Episode 28 Cowboy Trap

We're travelling all over the UK to meet the homeowners

forced to live with the grim consequences of employing a cowboy builder.

We just feel that we've been robbed.

With their shoddy workmanship or downright lies,

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

You were threatened with physical violence?

There was also more sinister things said to me about Michael.

"We know where he works, he might find he gets a tap on the shoulder."

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

It's looking so much better! Do you remember?

There was dodgy wires coming out of the wall, it was in a right sorry old state.

-Has your mum seen this yet?

-Yes.

-She was quite tearful.

-She was. She couldn't believe it.

You know, it's thought cowboy builders cost Britons over £700 million each year.

So if you think you know how to spot one, think again.

Make no mistake, the next 45 minutes could help keep you out of the cowboy trap.

'On today's Cowboy Trap,

'a builder who ripped off some unwitting homeowners to the tune of £70,000

'then threatened them before leaving them in a death trap.'

We're obviously worried about money. We don't know how we will raise money to finish it.

'And three years after we rescued him,

'we catch up with a cowboy builder victim in Surrey to see how he's doing now.'

It's great to come out here and have a coffee.

-Lovely place to have breakfast.

-Yeah.

'Our first Cowboy Trap saga revolves around a home in Gourock,

'a small town outside Glasgow.

'If you fancy a dip, this is the place to be.

'Gourock boasts one of the two remaining outdoor swimming pools in Scotland.

'Hardly the weather for it today. And I'm not sure about taking the plunge in these depths, either.'

Back in the 17th century, a Glasgow merchant named Walter Gibson

cured Britain's first ever smoked herring here in Gourock.

And the industry remained important here

right up until the 1950s.

Which is appropriate, as we're about to hear a remarkable story

of a couple that despite both having a fair amount of building knowledge

got themselves stitched up by a cowboy builder... like a pair of kippers.

'His unlucky victims live in this three-bed detached villa.

'It's home to Alison and Michael Farrell and their twins, Nicole and Connor, obviously not identical.

Alison and Michael met whilst working for the local council.

Alison is a town planner and Michael an architectural technician.'

Michael works with me, so we met at the office.

We were on a night out and we got talking

and that was it.

'Michael and Alison got married in 2003

'and two years later they moved to Gourock

'because Alison's family lived there and she was missing them.'

We decided that if we wanted to have a family,

that we would want to move back down the coast

and be near my extended family.

And most of all, I missed the river and just being here.

Alison's mum Annie had devoted the past few years caring for her own mother,

who died last year at the age of 90.

The Farrells were worried about Annie living on her own after all that time,

so they suggested she moved in with them.

Now, it would mean building an extension,

but with the couple working in the planning department,

they'd seen quite a few of those over the years

and they had a clear idea of what they wanted.

'Alison and Michael decided to knock down their existing garage at the side of their house

'and replace it with a double-storey extension.

'The basement would become a utility room and the ground floor and upstairs

'would be Alison's mum's living area.'

We were hoping to be able to give her her own space

but still being so close to us and she can use the house when she needs that.

'The Farrells found an architect, had designs drawn up and planning permission was granted.

'A builder came highly recommended by a colleague of Alison's

'and the report was so glowing, the Farrells didn't ask for any other references.

'Now, that was a big mistake.'

They basically said they could do the job for our budget

and we agreed to that.

'Take my advice. No matter how good your source

'and how positive their reference,

'always get more feedback on your builder.

'Go and see at least three previous customers face to face

'and ask them three direct questions...

'If you get the answers you want then go ahead.

'Otherwise, don't.

'In November 2011, the builder the Farrells chose

'quoted £71,000 for the whole job.

'That was to demolish the garage and build the double-story extension

'containing a granny flat, downstairs utility room,

'family room and cellar. It also included a tanking system,

'electrics and brick render outside.'

He said it would be a first-class job we would have done

and there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

It sounded a bit too good to be true.

In fact, I suppose what happened was too good to be true.

'The builder promised to complete the project in four months at the latest

'and work started on December 6th 2011

'with Alison handing over £12,000 upfront.'

In retrospect, £12,000 was quite a lot of money to give out.

Following that, it was a case of as they progressed,

as and when they decided they needed further funds

to keep the job moving then they would ask us.

Now, often on Cowboy Trap, we hear about building projects

that start off apparently OK before falling apart over time.

Not so with Michael and Alison's ill-fated extension.

The work here was a total shambles from the off.

These guys were not only cowboys, they were clowns, too.

They would turn up on site and they wouldn't have the right equipment with them.

We had... I've had numerous bits and pieces that were lying about,

builders' buckets, just buckets that I use in the garden,

all would disappear because they were using them to do the work.

'Now, the builder and his assistant's work was haphazard,

'disorganised and, at times, downright dangerous.

'With two kids about, that just isn't on.'

The roller shutter that had been left

was in danger of being blown away

and could've, if it had blown away,

would've either damaged someone's property

or possibly hurt someone.

'And the builders' idea of a working day was... Well, how can I put this? ..unconventional.'

They'd just turn up half past 11 in the morning and disappear from half past two one day

and then you might find them back on site once that week for the same amount of hours.

'But it wasn't just his terrible timekeeping that caused concern.'

Over the next few months, things took a turn for the worse.

The bedlam turned into a go-slow.

The builders were never there, though there was no shortage of excuses.

Incredible though it may seem, the Farrells kept handing over the money

in the vain hope it would spur the builders on to finish the job. Big mistake.

We began to realise that the things that they said had been ordered

were just not going to appear.

And when we challenged them and I actually at one point asked,

"Well, who is it that's making the windows? Tell me and I'll phone them.

"If we paid for them, I want to know." But they wouldn't tell me.

'Alison and Michael started to worry. Really worry.

'The roof on the extension suddenly became a much lower spec than they had been quoted for

'and the builders left the house exposed to the elements.'

There was water getting in. The door's been crudely boarded-up

with nails and bits of wood and tarpaulin ever since then

but only because we had to chase them and chase them over Christmas and ask them to come.

The whole carpet got ruined immediately.

'The list goes on. Live electrics were left exposed,

'rubbish accumulated all over the place because there was no skip,

'and when the Farrells complained, they received volleys of abuse.'

I've been threatened by two characters from the builders

on more than one occasion,

so, you know, I've had verbal abuse and physical threats.

I've been told where to go when I asked them what had been done with our money,

and was told that... Well, it's not something I could probably repeat on camera.

But I was told that we should be getting someone else to finish the job.

With having given them so much money in advance,

we felt we just had to continue and hope that what they kept telling us

was the truth and that things had been ordered

and that they would finish the job.

'And being stuck in that kind of vicious circle

'is often part and parcel of being caught in the cowboy trap.

'Take my advice. Never pay a hefty sum up front,

'as it's a sure-fire sign you're dealing with a cowboy.

'Reputable builders have accounts with suppliers

'and you don't need to pay them straight away.

'Have a staged payment plan and never settle the final bill

'before the work is completed to your 100 percent satisfaction.

'By May 2012, the Farrells' builder has received the full £71,000 he quoted.

'But the extension was still far from finished.

'Major items were missing, including the staircase,

'and there was shoddiness everywhere you looked.

'Then the builder had the cheek to demand even more money from the Farrells to complete the job.

'When he didn't get the answer he wanted, the cowboy went AWOL.'

They have had all the money and nobody has done any work since June.

Effectively, we've been abandoned and the job not finished.

'The poor Farrells were stuck in an impossible position

'and didn't know where to turn.'

From this point on, it all gets really murky.

Seems there was some kind of power struggle between the bosses of the company.

Then again, that could've just been a smokescreen.

To this day, the Farrells have no idea why they ended up with nothing to show for their £71,000

except for the devastating consequences the whole experience has had on their family.

From the outset, it's been stressful.

Within 24 hours, we were stressed

with the demolition and the haphazard nature of that

and the damage that even that stage had caused,

so even by Christmas last year,

we were already stressed

and it was causing arguments with us.

And that has accumulated and escalated to this point

where we just feel that we've been... we've been robbed.

'Robbed indeed. The young family has been left with a home

'that isn't watertight, windproof or secure.

'Alison and Michael's lives have been turned upside down.'

We're obviously worried about money. We don't know how we'll...

..we will raise money to finish it.

And just the children and feeling like there's so much energy

going into this

that there's barely anything left to try and just enjoy...

..being a family.

This is one of those stories that really gets my goat.

For £70,000, you could buy a nice apartment around here.

But what do the Farrells get for their money?

It just goes to show you how anyone can fall into the cowboy trap.

I mean, these people work for the local planning department, for pity's sake.

'But what is the true extent of the mess this cowboy left behind?

'How unsafe is this building bodge? To find out,

'we asked independent building surveyor Danny Farren 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.'

-Here there's supposed to be a balcony, right?

-Absolutely, on the first floor.

'First item on the agenda, the first-floor balcony.

'This was left in an incredibly dangerous state

'with no barrier to prevent people falling off.'

They've got two small children.

With nothing to stop the children going off the edge of that balcony,

-it's worse than dangerous, it's a death trap.

-That is a death trap.

A small child could fall from there and kill themselves very easily.

'The door leading to the balcony couldn't be locked. Bizarre.

'And that's not all. The basement is full of damp,

'the plasterboard walls are pathetic

'and internal pine cladding has been used outside.

'Those exterior walls just won't last.'

-This in internal wood.

-This is internal pine cladding

that hasn't been treated properly to be external cladding.

-So this is just going to rot, right?

-With the severe elements

and wind in that location, that will deteriorate very quickly.

'And the doors upstairs will deteriorate quickly, too.

'They were supposed to be hardwood bi-folding doors.

'But these are softwood internal doors,

'not designed to withstand the elements.'

Putting softwood doors there and not hardwood doors,

is this naivety

or is this cutting corners?

It's absolutely cutting corners and getting a job done as cheaply as possible.

'Cheap and dangerous.

'Look at those exposed electrical wires.'

Another thing I've noticed here is damp, electrics.

-Absolutely.

-Not good bedfellows, are they?

-Not at all.

Bare electrical wires. Very, very dangerous.

'And the garden outside is shocking, too.'

It's not an ideal playground for children.

It's very dangerous. You can see sharp corners, trip hazards.

Ideal place for kids to fall and injure themselves severely.

And for me, it also highlights just what hasn't been done.

These are building materials that haven't yet been put in the place they're supposed to be.

-That's right. They've just been left.

-Yeah.

-Just dumped.

'And the cowboy builder left exposed wires all over the place.

'I think Jason Bourne would struggle to survive a day in this place. There's danger everywhere you look.

'And to add insult to potential injury for the Farrells, check this out.

'No, your eyes aren't deceiving you.

'He built a great big wall in front of the window.'

Absolutely disgraceful to leave something like that.

It's been the wall that's been built up. The original window is still there.

The wall is finishing halfway up the window.

You're not telling me, Danny, that this is a new wall that the builder has built?

That's a new wall the builder has built.

-They've built a wall halfway up a window?

-Absolutely.

'Well, I've seen everything now. Unbelievable.

'Time to hear Danny's verdict. I think I can guess what it's going to be.'

After seeing all of this,

and your detailed inspection,

how would you rate whoever did this work out of ten?

-I couldn't give them a zero.

-You couldn't give them a zero?

-Not at all.

'Well, that's saying something.

'Not even a zero.

'It's not surprising with this litany of disaster.

'There's no front door,

'interior cladding on the exterior,

'no door furniture,

'saturated brickwork in the basement,

'a dangerous garden,

'exposed electrical cables

'and an exterior platform with no barrier.

'In short, it's a death trap.

'And Alison and Michael have forked out over £70,000. Ouch.'

You know, just when we think we've seen it all on Cowboy Trap, something like this comes along.

Make no mistake, we're talking a Herculean task for our good guys.

'And here's head honcho Phil Burn.

'So much needs doing just to make it safe, secure and watertight, the Farrells are chipping in.

'Not hanging about, Burnsy's boys swing into action.

'First up, removing those rubbish plasterboard walls.

'And sorting those unsafe electrics.

'Then it's onto the new fixtures and fittings.

'And outside, they prep for some roof reparation.

'It's a great start, but can they get Alison and Michael's dreams back on track?

'Only time will tell.'

I'm in Gourock on the west coast of Scotland

where Michael and Alison Farrell spent over £70,000

on building a double-story extension so that Alison's mum could move in with them.

But their shambolic cowboy builder left them with a total wreck on their hands

with devastating consequences for their family.

Now, this has been one of our toughest ever jobs on Cowboy Trap

so there's still going to be loads for the Farrells to do when we leave.

But what I'm hoping is that our good guy builders have been able to do enough

to give them the breathing space that the family needs.

'I really have no idea what to expect.

'This place was in such a state before.'

-Hello, Michael.

-Hi, how you doing?

-Good to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Hi!

-Alison. It's nice to be knocking on a door!

-I know.

-But this looks very impressive.

-Yep.

'Check out how the view from the road has changed

'from before

'to after. Nice!

'And as soon as I cross the threshold, I can't resist a quick peek at the good guys' work.

'And I like what I see.

'Their brief was to make the house safe, secure and watertight,

'but they've gone way beyond the line of duty.

'Remember, before the interior was catastrophic.

'Check it out now.

'The transformation all over, from top to bottom, is striking.

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

'I'd like a chat with Alison and Michael

'about how they found themselves caught out by cowboy builders.'

They told you they were going to be done in 12 weeks. They were rarely here two days in a row.

-Did you ever go and look what was going on?

-You did, didn't you?

-You challenged them a couple of times.

-I challenged them

on the standard of work and that went down like a lead balloon, of course.

-What sort of stuff did you challenge them on?

-The sequence of events that they were doing things in.

They were putting plasterboard on when they didn't seem to be finished doing the structure.

And when I queried this, I was just met with a tirade of abuse.

-Abuse?

-Oh, yeah. Abuse. And threatening behaviour, as well.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-In your own home?

-Aye, pretty much, yeah.

-That's what I'm struggling to get my head around,

because I know you both work in and around the trade

and so you would know some of the things that were going on in the wrong order.

When you actually said to these guys, "Look, this isn't the way this should be going,"

they didn't hold their hands up, they met it with abuse.

Yeah, it was just met with questions. "What do you know about that?"

"Leave it to the professionals," we were told.

'It's hard to understand why the Farrells, with all their experience,

'found it impossible to manage their builders.

'But there's an even bigger question on my mind.'

Why did you continually pay them, then?

We felt too deeply entangled with it and it was basically a case of

"If you don't, we won't finish, we need it."

-It was always...

-Or "This has been ordered, that's been ordered."

There was always a reassurance that it would be done right and it would be finished in the end, don't worry.

'Alison and Michael were right to worry,

'especially when the cowboys' appearances became so sporadic,

'they were practically non-existent.

'But it was still a shock when they stopped altogether.'

Just didn't turn up, didn't turn up, didn't turn up.

I mean, is it not a good thing? I'm playing devil's advocate here.

Is it not a good thing they just disappeared? Because it sounds like you'd have just kept paying money.

No, there was never anymore money going to them, they knew that.

-So that's why they left.

-They knew that.

'Michael eventually tracked the cowboy down by phone

'and soon wished he hadn't.'

I had a phone conversation with him which lasted just less than a minute.

-Wow.

-In which he threatened to come and physical violence was basically mentioned.

-It was pretty nasty.

-So after taking 70-odd grand,

ruining what was next door,

-you were threatened with physical violence?

-Yeah, uh-huh.

And there was also more sinister things said to me by the other one,

the likes of, about Michael, "Well, we know where he works."

And he said to my mother, "He might find he gets a tap on the shoulder at the station."

'Well, that's absolutely horrific.

'And when I excuse myself from the Farrells and check out the basement,

'that's pretty horrific, too.

'There was only so much our good guys could do.

'Telltale signs of the cowboy in the depths of the extension are still visible.'

If you take a closer look,

this is a damp-proofing system, OK?

So to explain, water runs behind these eggbox-type bits of plastic,

goes right the way down, and it's not about keeping water from penetrating,

it's about manipulating the water. So you have a little channel here

that goes all the way round and out to a certain well

and then pumped out of the building.

But look, it's not happening here. If you come through here...

..the water is just going to gather in these concrete corners and on the sills.

'Not very clever. But on a more positive note,

'thanks to our good guys, things are looking up elsewhere.

'And looking up in a big way.'

This whole front of the house looks completely different, doesn't it?

Do you remember? It was just plastic in place of what should be a window.

Anybody could get in, including Mr Jack Frost,

but now, well, lead flashing everywhere, making everything watertight and safe,

a secure door so that you can lock the door at night and when you go out.

'Check out the ground floor inside. Sure, some decorating needs doing,

'but remember what it looked like before?'

There was wires just teeming out of the wall on the floor,

I mean, trip hazard at best,

real health hazard at worst if they ever became live,

but also, I think it was this wall,

there were loads of timbers that looked like they were resting against it.

What has been built here is a proper stud.

That will have a frame behind it, the electrics are properly fitted,

but look, it's ready for finishing now.

The floor's level. Also down here.

There was a big gap between the old door sill

and the new floor being put down.

You can put carpet down here, whatever you want to put down, but it's ready to go.

Bear in mind it's the first thing you see when you walk over the threshold.

'And before, pretty much the second thing you'd see

'was a great big wall next to a window. Not anymore.'

What they've done now is they've taken the old window out, put a small one in, fitted it properly,

and then built right up to it.

Yeah, that looks loads better.

'Our good guys also found time to do something not on the schedule of works,

'fit a kitchen in the granny flat. What a lovely surprise.'

Cooker, sink, this is brand new.

That is amazing.

That must be wonderful news to Alison's mum,

but let's not forget, this is Alison's mum's living quarters if you like.

And it's looking so much better.

Do you remember there was dodgy wires coming out of the walls?

It was in a right sorry old state.

But now we've got working electrics, we've got light in here.

This is ready to be decorated. This is amazing!

I mean, you know, a skim at the most and then maybe some paint and then you've got a living room.

Which is... It feels like a living room, the floor is level,

it's warm, it's... It's further along than I thought it would be.

Now, obviously there's issues outside.

That balcony is definitely a no-go area.

But this whole door,

there was weather coming through, you could see gaps.

Now it's all sealed up, and because of that balcony, look, the good guys have fitted a lock,

which means this place is safe.

'Unlike before where the door was unlockable. Not clever.

'Well, I've got to say, the good guys have played an absolute blinder.

'Phil's come to talk me through the challenges he faced

'including, believe it or not, a leaking driveway.'

That was letting water into the basement roof, we had to seal that.

So the driveway was letting water in?

Yes, it was tar laid on concrete,

and that was allowing water to penetrate below into the basement.

So we've applied a sealer to stop that happening.

'Crikey! That basement was well on its way to becoming an indoor swimming pool.

'Next I want to ask Phil how he found the inspiration

'to conjure up a kitchen out of nowhere.'

I'm so impressed because your job

was to make weatherproof, safe and secure this site.

-We didn't ask you to stick a kitchen in there.

-No, you didn't. But we managed to get a kitchen for free

-from one of our suppliers.

-Wow!

And we've installed that to try and help a little bit

so that Mrs Farrell's mother can move in here.

That's amazing. Thank you so much for doing that. It's fantastic.

'Remember what the electrics looked like before?

'Well, all sorted now.'

There's been re-wiring, re-plastering, digging out drains,

new kitchen stuck in. I mean, this is no small job.

-This is no small job.

-How long were here for?

We were here for something in the region of six to eight weeks.

Oddly enough, you might be surprised to hear that the cowboy builder

reckoned they might be able to do the whole job in three months.

-Was that...

-That was never a realistic proposal.

-No.

-No.

'But our good guys riding to the rescue was a realistic proposal, and they've delivered.

'Now, before I do the grand tour with the Farrells,

'I'm going to chat to them about their cowboy builder.

'I wanted to find out his side of the story,

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

Your builder says that we're pointing our finger at the wrong man.

He says he didn't do this job,

he subcontracted the whole thing to another builder.

We were both on site together at various points.

-So he didn't subcon...

-No, we never agreed to any subcontracting to any particular individuals.

He says he met with your architect who signed all the work off.

What? SHE LAUGHS

Signed what off? Nothing's ever been signed off. What's he talking about?

-That's what he says.

-Oh, my God.

We've spoken to the architect, incidentally, and he says he never inspected the work,

and if he had, he obviously wouldn't have signed it off because it was appalling.

-Uh-huh.

-What's your thoughts on what you've heard so far?

-How do you feel from what you've heard...

-Furious. He doesn't give a damn.

'No. He clearly doesn't.

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

'It's time for my favourite bit, the grand tour.

'I can't wait to hear what Alison and Michael think to it all.'

So, I think, for me,

the front of your house is the most impressive,

cos it at least looks closer to the finished article, doesn't it?

-Oh, yeah.

-The whole facade looks nice, doesn't it?

It's sealed... You've got... This is a new window, as well, isn't it?

-New window, yeah.

-Does it make you feel any different as regards to,

you know, everybody wants to be proud of their house, walking out, when you come back to the house...

-Yeah. Well, it certainly looks a bit more respectable.

-Yeah.

-It was embarrassing.

Coming back to the house knowing that you've left it secure.

Yeah, yeah, and sleeping, you know, at night.

When you go to bed, it's nice to know that the place is secure.

'And remember that obstacle course of a hallway before?'

-Wires everywhere. Trip hazards.

-Yeah, no door.

For me, from what I see, you're not far on having it done. It's...

You've got some finishing to do here, haven't you?

Really just some painting, sand down, paint and a floor finish.

It'll look like a home.

'Alison's mum's new home will soon have a fully-functional kitchen, too.'

-Has your mum seen this yet?

-Yes. Yes, she has.

-She was quite tearful.

Yeah, she was. She couldn't believe it. She thought it was so kind.

'Her main living room upstairs is now much closer to the finished article.

'Before it looked like this.

'Now it looks like this. Splendid.'

Cast your minds back to when your cowboy builders upped and left.

-Mm-hm.

-Where did you imagine you'd be

throughout the winter in a few months time?

-Freezing. Freezing cold.

-Yeah.

-Really.

-With a rattling door and water coming in.

-Yeah.

Difficult to sleep with the noise of the door, the wind would've been howling through it.

Well, hopefully now, you can maintain this momentum

and then you, your whole family,

your mother can be here enjoying our view.

-Obviously that means your mother-in-law will be living with you.

-Yes.

-That's fine.

-Light and shade.

-THEY LAUGH

'And on that note, it's time to bid the Farrells a fond farewell.'

Well, having spent time with them,

it's quite easy to see and appreciate

just how Michael and Alison's project spiralled so far out of control.

They really were left feeling helpless.

Now, the task for the good guys was to make this house safe, secure

and weatherproof, and you've seen they've achieved that.

But in righting so many of the wrongs for the cowboy builders,

they've got Michael and Alison's dream of getting the whole family living under one roof back on track.

'For our next Cowboy Trap saga,

'we revisit a homeowner we first met three years ago.

'Like the Farrells, it revolved around a builder who came highly recommended,

'but turned out to be a disaster.

'His victims were retired engineer Colin Thompson and his partner Melina,

'who was back home in the Philippines when we filmed.

'Colin wanted to add a new conservatory and retaining wall

'to his renovated cottage in Cobham, Surrey.

'Colin, being a bit of a DIY man,

'was tempted to build the conservatory himself,

'but a neighbour changed his mind.'

The neighbour had a conservatory built

and they were saying what a nice job it was.

I went round and inspected it and thought it looked very nice,

and I thought, "Well, it'll save me a lot of time.

"It looks nice and modern."

'Colin decided to invite the builder

'who'd done his neighbour's conservatory round to discuss the project.

'First impressions were positive.'

Colin liked the look of the builder but what clinched the deal

was his impressive paperwork, which included a stamp with the FENSA logo,

representing industry gold standard for replacement doors and windows.

What's more, his work came with a ten-year guarantee,

so Colin felt completely secure. But, of course, as things turned out,

that guarantee, like the rest of his documentation,

wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

'Yes, Colin should've checked this builder out.

'But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

'And when he originally invited the builder to quote for the job, he very much liked what he heard.'

Initially it was about £11,000

for the conservatory and the retaining wall

just in the vicinity of the conservatory.

Ultimately, when I placed the order, we went a bit further

and had the wall extended to the full width of the garden, so obviously the cost went up.

'Went up by over £2,000 to a grand new total

'of £13,456.

'That was to build the conservatory, excavate the ground around it and construct a retaining wall.

'It also included steps and a garden path made of top quality slabs.

'But work got off to a very slow start.'

Unfortunately, the weather was quite bad at the time

so he was working between the showers.

And, er, sometimes he didn't turn up.

'Worrying for Colin, even when the sun shone

'progress was pitifully slow.'

Sluggish work was one thing.

Worse than that, engineer Colin slowly began to notice

that the standard of the work was not quite the 24-carat job he was expecting.

In fact, it soon became clear

that this guy had learnt his trade at the University of Bodge.

'Colin noticed the builder wasn't laying the bricks in the wall properly.

'A builder that can't get a wall built? What next?

'I'll tell you what next. A builder that can't fix a roof onto a conservatory.'

It was when the roof went on that you could suddenly see

that the polycarbonate roof was touching the slate roof of the house.

So I said, well, you know, "That's no good."

He said, "Oh, the water can go down that."

I said, "No. Forget that. What about all the leaves?

"We've got lots of trees around here and the leaves will collect in that."

"Oh." So he took all the panels off

and took them home and sawed the ends off all the panels.

'Well, that sounds professional. This guy then tootled back to Colin's,

'stuck those sawn-off panels back on the conservatory roof,

'and guess what happened when it rained.

'Yeah, you've got it, Leaks, leaks and more leaks.

'And that wasn't all. The water was leaking onto a conservatory floor that wasn't level,

'and the windows and door hadn't been fitted properly, either.

'Because of the damp, the humidity in the conservatory was unbearable.

'Just when Colin thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.

'In December 2005, just before Christmas,

'the builder walked off site never to return.'

Colin's dreams were in tatters.

Instead of the bright and airy conservatory, a cherry on the cake of his idyllic cottage,

what he was left with was a soggy mess.

'Yep, all Colin got for his £13,400

'was a calamitous conservatory and a wonky wall.

'He tried contacting the builder but his calls were never returned.

'And when he finally checked the guy out,

'he was horrified to discover the builder wasn't really in FENSA

'and his ten-year guarantee was as worthless as a ten-bob note.

'Take my advice. Don't automatically trust the paperwork

'your builder shoves under your nose. It might be a work of fiction.

'If they say they're registered with a body like FENSA,

'phone the association to check the builder is on their list.

'Look at the terms and conditions of the guarantee carefully.

'Ideally, it will be from the manufacturer.

'They're much more likely to be around if something goes wrong.

'But Colin's luck was about to change

'because our good guys entered the fray.

'They couldn't fix the whole bodging build, but they could certainly make a start.

'The priority was fixing the roof and windows.

'By doing that, they'd sort the humidity and make the conservatory bearable to be in.

'Our fellas set about their task with gusto.

'Out with the old...

'..and in with the new.

'And this was the end result. A wonderful, watertight roof.

'Yes, Colin's conservatory was out of intensive care

'and on the road to recovery.

'But it was still a work in progress. The floor still needed sorting for a start.

'Would Colin finish the job and create the conservatory of his dreams?

'Only time would tell.'

Well, it's been nearly three years since we last saw Colin

and, of course, we helped him get back on track by fixing the leaking roof of his conservatory

and fitting new windows, but he still had a fair bit of work to do.

Let's see how he's got on.

'Apparently Melina's away again.

'Hopefully it's not because she's upset with our good guys' conservatory efforts.'

-Colin.

-Hello, Jonnie. Come on in.

-Thank you very much! Nice day.

'As soon as I cross the threshold,

'I can't help but notice the miraculous change here,

'starting with the floor, before my eyes were attracted skywards.

'An extra touch our good guys added has proved to be a success.'

-So, this glass, it's clean.

-Yep.

It's the self-cleaning glass.

It's got a special coating on it. When you get any outside debris, like birdlime,

it can even dry on there,

but over a period of time, after a few showers...

-It just washes off?

-It washes off. That's never been cleaned.

Since that's been in there, two years, I've never clean the roof.

'Well, Colin's clearly pleased that his self-cleaning glass

'is still doing the business beautifully two years on.

'And the roof must still be watertight, too. If it wasn't,

'Colin wouldn't have bought soft furnishings and got the floor done.

'Nice tiling, which is all the more impressive because Colin did it himself.'

I had all these tiles stacked up for a few years in the corner there,

cos I couldn't do anything with them so they were in their boxes.

So as soon as your guys had finished their work, I thought, "Let's get this place finished"

and so I just cracked on and did all the floor first.

Checked up, phoned up various manufacturers,

finding out what the best thing was to make sure I got proper adhesion to the floor.

And I made... I put levelling,

I put levelling points so I could make sure it was all level.

'Excellent idea. A level floor.

'Better than the fundamentally flawed floor the cowboy left behind.

'Trying to lay tiles on that would've been like trying to stack custard.'

You took so much more care on a do-it-yourself job

than the professional cowboy that attempted it ever did, didn't you?

Well, that's right. He did it wrong in the first place.

-If it had been done properly, I wouldn't have had to do all that.

-Looks really good.

'It certainly does.

'Remember, this was the careless carbuncle of conservatory the cowboy left behind.

'No carelessness from our good guys, craftsmen to the core.

'But when I departed, the floor still needed doing.

'And because our fellas gave it a watertight lid,

'Colin's had the confidence to put a screed down

'and the desire to tile with style.

'Conservatory completed.'

Do you feel like once our guys from Cowboy Trap came,

did you feel like you were ready to tackle it again?

Yeah, once they'd done that, that was the big thing out of the way.

'And it's also pleasing to see that Colin is using his conservatory

'in all sorts of weather, even in the colder seasons.'

It's great to come out here, have a coffee and, you know...

-Lovely place to have breakfast.

-Yeah.

-Wave at squirrels.

-Yeah, absolutely.

'Yeah, I admit it. I like to wave at squirrels when I'm in a good mood, what's wrong with that?

'And I'm in a good mood today,

'because remember what this place looked like when the cowboy strode out of town?

'It was the stuff of nightmares.

'Rather than the dream conservatory Colin desired.

'After our good guys weaved their magic,

'the conservatory was massively improved,

'but still with lots to do.

'And Colin's gone ahead and done it himself.

'All's well that ends well, eh?

'But before I go, I want to ask Colin what he learned from his unlucky cowboy builder experience.'

What would you do different? Say you were going to embark on having another conservatory built,

how would you go about the process?

Go round and see people's conservatories, see what was done,

ask them about the people who did it, the quality, the professionalism of the people themselves.

You go along with these people because you think, "Well, they're the professionals."

That's the trouble. You put your trust in them and think, "I'm paying a lot of money,

"I'm going to sit back now and let them get on with it."

Cos it's nice to be able to do that.

You were going to build it yourself but you thought, "I'll let someone else do the hard work."

I thought, "I'm paying them. I'll let them get on with it."

They give you all these assurances that it'll be all right on the day,

but it's not, they just walk away from it and leave you with a disaster.

'Disaster with a capital D.

'A builder who couldn't put on a roof without it leaking. Shame on him.'

-How low did you get?

-I got very angry. You feel frustrated and you think, "What can I do?"

There's water coming through, you can't decorate it,

you can't put soft furnishings in, they're going to rot away with the damp.

But once that was done and it was sealed, that's great, you can get on with it.

It can be raining hard outside and it's great.

'Great indeed.

'Right, it's time to leave Colin to enjoy his dry-as-a-bone, terrifically-tiled conservatory.'

Well, it's been great to catch up with Colin

and see that the conservatory has now become

an integral part of his and his partner Melina's home.

By the sounds of it,

once our builders had put the roof on top of the conservatory and lent a helping hand,

it sprung Colin into action and he finished everything else

by his own hand. Pretty impressive.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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