jackie's dream a reality.

They've decorated the whole place. They've even put a feature wall at the end and they've got blinds up.

It really feels like a home now. I'm really chuffed they've done this for Jackie

because who could deserve it more, eh?

'I've got to say the good guys have played a blinder.

'Head honcho John was stunned when he saw what he had to contend with on day one of his rescue mission.'

It was shocking. My heart bled for her

because she's put all this money into it.

-Even the simplest things were a bodge-up.

-Yeah.

But when you're dealing with electrics and gas...

-You can't leave someone living in somewhere with gas and electrics in that state.

-Absolutely not.

-It's all certified now.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

It's all been tested. It's got a certificate for all the works that have been done, so she's safe now.

'That's great to hear. Before I take a tour with Jackie, I wanted to hear her thoughts

'on the cowboy builder's version of events, but that's easier said than done.'

-I know you struggled to get hold of your cowboy builder.

-Yeah.

We always give the cowboy builder a right to reply, to give us their side of the story.

-Yeah.

-But our attempts to contact him have proved futile. He's not come back to us.

-Does that surprise you?

-Not at all. Not at all.

How do you feel about them now? Now you've got your home to how it should have been,

how do you feel about what the cowboy builder did to you now? What sort of emotions do you have?

I hate them for it. That's a strong emotion because I don't hate anybody.

-But I hate them for what they did to me.

-Hmm.

What would you say to the cowboy builder if you had the chance to see them in the street again?

-You're a charlatan.

-Yeah.

'There's a few other choice words Jackie could have used, so you've got to admire her restraint.'

You've been through enough. You've worked so hard to get into remission

and now you've got your home that you've always had your mind on, haven't you?

-Yeah, and I couldn't wish for a better area. It's lovely.

-You're in a lovely community.

-Yeah.

'Right, time for the bit I've been waiting for - Jackie's grand tour.

'I can't wait to hear how our good guys' handiwork has changed her life.'

So...your master bedroom?

This is my bedroom. I think it's very suave now.

I wasn't expecting to see this because I thought the guys were just going to make good and make safe,

but check your feature wall out!

-Yeah, I chose the paper.

-Did you?

-Yes.

'It's wonderful that Jackie is now adding her personal touches.

'Her dream home is rising like a phoenix from the ashes of what the cowboys left behind.'

They left it with the strips all off the ceiling, nails hanging out of the ceiling.

There wasn't anything I could do with it. I had nails coming down all the walls.

-How did you sleep at night?

-Badly.

'But now it's sweet dreams all the way thanks to our good guys.'

-They've done a really good job and I can't tell you how pleased and happy I am with it.

-You look pleased.

-I am.

-It was such a nightmare...

-But now?

-Now I love it.

If I can hark back, if you'll let me, your childhood dream was to live by the sea.

This is a long-held, lifetime dream. Is this now being realised?

It has, yes, in full. Better than I expected.

-Better?

-Better than I expected, yes.

'Well, that's music to my ears.

'And check out this spare room that the good guys decorated and Jackie is kitting out for a special guest.'

It's beautiful. My little grandson will be so pleased.

-Has he not seen it yet?

-Not as it... Not in its state at the moment. They're coming down next weekend.

-I bet you can't wait.

-He's very excited about it.

He keeps saying, "We're going down to Nanny's and Nanny's finished my room!'

'Jackie has banished those dark days when she was too embarrassed by the state of her home to have visitors.'

-Since I've moved in, I've not wanted people coming in because I've been ashamed of it.

-Yeah, I bet.

But now I think half the park's been in!

'That's fantastic. No more lonely nights looking at her peeling wallpaper for Jackie.

'Right, into the kitchen.

'Before, it was calamitous. Now it's classy.'

This looks like a brand-new home. It really does, doesn't it?

They've done a magnificent job and I can't say how happy and pleased I am with it!

-It's beautiful.

-Before, there was lining paper on the ceiling and there's now plaster.

-You can paint this any colour you want.

-That's right. It's gorgeous.

'That's exactly what Jackie deserves after the tough time she's been through over the last few years.'

I can see just how proud you are of this home now.

-Yes.

-But also how happy you are after this tumultuous time you've had.

-I wish you the very best in your new home.

-Thank you so much, Jonnie.

-It is a new home.

-It is a new home and it's my home.

'Jackie has her dream home at last.

'It's time for me to leave her and, of course, Pippa, to enjoy it.'

I don't think anybody would disagree with the fact that Jackie deserved so much better

than the treatment that she was handed out by her cowboy builders.

I'm glad to say that after all this time, after hitting such lows,

and most importantly, thanks to our good guy builders,

she's finally managed to achieve her childhood dream of having her own little home by the sea.

And I think you'll agree, she seems pretty chuffed with it.

For our next Cowboy Trap saga, we revisit a couple just outside Wolverhampton.

As with Jackie, this story illustrates the importance of getting independent references

to avoid being caught in the clutches of a cowboy builder.

This cowboy's victims were Susan and Ian Bartlett, a couple who had big plans for their house.

The first items on their wish list, a lounge refurbishment and an en-suite bathroom.

Ian is a nurse for NHS Direct and had always wanted a home office.

A conservatory was also added to the list

and finally, a larger kitchen, so Susan could start a cookery business.

We had wanted to have a bigger kitchen

and we thought of converting the garage and utility room

into a kitchen/diner.

The Bartletts knew that all this work wouldn't come cheap,

but making their house work for them was central to their business plans.

It was a substantial investment, but it would reap dividends for them in the long run

and there was a pressing reason why Ian and Susan needed a dramatic change in their lives.

Ian had recently had a stroke, so Susan, who's an expert chef,

wanted to run cookery classes at home to be close to him as much as possible.

The year before, the Bartletts had used a local builder for small jobs around the house,

so they decided to get him in to quote.

He came across as very convincing.

He had done other jobs as well.

He was pleasant, he was very polite.

You just go on trust. When you want to engage a builder, you have to have an element of trust.

Well, I'm not sure about that. I reckon you need solid grounds to trust a builder

like positive references from satisfied customers,

but rather than getting references and seeing the builder's previous work,

Susan and Ian accepted his assurances he was up to the job and agreed to his quote of £27,730.

Work started in February 2011 with a target completion date of June,

but right from the word go, things were, how shall I say, stop-start?

Well, more stop than start in fact.

The builder was repeatedly going AWOL,

finding increasingly inventive reasons why he wasn't on the job.

First, it was the health and safety course for a week.

When we checked with friends, they said there was never a health and safety course

that would spend the whole week...

..and I was suspicious then.

Then he started disappearing for two days, three days, not coming. He gave us excuses.

Each time he disappeared, he came back and emptied some windows and doors into the skip.

The Bartletts began to suspect the builder was working somewhere else,

so their project was falling behind schedule.

They were also concerned about the quality or lack of it in his workmanship.

The kitchen roof looked a right state, the drainage looked dodgy and the bathroom fittings looked wonky.

And the builder was leaving unsightly holes and unfinished doorways all over their home.

Add that to his vanishing acts, one of which he put down to getting married,

and you have a seriously static build.

The Bartletts had another shock when the builder told them he was disappearing again,

this time for a family trip to Disneyland, but Susan and Ian felt THEY were being taken for a ride.

The Bartletts waited for their builder to return from his fun-packed summer.

And they waited...and they waited.

The conservatory, the garage-kitchen conversion and the bathroom would have to wait too.

Ian felt the cowboy was making himself scarce because he wasn't up to the job.

It seemed, in hindsight, that he had bitten off more than he could chew.

He had taken on board too much because of the whole greed aspect of getting the job

and earning big money.

After a couple more guest appearances, the callous cowboy downed tools

and walked off the project.

With their savings exhausted and hopes for a dream home shattered, Susan and Ian were at rock bottom.

They contemplated selling up and downsizing.

He left us with so much unfinished jobs,

we didn't know where we were going to get the money to finish off

because we had builders, independent builders come in to give us quotes

and it was like over 10,000.

Susan and Ian thought they'd never see the builder again,

but then he made a shock reappearance and delivered an extraordinary ultimatum.

He told them he was in debt to the builders' merchants

and unless he paid them what he owed for the Bartletts' kitchen, he'd be taken to court and made bankrupt.

He said the only way he could continue with the job would be for the Bartletts to pay it off for him.

They weren't going to fall for that, were they?

They were so desperate to get this build finished, they did, but soon he came up with another bombshell.

He wanted a new arrangement whereby he only finished half the work.

When the Bartletts refused, it was game over

and they were devastated.

It's affected my health.

I've been having vertigo attacks every now and then because of stress.

If only he had come to us and said, "I'm sorry for all the hassles, I'm sorry that I've put you out,"

and just shown a little bit of humility, but there's been none.

He's just totally and utterly arrogant.

And he had nothing to be arrogant about,

but our good guys got involved and started to put right what the cowboy got so badly wrong.

They replaced the extension roof, sorted the plumbing and pipework and got to work on Ian's office.

The transformation from before to after...was striking.

Ian's study went from dangerous disaster zone to an immaculate space, fit for purpose.

And the en-suite was just what the Bartletts had dreamt of too.

Having been rock-bottom, the Bartletts were back in action,

but they still had some way to go to achieve their life plan of being able to work from home.

Would our good guys' efforts be an inspiration to go on and complete their quest?

Only time would tell.

It's been less than a year since we last saw the Bartletts

and by all accounts, things have moved on remarkably since we last saw them.

When we first met them, Ian and Susan had hit rock-bottom,

but I hear nothing could be further from the truth now, so I'm looking forward to meeting them.

'And hopefully hearing that Susan's cookery business is thriving too.'

-Hi, Susan.

-Hello. How are you?

-Ian?

-Yes, hello, Jonnie.

-How are you?

-Would you like to come in?

-Thank you.

-Come into the warm.

'It's good to see them smiling and when I enter their living room, I can see why.

'During the build, it was used as a storeroom and because the job went on for an eternity,

'Susan and Ian had nowhere to relax in their own house. Now it's very much part of their home.'

-You've got your living room back.

-Yes.

Because this was piled high?

-Oh, yes.

-It was just awful. It was like living in squalor, wasn't it?

-It was. 20 months of hell!

'I think "hell" is putting it mildly. The cowboy caused mayhem on the entire ground floor.

'It's looking better now.'

Where were you sitting down to relax or watch the gogglebox?

-There was no place to sit down.

-It must seem like your house has suddenly ballooned in size.

-Yes.

It's amazing. It had been like living in a rather bad bedsit.

'You don't expect to pay £27,000 to convert your three-bed semi into a bedsit, do you?

'And you'd want a decent conservatory fitting too, but the cowboy's efforts were shoddy.

'Our good guys had to focus on other priorities,

'but Sue and Ian have now added the skirting and their own touches.

'When you look at what the cowboy left behind to how it looks now, there's no comparison, is there?

'OK, time to check out the guest room and en-suite bathroom which our fellas revitalised.'

-Right, so this is where the VIPs stay, is it?

-It certainly is.

'And how lucky they are! The Bartletts love entertaining visitors

'and this room has already proved a resounding success with their guests.'

This was something that we've always wanted.

Having a spare room is all very well and good,

but if you give guests bathroom facilities, they have privacy,

you still have what feels like your home.

'Looking at this en-suite, it's surprising Sue and Ian's guests ever want to leave.'

You've turned the corner. Thanks to the help, the good guy builders doing the making good that they did,

you're now in a position where you've had friends coming to stay,

-you've got your living room back.

-Absolutely.

-This is a home again.

-You're all about entertainment. You love having guests around.

-Yes.

-We're a social couple, aren't we?

'When they're not socialising, Ian likes to work from home

'and now he can in his spacious new office.

'Remember what the cowboy did to this room? Our good guys rescued it from disaster.

'And the Bartletts finished the job.'

-We called this the "holy" room because we had holes on the wall!

-In the worst sense of the word, quite!

But it's been resurrected, to stay with that parlance!

It was completely exposed, pipework not capped. It was an accident waiting to happen.

'While Ian is beavering away in his office, Susan can get busy in her state-of-the-art kitchen.

'In just one year, they've achieved their pre-cowboy life plans of being able to work from home.'

Well, it certainly smells great, your kitchen, but it looks fantastic, doesn't it?

I mean, this is a big kitchen.

It is. It's big enough for me to teach.

I can actually have three students here and another one over there.

This looks fantastic.

Now with this kitchen and that office,

so we can both do work at different times of the day, I think we're made.

I must say the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

-I can smell something in that cooker.

-It's a hint, I think!

Oh, look at that, eh?

Wow!

'Our good guys certainly helped create a recipe for success at the Bartletts' home,

'but Susan and Ian have done the rest

'when you compare what the cowboy left behind to how our fellas got this room back on track.

'Now the Bartletts have added their magic. It's astonishing.

'Next, I want to hear how Susan and Ian feel about their unfortunate cowboy builder experience.'

Cast your mind back around a year ago.

The living room was full of junk. You couldn't have guests which you were dreaming of having.

You were living in a state of chaos.

-Yes.

-It must have had a terrible effect emotionally on you both.

Of course. I was building up all this intense anger within.

We were actually fighting a lot at that time.

-You nearly had to change homes?

-Yes.

-This house has been in the family a long time.

Then we had all this suddenly come down on us like a ton of bricks

-and we thought we might have to sell the house.

-There was no other way.

-That's all those dreams gone for ever.

-Yes. Had we not received any help, we might have to sell out.

'But thanks to our good guys arriving in the nick of time, that disastrous scenario was averted.'

How do you feel now? Have you been able to move on?

-There's no use crying over spilt milk.

-No.

And anyway, the good builder and Cowboy Trap has helped us to move on.

'And move on they certainly have. Susan and Ian are justifiably proud of their lovely home.'

If you look at this house now and what's been done,

it's just remarkable in the circumstances.

-It is, isn't it?

-It's a home now.

'But it's a real shame the Bartletts had to go through such a painful journey to get to this point.'

What have you learnt from this?

Definitely we've learnt not to trust anybody without doing the regular checks.

Yeah. You were quite spontaneous before, would you say?

I would say that I was very casual about it all

because I'm a sort of trusting person.

But there are people who are out to sort of...shaft you with everything that they've got ultimately.

You can't take everybody at their word.

If they've built something before, go and have a look at it and speak to the people they've built for.

-It's important to get information from previous customers as to how good their work has been.

-Exactly.

'The unlucky Bartletts were left without a leg to stand on when their project fell behind schedule.

'If they'd had a detailed contract with the builder before work began,

'they could have referred him to that, potentially solving many of their problems in one stroke.'

'It's been a tough road for the Bartletts, but all's well that ends well.'

-Have you come out of it now?

-Yes.

Well, this experience has actually strengthened our relationship.

-Has it?

-It has.

-That's brilliant news.

-It is.

-That's fantastic.

'And on that heart-warming note, it's time for me to leave Sue and Ian

'to enjoy their wonderful new home.'

What a journey these guys have been on!

They've now got a home that works for them on so many levels.

They can have guests here. They've had their first ones stay which was a huge success.

Ian is now working from home because he has an office that is suitable for that purpose,

plus last, but by no means least, Susan is now realising her dreams

of running a cooking and baking business from home.

And I can personally guarantee that she...

will be very busy.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd