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We're travelling all over the UK | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
to meet the homeowners forced to live with the grim consequences | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
of employing a cowboy builder. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:15 | |
Mum had gone in to put the light on | 0:00:15 | 0:00:18 | |
and as she touched the switch, | 0:00:18 | 0:00:20 | |
her hand came away wet. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:23 | |
And there was water running down the wires | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
into the socket. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
Whether shoddy workmanship or downright lies, | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
cowboy builders are unscrupulous villains | 0:00:31 | 0:00:33 | |
who not only destroy dreams - | 0:00:33 | 0:00:35 | |
they wreck lives too. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:36 | |
And all the time that we're being fobbed off, | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
he's asking for more and more of the payments. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:41 | |
-In cash. -More and more of the money. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
-Were you paying? -Well, unfortunately, we were. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
The builder decided he was going to break into a flue | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
and chose the wrong flue. Instead of blocking it up, | 0:00:50 | 0:00:52 | |
he put a bucket and his overalls there. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:55 | |
It's terrible! | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
We've got the Good Guys in our posse to help turn these houses from hell | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
into heavenly homes. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:02 | |
This room is absolutely amazing. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
It's...it's stunning. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:08 | |
It's unbelievable. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:11 | |
It's better than I imagined. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:13 | |
I never thought that I would, seriously, be alive and see it finished. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:18 | |
You know, it's thought cowboy builders | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
cost Britons over £700 million each year. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
So if you think you know how to spot one, | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
think again. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:26 | |
Make no mistake - the next 45 minutes | 0:01:26 | 0:01:28 | |
could help keep YOU out of the cowboy trap. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
On today's Cowboy Trap, | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
the sun room built as a memorial to the love of this woman's life, | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
which turned out a damp, dangerous disaster zone. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
I looked up at the roof. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:53 | |
There was leaks all over the place. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:55 | |
I looked around and I just thought, | 0:01:55 | 0:01:58 | |
"Sorry, Fred. I've let you down here." | 0:01:58 | 0:02:02 | |
And we meet the young couple who allowed their roofer to tile their living room floors, | 0:02:02 | 0:02:07 | |
with distressing consequences. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:09 | |
The work is very, very shoddy. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:11 | |
It looks like a DIY job, | 0:02:11 | 0:02:13 | |
but he literally turned around to me and said, when I rung him, | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
it's the best he could do. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
Our first Cowboy Trap location is in the town of Ulverston in Cumbria. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:23 | |
Ulverston Canal is said to be | 0:02:23 | 0:02:24 | |
the deepest, widest and straightest canal in the United Kingdom. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:29 | |
Once a vital part of the town's economy, | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
the waterway is no longer used for commercial purposes. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
The shops and pubs on Ulverston's lovely stone-paved main street | 0:02:34 | 0:02:38 | |
are still going strong, though, | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
as is the reputation of one of Ulverston's most famous sons. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:44 | |
The comedian Stan Laurel was born here in Ulverston, | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
and as you can see from the statue beside me, | 0:02:47 | 0:02:49 | |
the town remain rightfully proud of him to this very day. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
Now, Laurel of course went on to find world-wide fame | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
alongside Oliver Hardy in an enduring series of comedy films | 0:02:55 | 0:02:59 | |
know for their masterly use of slapstick. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:01 | |
Which is kind of appropriate, really, | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
because the work you are about to see | 0:03:04 | 0:03:05 | |
displays a level of buffoonery they'd both be rather proud of. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:09 | |
This cowboy's unlucky victim | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
lives in this three-bed detached farmhouse. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
It's home to Avril Sweeting, | 0:03:14 | 0:03:16 | |
a retired education officer. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
Avril's daughter, Jane, lives next door. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
Avril is still coming to terms with | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
the abrupt death of her long-term partner, Fred, five years ago. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
She was in hospital recovering from heart surgery | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
when she was told that he'd died at home. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
The nursing staff eventually came and told me... | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
..he'd died. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:39 | |
Um... | 0:03:39 | 0:03:40 | |
And I didn't believe them. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:44 | |
But when I got home, I still could say, | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
"Thank you, Lord, for the 17 years that we had." | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
Because we were so lucky. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:54 | |
Avril and Fred, who was a farmer, | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
had many happy years together in their farmhouse. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
Avril loved weaving, | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
and Fred liked looking out onto his land. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:03 | |
They often talked about building a sun room at the back of their home, | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
which they could enjoy in their latter years. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:08 | |
His dream was we would build this room... | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
..with a lot of light, so he could see the fields where his stock was | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
and I would have the light and the beautiful views | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
to do the weaving. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
"I'll build you the room and we'll sit there together." | 0:04:23 | 0:04:27 | |
Fred's untimely death had a huge impact on the whole family, | 0:04:29 | 0:04:33 | |
but his dream lived on. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
As time went by, Avril became convinced | 0:04:35 | 0:04:38 | |
that building the sun room that Fred had set his heart on | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
would be the best possible tribute | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
to her beloved late husband. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
In the summer of 2011, | 0:04:46 | 0:04:48 | |
two years after Fred died, | 0:04:48 | 0:04:50 | |
Avril enlisted an architect to design a sun room | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
with a lantern roof. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:54 | |
The plans were approved by the local council, | 0:04:54 | 0:04:56 | |
so the next stage was finding someone to build it. | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
A local builder was recommended by someone Avril knew, | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
so she invited him round to discuss the project. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
Very likeable, | 0:05:06 | 0:05:08 | |
young family man, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
which I liked. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:11 | |
Er... | 0:05:11 | 0:05:12 | |
And this was going to be his flagship. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
He'd built one similar. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
So it was no problem to him. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:20 | |
Mum went about this as she does with most things. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:24 | |
She thought, | 0:05:24 | 0:05:25 | |
"Well, I'll kind of be doing him a favour as well. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
"He's a local lad and he's young, and it will be a good, decent amount of work for him." | 0:05:28 | 0:05:34 | |
The builder wanted £45,000 to build the sun room extension | 0:05:34 | 0:05:39 | |
though the extensive joinery and glasswork required would cost extra. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:43 | |
Jane knew that the construction of the lantern roof | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
wasn't a simple job, | 0:05:46 | 0:05:47 | |
so she asked to see one the builder had done previously. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
He said, "Yes, absolutely," | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
but the telephone number was never quite... | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
given, and... | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
then, apparently, these people were on holiday, | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
so that never happened. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
And with hindsight, it's easy to work out why. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
Take my advice... | 0:06:07 | 0:06:08 | |
Don't accept excuses. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
Checking out a builder's completed work is the only way | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
of ensuring they have the skill set they say they have. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
Only then can you be confident he's not a cowboy. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
Work on Avril's sun room began in January 2012, | 0:06:33 | 0:06:35 | |
with the builder promising the job would be completed by Easter. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
A payment schedule had been put in place, | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
with a £5,000 deposit at the start | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
and staged payments after that. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:46 | |
But the builder asked for money more regularly than was agreed. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:50 | |
He would keep coming back to Mum, | 0:06:51 | 0:06:53 | |
not at any particular stage of... | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
progression. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
But he would come back in and he would want | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
a bit more money. He would always justify it | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
with he needed to buy some materials or other. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:08 | |
And it wasn't just the builder's regular demands for cash | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
that caused concern. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
Soon Jane and Avril began to notice he was creating a terrible mess | 0:07:13 | 0:07:17 | |
and his workmanship was really shoddy. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
The floor didn't feel level, | 0:07:19 | 0:07:22 | |
the windows were full of gaps | 0:07:22 | 0:07:23 | |
and the doorways looked amateurish. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
And that's not all. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
The plastering was atrocious. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
You could see where the boards were joined together | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
weren't correct. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:35 | |
"Oh, it'll be right." | 0:07:35 | 0:07:36 | |
That would be all you got. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:38 | |
"Oh, it'll be sorted. It will be right." | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
OK, so, perpetual demands for cash and shoddy workmanship. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
What's usually number three in the Holy Trinity of cowboy building? | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
Oh, yeah! Falling badly behind schedule. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
It just didn't seem to be progressing | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
as I thought | 0:07:55 | 0:07:57 | |
that it should have been. | 0:07:57 | 0:07:58 | |
No kidding! | 0:08:00 | 0:08:01 | |
The original finish deadline of Easter was missed. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:03 | |
Then a new deadline of August was missed. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
Ditto October, | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
and by December, well, the builder refused to give an end date at all. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:11 | |
And if all that wasn't bad enough, | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
the lantern roof started leaking like a sieve. | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
The leaks became apparent | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
all over the ceiling. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
I would say, "Hey, come on! | 0:08:22 | 0:08:24 | |
"It's a new roof. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
"I shouldn't be having any leaks." | 0:08:26 | 0:08:30 | |
And there was just silence. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
The builder was leaving the sun room | 0:08:34 | 0:08:35 | |
in an unsafe and potentially shocking state. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
Mum had gone in to put the light on | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
and as she touched the switch, | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
her hand came away wet. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
And there was water running down the wires | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
into the socket. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:50 | |
Then just when Avril and Jane thought it couldn't get any worse, | 0:08:50 | 0:08:53 | |
it did. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:55 | |
Local building control came to inspect | 0:08:55 | 0:08:57 | |
and they were horrified by what they saw. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
They looked at the doorways, | 0:09:00 | 0:09:03 | |
which were condemned. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:05 | |
They looked at the roof, | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
which was condemned. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:08 | |
He hadn't gone by the spec | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
of the regulations at all, | 0:09:11 | 0:09:13 | |
so they had to be condemned. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
Um... | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
And they were appalled at the workmanship of it. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:20 | |
By now, the builder was hardly ever to be seen. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:23 | |
And then, just after Christmas, he delivered his final bombshell. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:27 | |
He walked out, never to return. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
In the end, he said, "There's no money left there for me, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
"and I've got bills - I need to earn a living." | 0:09:32 | 0:09:36 | |
And we realised | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
he hasn't got any more money left. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
He's virtually been paid. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:43 | |
He's not done the work. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:45 | |
And it all made sense, why he just wasn't here any more. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
When the builder left, Avril had paid him over £45,000. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:54 | |
And all she had to show for it was a leaky, unfinished extension | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
which looked like a building site. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
Not surprisingly, she and Jane are devastated. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:03 | |
We're both really struggling. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
We're struggling with stress, we're struggling with upset. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
I have spent all my money | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
on a nightmare. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:14 | |
It was only because the rest of the family was strong | 0:10:14 | 0:10:18 | |
and we're all here together | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
that... I honestly think that's the only reason | 0:10:20 | 0:10:24 | |
we've all got through it. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:26 | |
I can't believe anybody could do this, | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
could take the money, as he has... | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
and... | 0:10:31 | 0:10:33 | |
..not do what he's said. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
What a shame for Avril and Jane, | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
because this is an absolute textbook case of a cowboy builder. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
The one-man band with a smooth line in patter | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
who persuades a homeowner they're capable | 0:10:49 | 0:10:52 | |
of doing all manner of trades at a high level of skill. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:55 | |
Gets paid up front, and pretty much paid in full, | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
before disappearing off with a huge amount of work still to be done. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:03 | |
But how much work? | 0:11:04 | 0:11:06 | |
Cowboys have a habit of hiding their bodges beneath the surface. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
So while things definitely look pretty bad around here, | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
we'll need independent building surveyor Euan Elliott | 0:11:12 | 0:11:14 | |
to inspect the work before we can be sure of what we're dealing with. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
Euan's been through it with a fine-tooth comb | 0:11:18 | 0:11:20 | |
and is about to fill me in on what he found. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
It's not finished, and it's a massive bodge. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:26 | |
First item on the agenda - something that's very clearly beyond the pale. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:31 | |
There seems to be a bucket in the wall. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:35 | |
That's right. Unfortunately, they were going to put a fireplace | 0:11:35 | 0:11:39 | |
into this room, and the builder | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
decided he was going to break into a flue, and chose the wrong flue | 0:11:41 | 0:11:45 | |
and instead of blocking it up, put a bucket and his overalls there. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:49 | |
He's compromised some existing work there. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
That's right. He could have blocked that up | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
so they could use the fireplace on the other side of this wall. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
-Now, there's our bucket... -Yes. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:59 | |
There's wires, there's another pipe... What's this pipe? | 0:11:59 | 0:12:03 | |
Is this another attempt at breaking into a flue? | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
No, that was a vent pipe from the bathroom. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:08 | |
What would you suggest he's venting out the bathroom? | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
Am I thinking smells and moisture? | 0:12:11 | 0:12:12 | |
-That's right. -Whatever you're venting out the bathroom, | 0:12:12 | 0:12:15 | |
-is now being vented into a reception room. -That's right. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
That's lovely(!) | 0:12:18 | 0:12:20 | |
A bucket and overalls to patch up a busted flue | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
and a ventilation pipe coming in from the toilet. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
I mean, it's hard to keep a straight face about this stuff. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
The plastering looks like the work of a comedian too. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:33 | |
But there's nothing funny about the dangerous way | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
the electrics have been left. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
And when you venture outside, it's clear why this sun room | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
feels more like Siberia. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
Outside... | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
Yes, there's a problem with the way the rafters | 0:12:44 | 0:12:47 | |
are set over the wall plate. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
They've been birdsmouthed, | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
but the fixings | 0:12:51 | 0:12:53 | |
actually miss the wall plate. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
So it's only the weight of the roof actually holding the roof down. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:59 | |
-So it's floating? -It is. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:01 | |
This is a fairly exposed house, so, high winds, | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
we'll have some issues. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:05 | |
The roof will lift. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:07 | |
The windows aren't finished. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:09 | |
It's just appallingly bad. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:11 | |
You've got windows and doors throughout this extension | 0:13:11 | 0:13:15 | |
that have been bought in - they look fine. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:17 | |
-But it's the fitting of them that's the issue. -That's right. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:20 | |
It's relying on a foam bed. You don't want to rely on a foam bed. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
We're very exposed. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:25 | |
Any wind or water going about | 0:13:25 | 0:13:27 | |
could be blown underneath there. It's just no good. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
No good indeed. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
As is the state the builder left things outside. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
Not just an eyesore, | 0:13:35 | 0:13:37 | |
but completely unsafe too. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:39 | |
But how about that leaky roof? | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
To start with, there's no guttering anywhere to be seen. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
This stage of the building, | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
you'd have thought gutters would have been put on, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
just to get the water away from running down onto untreated timbers. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
I think I can just see some water marks in here. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
That's right. We've got a flat roof in the middle here | 0:13:55 | 0:13:59 | |
with this fantastic light in the middle. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:01 | |
It leaks! | 0:14:01 | 0:14:03 | |
Why is it? This is a flat roof here. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:04 | |
Are you going to tell me the fall is the wrong way? | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
The fall's the wrong way, the material's wrong. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:09 | |
Everything, if it could go wrong, it's going wrong here. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
So we've got, pretty much, inside, out, | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
top to bottom, | 0:14:15 | 0:14:17 | |
bodges? | 0:14:17 | 0:14:18 | |
-That's right. -So, how would you mark this builder's work out of ten? | 0:14:18 | 0:14:22 | |
I'm struggling to give it more than one. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:25 | |
-One?! Really? -That's all. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
The bits that are right were done by somebody else. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
The bits that are wrong were done by this builder. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
It's heartache for the people who live there. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
One out of ten, eh? | 0:14:36 | 0:14:38 | |
I'm not surprised Euan's so appalled, | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
as on the bodge-o-meter, | 0:14:40 | 0:14:42 | |
this one is off the scale. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
Check out the evidence. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:46 | |
A fundamentally useless, leaking roof, | 0:14:46 | 0:14:48 | |
which hasn't been tied in properly, | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
lousy flashing, non-existent guttering, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:53 | |
gaps under the windows, | 0:14:53 | 0:14:54 | |
dangerous doorways, | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
shocking electrics, | 0:14:56 | 0:14:57 | |
rotten plastering, | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
a hopelessly uneven floor, | 0:14:59 | 0:15:00 | |
a garden that looks like a rubbish dump... | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
Oh, and I mustn't forget a busted chimney flue, | 0:15:03 | 0:15:05 | |
repaired with the aid of a bucket. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
All that, and Avril had paid this builder | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
getting on for £50,000. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:12 | |
What a mess. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
But you know the plot. Time to bring in the Good Guys. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:17 | |
And here they are, | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
all set to turn this unmitigated bodge | 0:15:20 | 0:15:22 | |
into a first-class build. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:24 | |
So much needs doing just to get this sun room watertight and windproof, | 0:15:24 | 0:15:28 | |
Avril is chipping in. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:29 | |
Rain is forecast, so that leaking roof will have to wait for now. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
In the meantime, the gang get to work on the windows and doors. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
Oh...mind the gap! | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
Then it's on to the eaves, | 0:15:39 | 0:15:41 | |
with new timber added to make sure this part of the roof | 0:15:41 | 0:15:43 | |
offers proper protection from the elements. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
And the floor, which needs a brand-new layer of screed | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
if it's to stop looking like a skateboard park. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
It's a great start, | 0:15:53 | 0:15:54 | |
but can they bring a ray of sunshine to Avril's dreams? | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
Only time will tell. | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
I'm in Cumbria, just outside the market town of Ulverston, | 0:16:06 | 0:16:09 | |
where Avril Sweeting, who's in her 70s, | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
set her heart on building the sun room her late husband | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
had always dreamt of. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
But the builder she employed was a cowboy, | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
who left her with a hopeless, leaking wreck on her hands. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
Now, I know our Good Guys have been somewhat hampered by | 0:16:22 | 0:16:25 | |
the typical Cumbrian weather on this job, | 0:16:25 | 0:16:27 | |
but I'm hoping they're pretty much finished now. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:30 | |
So let's see how Avril and her daughter, Jane, are getting on. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
-Hello, Avril. -Hello. Come on in, Jonnie. -Thank you very much. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
I must say, it's nice weather here, for once! | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
As soon as I cross the threshold, I can't resist a quick peek | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
at the extension, | 0:16:50 | 0:16:51 | |
and I like what I see. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
Remember what it looked like before? | 0:16:53 | 0:16:55 | |
Well, now check it out. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:56 | |
They cowboy had left behind an unmitigated bodge. | 0:16:56 | 0:17:00 | |
But our Good Guys clearly worked wonders. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:02 | |
Nice one. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:04 | |
I bet Avril's thrilled. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:06 | |
Now, before I take a closer look at our Good Guys' work, | 0:17:08 | 0:17:10 | |
I'd like a chat with her and Jane | 0:17:10 | 0:17:12 | |
about how they got themselves caught so deeply in the cowboy trap, | 0:17:12 | 0:17:16 | |
especially as the problems with the work | 0:17:16 | 0:17:18 | |
were so plain for all to see. | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
-The problem with him, really... I mean, he was aggressive towards the end... -Yes. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:26 | |
..but most of the time, he would simply shrug his shoulders | 0:17:26 | 0:17:30 | |
and he'd smile, and he'd do, or try to do | 0:17:30 | 0:17:34 | |
the job he'd done from the beginning, | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
which was to be very nice through most of it. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:41 | |
"It's all going to be fine. It's simply not finished. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
"As soon as I'm done, it'll be great." | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
-Was that not frustrating? -Hugely. Hugely. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:52 | |
You're getting fobbed off there, | 0:17:52 | 0:17:53 | |
-really, in a very nice, polite way, but you're getting fobbed off. -Yes. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
And all the time that we're being fobbed off, | 0:17:56 | 0:17:58 | |
he's asking for more and more of the payments. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
-In cash. -More and more of the money. -Were you paying? | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
Well, unfortunately, we were. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
And it was a massive mistake. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
And that, ladies and gentlemen, | 0:18:08 | 0:18:10 | |
is how so many cowboy builders manage to ply their sickening trade. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:14 | |
Remember, it's not just your bank balance that will suffer, | 0:18:14 | 0:18:17 | |
but your health and happiness too. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
It got to the point where I... | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
was desperately worried about Mum. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
Mum doesn't have the best health anyway. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
She's had all sorts of heart issues over the years, | 0:18:28 | 0:18:31 | |
and I could see Mum was getting lower and lower about it. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:36 | |
Because this had all been about Fred. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:40 | |
It was the reason it was built. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:43 | |
It was why she wanted the room in the first place. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:46 | |
What was your lowest point throughout all of this? | 0:18:46 | 0:18:48 | |
Christmas Day, when I had cooked Christmas dinner for the family, | 0:18:48 | 0:18:53 | |
and in the afternoon, I was going to go and weave in there, | 0:18:53 | 0:18:59 | |
and I couldn't stay in there for 20 minutes, it was so cold. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:04 | |
I looked up at the roof. There was leaks all over the place. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:08 | |
I looked around and I just thought... | 0:19:08 | 0:19:11 | |
"Sorry, Fred. I've let you down here." | 0:19:12 | 0:19:15 | |
I'm so sorry you think that, because you really hadn't let Fred down. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:18 | |
Someone's let you down in this process, | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
and it's no-one sat around this table. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
It's truly heartbreaking to hear Avril talk like this, | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
but the good news is this long-awaited sun room | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
is finally about to come into its own. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:31 | |
Now, before I do a grand tour with her and Jane, | 0:19:32 | 0:19:34 | |
I want to take a closer look at our Good Guys' handiwork. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
This room is absolutely amazing! | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
It...it's stunning. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:45 | |
Even more so now the Good Guys have been here | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
and they've clearly put a floor in, | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
put some skirting board in as well. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:52 | |
Yeah, it looks so much better. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
Oh, yeah, guess what's missing? | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
A bucket sticking out of the wall! | 0:19:58 | 0:20:00 | |
That's all been blocked up, which means they can use that flue again, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
whatever's behind that wall. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
Avril will now be able to finish off that fireplace | 0:20:06 | 0:20:08 | |
in the months to come. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:09 | |
But with the toilet ventilation re-routed, | 0:20:09 | 0:20:12 | |
the electrics made safe... | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
..and the doors and windows properly sealed, | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
she can get back to her weaving right away. | 0:20:19 | 0:20:22 | |
It's watertight. I know. I've got full faith in our builders | 0:20:22 | 0:20:26 | |
that this place is now hunky dory. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
But you can still see remnants of that leaking roof before. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:33 | |
There's damp patches there. Obviously, this place needs decorating. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:36 | |
The remit for our Good Guys was make it safe and watertight. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
By putting the flooring in as well, | 0:20:39 | 0:20:40 | |
it's starting to look more like the finished product, | 0:20:40 | 0:20:43 | |
which is absolutely amazing. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:45 | |
I tell you what, I bet Avril and Jane can't wait to move in here. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:49 | |
Right. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:52 | |
Time to look outside. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:54 | |
Well, the first thing I notice here | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
is just... | 0:20:57 | 0:20:58 | |
it looks quality. It looks really good. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:01 | |
Now, if you remember, the window had been fitted, | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
but it hadn't been finished. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:04 | |
But our Good Guys have...well, it looks like | 0:21:04 | 0:21:06 | |
they've used local materials, which is fantastic, | 0:21:06 | 0:21:09 | |
but what they've done is manage to put this windowsill in, | 0:21:09 | 0:21:11 | |
but it ties in with the whole look of this nice stone facade. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
And it's watertight - the main thing we need to happen here. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:18 | |
But I think the big job here was the roof. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:20 | |
There was leaks, it wasn't tied in... | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
It was pretty much going to blow off with some bad storms. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
But now, it's now got soffiting. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:28 | |
That's basically this boxing-in we've got here, this woodwork. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:31 | |
And on the side of it, | 0:21:31 | 0:21:32 | |
lo and behold, we've got guttering, which means | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
you're getting all this rainwater away | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
from the main body of the building, | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
which is exactly how it should have been in the first place. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:41 | |
And talking of how it should have been done in the first place, | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
what about that flat roof that Euan, our surveyor, | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
was so appalled by? | 0:21:49 | 0:21:50 | |
It's a good spot to have a look at this roof. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:54 | |
Now, let's not forget, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:55 | |
behind that ridge there's a flat roof | 0:21:55 | 0:21:57 | |
and they think that was where a lot of the problems were - | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
remember the leaks coming around the roof light? | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
But also, these ridge tiles look like they've been replaced. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
I mean, if they've had to muck around with the structure of this roof, | 0:22:05 | 0:22:08 | |
this has turned a pretty big job into a massive job. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:12 | |
Time for a chat with the man who had to sort all this out - | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
Good Guy head honcho Alex. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
He's seen with his own eyes what the cowboy | 0:22:18 | 0:22:20 | |
tried to hide from his unlucky victims. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:22 | |
So what did you have to do? | 0:22:24 | 0:22:25 | |
Essentially, the whole roof came off. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:27 | |
The whole construction of the roof was wrong. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:29 | |
Everything was running the wrong way, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:31 | |
so the water was pooling on the roof. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:33 | |
We had to lift the whole structure up | 0:22:33 | 0:22:35 | |
probably about 600mm. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:37 | |
Do you see that many times on stuff that's recently been finished? | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
No, not at all. No. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:42 | |
Our worst suspicions turned out to be true, then. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:44 | |
And without a decent lid on top of this extension, | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
all the internal plastering and decorating | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
was no more than papering over the cracks. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:52 | |
Sorted now, though. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:54 | |
And with proper guttering finally installed, | 0:22:54 | 0:22:57 | |
Avril can be confident that what's underneath | 0:22:57 | 0:22:59 | |
will remain as dry as a bone. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:02 | |
Right, now, before I do the grand tour with Avril and Jane, | 0:23:03 | 0:23:06 | |
there's one more thing I'd like to discuss with them. | 0:23:06 | 0:23:09 | |
I wanted to find out their builder's side of the story | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
and I can't wait to hear their responses | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
to his version of events. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
Now, your builder has, to some extent, | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
held his hands up and admitted that he got things wrong. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:22 | |
Now, he admits | 0:23:22 | 0:23:23 | |
he went in too cheap with his original quote | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
and he says he's paying the price now. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
Oh, HE's...?! | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
Oh, dear, my heart bleeds(!) | 0:23:31 | 0:23:33 | |
But remember, none of the glasswork | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
was anything to do with him. We paid that on top. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
That's a lot of the project, that glasswork. The bi-fold doors - | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
they don't come cheap. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:45 | |
So you bought those on top of paying him nearly £50,000? | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
-Yes. -Absolutely. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:51 | |
And he's paying the price for coming in too cheap. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:53 | |
I nearly lost my mother through it. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
I know who's paying the price. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
And I know who has, and it isn't him. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
Absolutely it's not him. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
-It's upsetting, isn't it? -I am absolutely lost for words. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:11 | |
That he dares to look for sympathy | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
after what he's done... | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
It's unbelievable. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:18 | |
Unbelievable... and incomprehensible. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
Not sure how you come to the conclusion | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
it's the customer's fault you under-quoted. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
But hey, from what I've seen, | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
this guy is having to defend the indefensible. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
He totally denies any aggressive behaviour towards you, | 0:24:33 | 0:24:37 | |
and says he's disappointed you've seen fit to make such an allegation. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
Really? HE'S disappointed? | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
That's his conscience. He knows differently. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
Well, whatever the whys and wherefores, one thing's for sure - | 0:24:49 | 0:24:53 | |
the Good Guys have totally transformed this place. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:55 | |
I can't wait to hear what Avril and Jane think about it. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
I actually don't believe this is real. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:00 | |
It's stunning! | 0:25:00 | 0:25:02 | |
Absolutely. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
And all this was what Fred used to want to sit and watch. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:08 | |
Yeah. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:09 | |
He was a farmer all his life. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
What a view. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
I mean, it absolutely speaks for itself. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
From here, you don't see a great deal of how much work's been done, | 0:25:16 | 0:25:18 | |
cos the roof's on top of it. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
The soffiting, yeah, OK, it's done, | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
and it's all been sealed. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
That means it's not going to be cold and draughty and damp in there now. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
I walked in there earlier on and had a sneak peek | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
and it was boiling in there! | 0:25:31 | 0:25:33 | |
I mean, that's the way it should be - it's a sun room, isn't it? | 0:25:33 | 0:25:36 | |
This is just cosmetic now. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
The scary stuff | 0:25:38 | 0:25:39 | |
was trying to get a room that was going to stay there, | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
that was going to be solid, | 0:25:42 | 0:25:45 | |
that wasn't going to leak. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:46 | |
That was useable. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
Let's go inside, shall we? Let's have a look. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
Is it open? Yes, it is. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
There might be a few bits left to do here - | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
our Good Guys were only taking down the scaffolding this morning - | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
but already you can see how dramatically life has changed | 0:25:58 | 0:26:01 | |
for these two. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:03 | |
I'm moving in! | 0:26:03 | 0:26:04 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:26:04 | 0:26:05 | |
I think it's the best sun room I have ever been in. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:07 | |
What does it mean to both of you, really, | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
to be able to stand in this room... | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
your loom here... | 0:26:11 | 0:26:13 | |
..ready to be used, really? | 0:26:14 | 0:26:16 | |
I'm just...relieved... | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
we're all still here at the... towards the end of the journey. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:24 | |
And, um... | 0:26:24 | 0:26:26 | |
I'm just really pleased she's got what she deserves, | 0:26:26 | 0:26:30 | |
finally...finally. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:32 | |
And she can be happy now. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:34 | |
No more stress. You can just quietly | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
go about and do your... | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
do your pottery and do your weaving. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
What do you think, Avril? | 0:26:43 | 0:26:44 | |
It's unbelievable. It's... | 0:26:44 | 0:26:47 | |
better than I imagined. I never thought that I would seriously | 0:26:47 | 0:26:51 | |
be alive and see it finished. | 0:26:51 | 0:26:53 | |
I'm not surprised Avril and Jane are so chuffed. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
From almighty building bodge... | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
..to a sun room that's simply sublime. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
At long last, mother and daughter have got what they dreamt of. | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
I don't want much from life. I just want to... | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
be able to quietly do my craft work... | 0:27:10 | 0:27:14 | |
..and look at the view. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:17 | |
And to think of Fred, | 0:27:17 | 0:27:19 | |
on that cloud over there, laughing his socks off at me, | 0:27:19 | 0:27:24 | |
"Told you I've always loved you, Avril. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
"And I'd make it right for you." | 0:27:28 | 0:27:30 | |
Well, he has, hasn't he? | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
-Absolutely. -That's what it is, yes. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:34 | |
So, thanks, Fred. Love you. | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
And on that note, it's time to leave Avril and Jane | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
to enjoy this marvellous room. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
Though not without a cheeky kiss goodbye, of course! | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
Well, | 0:27:48 | 0:27:50 | |
that's quite some journey these ladies have been on. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:52 | |
But at long last, | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
thanks to the Good Guys, | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
they've finally got what they set out to achieve in the first place - | 0:27:56 | 0:27:59 | |
an amazing room. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:01 | |
But now... | 0:28:01 | 0:28:02 | |
Well, Avril can sit in that room come rain, hail or shine | 0:28:02 | 0:28:06 | |
in the knowledge that the roof won't blow off. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
It won't be cold and draughty. It'll be glorious. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
She can take in those amazing views | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
and have happy memories of her husband Fred. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
Good news at last. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:20 | |
Avril and Jane learned the hard way how important it is | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
to get proper references before hiring a builder. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
It's a lesson that could have prevented an awful lot of heartache | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
for this young couple in Lancashire. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:32 | |
We're in Skelmersdale, | 0:28:36 | 0:28:37 | |
a town famed for its unique road system. | 0:28:37 | 0:28:39 | |
There are no traffic lights here - | 0:28:39 | 0:28:41 | |
just supersized roundabouts like this one, | 0:28:41 | 0:28:44 | |
Europe's second largest. | 0:28:44 | 0:28:46 | |
And if you think that would drive you round the bend, so to speak, | 0:28:47 | 0:28:50 | |
spare a thought for the victims of our next cowboy builder - | 0:28:50 | 0:28:53 | |
Cathy Swift and her partner Mike Conroy, | 0:28:53 | 0:28:56 | |
who live in this three-bedroom terraced house. | 0:28:56 | 0:28:58 | |
Cathy's an insurance broker and Mike's a bus driver. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:01 | |
The couple met five years ago in a night club, | 0:29:01 | 0:29:04 | |
where Mike was working on security, | 0:29:04 | 0:29:05 | |
and the spark between them was instant. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:08 | |
I went over talking to him | 0:29:08 | 0:29:11 | |
and we just was chatting | 0:29:11 | 0:29:13 | |
and he came over when we were inside, had a drink with us, | 0:29:13 | 0:29:16 | |
and then we exchanged numbers and it just started from there, really. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:20 | |
When I first met Cathy, she was a nice girl. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:23 | |
Good-looking, didn't wear lots of make-up. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:27 | |
Didn't have fake hair or nothing like that. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:29 | |
So all them were good points. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:31 | |
And she had a good personality. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:33 | |
It wasn't long before this pair of lovebirds | 0:29:33 | 0:29:37 | |
decided to set up home together. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:39 | |
To begin with, the couple couldn't decide exactly where they wanted to live, | 0:29:39 | 0:29:43 | |
but they eventually homed in on Skelmersdale. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:45 | |
It was nice and close to Cathy's family, | 0:29:45 | 0:29:47 | |
and it was a place they knew they could get roughly what they're after for their money. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:51 | |
The house they ended up buying needed a lot of work, | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
but Cathy knew straight away it was a place she could call home. | 0:29:53 | 0:29:57 | |
I love the house. I feel safe here. | 0:29:57 | 0:30:00 | |
And I do like my garden as well. | 0:30:00 | 0:30:02 | |
It's really nice in the summer. | 0:30:02 | 0:30:04 | |
A condition of Cathy and Mike's mortgage | 0:30:04 | 0:30:06 | |
was that they needed to carry out remedial work to the roof, | 0:30:06 | 0:30:09 | |
so the first-time buyers looked at one of those websites | 0:30:09 | 0:30:12 | |
where you get to rate your builder | 0:30:12 | 0:30:13 | |
and chose a local firm with the most positive feedback. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
I think we know where this one's going, don't we? | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
I didn't know a roofer. Mike didn't know a roofer. | 0:30:19 | 0:30:22 | |
So we thought, rather than just going on the Yellow Pages, | 0:30:22 | 0:30:26 | |
and just picking any random roofer, | 0:30:26 | 0:30:28 | |
we'll go on a recommended website, we'll get some feedback. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:31 | |
And because that feedback seemed so good, | 0:30:31 | 0:30:34 | |
Mike and Cathy didn't take up any proper references | 0:30:34 | 0:30:37 | |
or get any other quotes. | 0:30:37 | 0:30:39 | |
Which is a shame, because as we all know, | 0:30:39 | 0:30:40 | |
online feedback isn't worth the paper it ISN'T written on. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:45 | |
Cathy and Mike accepted their builder's quote of £1,140. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:49 | |
And work had hardly even started | 0:30:49 | 0:30:52 | |
when the couple decided they liked these guys enough | 0:30:52 | 0:30:54 | |
to entrust them with the job of realising one of Cathy's dreams. | 0:30:54 | 0:30:58 | |
I've always wanted a white gloss tiled floor. | 0:30:59 | 0:31:02 | |
That is the one thing that I said to Mike if we could afford | 0:31:02 | 0:31:05 | |
that I wanted to have done. | 0:31:05 | 0:31:07 | |
So we thought it may be easier just to use one builder | 0:31:07 | 0:31:10 | |
than have several tradesmen coming in and out. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:14 | |
They said you us, "If you get the flooring and you pick it, we can do it." | 0:31:14 | 0:31:17 | |
Which brought the grand total to £2,580. | 0:31:17 | 0:31:22 | |
At this point, Mike and Cathy didn't even know whether these guys | 0:31:22 | 0:31:25 | |
were decent roofers. | 0:31:25 | 0:31:26 | |
How could they, as they hadn't taken up any references? | 0:31:26 | 0:31:30 | |
But of course, tiling is a different skill altogether. | 0:31:30 | 0:31:32 | |
So if these builders weren't bringing in a specialist, | 0:31:32 | 0:31:35 | |
well, it's obvious, isn't it? | 0:31:35 | 0:31:36 | |
With building, as with anything, if you've got a Jack of all trades, | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
you've got a master of none. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:41 | |
Take a tip from me... | 0:31:43 | 0:31:44 | |
..or you might regret it. | 0:31:59 | 0:32:00 | |
As Cathy was about to find out. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:04 | |
Returning from work one day, | 0:32:04 | 0:32:05 | |
she discovered the builder in somewhat of a hurry to leave. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:08 | |
He just said to me, "Cathy, it's done, it's finished. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:11 | |
"Have you got my money?" | 0:32:11 | 0:32:13 | |
Went upstairs and got that, | 0:32:13 | 0:32:15 | |
paid it over to him, and as I did, | 0:32:15 | 0:32:17 | |
I looked through the door and said to him, | 0:32:17 | 0:32:19 | |
"It looks a mess in there, you know." | 0:32:19 | 0:32:22 | |
This was dreadful work. | 0:32:22 | 0:32:24 | |
You didn't have to be a building surveyor to see the tiles were covered in grout, as were the walls. | 0:32:24 | 0:32:28 | |
The builder told Cathy it would come off with a warm cloth in the morning, | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
so she gave him his money, and he left. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
But of course, that's not how things turned out. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:36 | |
24 hours later when Cath went in the room, | 0:32:36 | 0:32:40 | |
it looked like a bomb had hit it, | 0:32:40 | 0:32:43 | |
but after literally about 30 hours' cleaning, | 0:32:43 | 0:32:46 | |
things just wasn't right. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:49 | |
The tiles were uneven. | 0:32:49 | 0:32:50 | |
There was gaps in it. | 0:32:50 | 0:32:52 | |
Realising the situation was hopeless, | 0:32:53 | 0:32:55 | |
the couple contacted the builder to get some answers. | 0:32:55 | 0:32:58 | |
I said to him, "I'm really not happy with this floor. | 0:32:58 | 0:33:01 | |
"I'm so upset." | 0:33:01 | 0:33:02 | |
So I said, "What are you going to do, then?" | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
He said, "I'm going to try to rectify the problem myself. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:07 | |
"Can you get me some more tiles?" | 0:33:07 | 0:33:09 | |
More tiles?! | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
He had to be joking. | 0:33:11 | 0:33:12 | |
That's another couple of hundred quid. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:14 | |
But the couple were so desperate to get the problem sorted, | 0:33:14 | 0:33:17 | |
they stumped up the cash. | 0:33:17 | 0:33:19 | |
And guess what? | 0:33:19 | 0:33:20 | |
He actually made things worse. | 0:33:20 | 0:33:22 | |
Again, I came home, | 0:33:22 | 0:33:24 | |
and in my opinion, | 0:33:24 | 0:33:26 | |
and in everyone else's opinion who's been to the house since, | 0:33:26 | 0:33:29 | |
the work is very, very shoddy. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
You know. It doesn't look professional. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
It looks like a DIY job. | 0:33:34 | 0:33:36 | |
It looks like something I could probably do myself. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
And I'm really, really not happy with it, | 0:33:38 | 0:33:40 | |
but he literally turned around to me and said, | 0:33:40 | 0:33:43 | |
when I rung him, it's the best he could do. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:46 | |
The best he could do | 0:33:46 | 0:33:48 | |
had in total cost this young couple close to a heartbreaking £3,000. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:53 | |
Worse still, cracks were beginning to develop | 0:33:53 | 0:33:56 | |
in their relationship too. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:57 | |
The pressure it placed on us at the time, | 0:33:57 | 0:34:00 | |
it was bad, you know? | 0:34:00 | 0:34:01 | |
We had no savings left cos we had spent it all. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:04 | |
I think we argued more that week than we've ever argued before. | 0:34:04 | 0:34:08 | |
When you move into your own house, | 0:34:08 | 0:34:10 | |
it should be a joyous occasion. | 0:34:10 | 0:34:13 | |
I do feel for Cathy and Michael. | 0:34:15 | 0:34:16 | |
You might think, "Well, it's only a tiled floor," | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
but of course this was a hefty chunk of money for this couple. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:21 | |
What's more, the whole business has overshadowed those first few months of having their first home together. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:27 | |
This job certainly looks shoddy on the surface, | 0:34:28 | 0:34:30 | |
but what is the full extent of this tiling travesty? | 0:34:30 | 0:34:33 | |
And while we're at it, | 0:34:33 | 0:34:34 | |
we should probably take a look at that roof too. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:37 | |
So we asked independent building expert Mathew Butterworth | 0:34:37 | 0:34:40 | |
to inspect the work. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:41 | |
Mathew's conducted a forensic examination | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
and is about to fill me in on what he found. | 0:34:44 | 0:34:47 | |
The materials they've used are fine. | 0:34:47 | 0:34:49 | |
It's just mainly the lack of quality, really. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:52 | |
To me, it appears like the job's been rushed. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:54 | |
The preparation's not been right. | 0:34:54 | 0:34:57 | |
And really, it's not been thought through. | 0:34:57 | 0:34:59 | |
Possibly been carried out by tradesmen | 0:34:59 | 0:35:02 | |
who are not really skilled in that area of work. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:04 | |
You've got different colour grouting in between the tiles, | 0:35:04 | 0:35:07 | |
which looks messy at best, doesn't it? | 0:35:07 | 0:35:09 | |
And then you've got the different levels as well, | 0:35:09 | 0:35:11 | |
which is almost a trip hazard, isn't it? | 0:35:11 | 0:35:14 | |
It is, really, and I think that the point of it was | 0:35:14 | 0:35:17 | |
that the lady specifically wanted | 0:35:17 | 0:35:19 | |
the grout to be suitable for washing it down. | 0:35:19 | 0:35:22 | |
And it appears that it's not the right kind of grout, | 0:35:22 | 0:35:25 | |
because it's discoloured now as she's been washing it, | 0:35:25 | 0:35:27 | |
and there are quite a number of the tiles that are now hollow | 0:35:27 | 0:35:30 | |
and, over a period of months, will just lift. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:32 | |
Then they will become a serious trip hazard, | 0:35:32 | 0:35:34 | |
because they'll need to be relaid. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:36 | |
The guy that did this was, to all intents and purposes, a roofer. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:41 | |
Well, he seems to be, yeah. From the rest of the work he's carried out, | 0:35:41 | 0:35:44 | |
there's various trades that he's tried to cover. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:47 | |
Obviously, he's not actually skilled in any one of them, | 0:35:47 | 0:35:49 | |
from what I can see. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:51 | |
That's more of a DIY attempt, that, that somebody perhaps does it once every several years, you know, | 0:35:51 | 0:35:56 | |
and that's not really good enough for a tradesman. | 0:35:56 | 0:35:59 | |
Mathew's clearly not impressed. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:01 | |
And something tells me he's not going to be | 0:36:01 | 0:36:03 | |
much of a fan of the roof work either. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:05 | |
We weren't called in to look at the roof, | 0:36:05 | 0:36:07 | |
but we might as well have a butcher's at it. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:09 | |
Yeah, I think in this situation, | 0:36:09 | 0:36:11 | |
it's been left to the builder to decide what materials they should use, | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
and like you said before about the tiles, | 0:36:14 | 0:36:16 | |
the occupant's bought the right tiles. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:18 | |
Here, you see an example of the tradesman's obviously | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
charged a rate which would be expecting proper, quality materials, | 0:36:20 | 0:36:24 | |
but then he's cheating the job by using substandard materials. | 0:36:24 | 0:36:28 | |
I think on one of the other shots, | 0:36:28 | 0:36:31 | |
there's some flash band being used on the back of the roof, | 0:36:31 | 0:36:33 | |
which... He's not flashed it in properly. | 0:36:33 | 0:36:36 | |
He's used a lot of mortar, which is going to absorb... | 0:36:36 | 0:36:38 | |
That mortar ain't staying around, is it? | 0:36:38 | 0:36:40 | |
It's just a temporary repair material rather than a permanent repair, | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
so he's tried to save money wherever he can, really. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
And that means that even though the Conroys might get away with that roof for now, | 0:36:46 | 0:36:52 | |
it is something that will have to be redone properly | 0:36:52 | 0:36:54 | |
in the not-too-distant future. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:56 | |
Right, it's make your mind up time for Mathew. | 0:36:56 | 0:36:58 | |
How would you mark this out of ten? | 0:36:58 | 0:37:00 | |
I'd say... | 0:37:00 | 0:37:02 | |
one or two, really. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:03 | |
Simply because it's a straightforward job. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
I really do believe there are DIY-ers out there | 0:37:06 | 0:37:08 | |
who could do a far better job. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
Essentially, a waste of someone's money. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:12 | |
It is, cos there's nothing you can do now | 0:37:12 | 0:37:14 | |
than take them up and start again. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:16 | |
You can't correct it in any way. | 0:37:16 | 0:37:17 | |
In short, it's a bodge from top to bottom. | 0:37:17 | 0:37:20 | |
Time to bring in the Good Guys. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:22 | |
And here's head honcho Les Bluck. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
He's a tiling specialist, thank heavens. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:29 | |
First things first. | 0:37:29 | 0:37:30 | |
Les and the gang rip up those expensive but now useless tiles | 0:37:30 | 0:37:33 | |
and they go on the scrapheap. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
Then it's down to the proper sub-floor | 0:37:37 | 0:37:39 | |
before they lay the screed down - level this time. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:42 | |
The tiles are cut to size and positioned correctly. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:45 | |
It's a great start, | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
but can we give Cathy and Mike the floor of their dreams? | 0:37:48 | 0:37:50 | |
Only time will tell. | 0:37:50 | 0:37:53 | |
I'm in Skelmersdale in Lancashire, | 0:37:58 | 0:38:00 | |
where Mike Conroy and Cathy Swift had big plans to transform the living room | 0:38:00 | 0:38:04 | |
in their first house together. | 0:38:04 | 0:38:05 | |
But their dreams were shattered when they were persuaded by their roofer | 0:38:05 | 0:38:09 | |
to let him tile their living-room floor. | 0:38:09 | 0:38:11 | |
A decision they've regretted ever since. | 0:38:11 | 0:38:14 | |
Well, our Good Guys have now finished the work here, | 0:38:14 | 0:38:16 | |
so let's see how they're getting on. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:18 | |
-Hello, Cathy. -Hiya! Come in. | 0:38:25 | 0:38:27 | |
-Thank you very much. How are you doing? -Not too bad. You? | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
I'm all right, yeah. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:31 | |
I can't wait to see how things look | 0:38:32 | 0:38:34 | |
now the Good Guys have got their hands on this floor. | 0:38:34 | 0:38:37 | |
Well, this looks... | 0:38:37 | 0:38:39 | |
very different, | 0:38:39 | 0:38:41 | |
because they're different tiles. | 0:38:41 | 0:38:43 | |
Which is great to see, but... | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
when you think about it, | 0:38:45 | 0:38:46 | |
it's a sad indictment on the job that was done before | 0:38:46 | 0:38:48 | |
when nothing here was worth saving. | 0:38:48 | 0:38:50 | |
It also means a much bigger job for our good guys. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:52 | |
It's ripping them up, getting a skip, getting it all off site. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:56 | |
But... | 0:38:56 | 0:38:57 | |
it looks so much better, doesn't it? | 0:38:57 | 0:39:00 | |
Yep, loose, messy tiles with ugly grouting | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
all banished. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:05 | |
Now it's smooth lines everywhere you look. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:07 | |
Nice one, guys. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:08 | |
When you look at the job before, | 0:39:10 | 0:39:11 | |
remember, there was no uniform spacing. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:14 | |
I mean, some spaces hadn't really been used, | 0:39:14 | 0:39:16 | |
but everything looks parallel. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:18 | |
All the tiles look set off. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:19 | |
They look square against the walls and the skirting boards, | 0:39:19 | 0:39:22 | |
but every tile is on the same level, so there's no trips at all. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:26 | |
You know what, when you go into someone's house, | 0:39:26 | 0:39:28 | |
you normally comment on the tiles. | 0:39:28 | 0:39:31 | |
"Oh, I like your tiles" or "I like the flooring" or whatever it is. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:34 | |
You don't comment on the actual tiling that's been done. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
And that's because | 0:39:38 | 0:39:39 | |
you don't notice good tiling. | 0:39:39 | 0:39:42 | |
You only know it's there when it's bad. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:45 | |
Good Guy supremo Les is going to talk me through the challenges he faced | 0:39:47 | 0:39:50 | |
sorting out this faulty floor. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:52 | |
They've not got down to the sub-floor, | 0:39:52 | 0:39:55 | |
so we've had to rip the tiles up. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:56 | |
The existing floor that was under that, | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
what the council normally leave in, | 0:39:59 | 0:40:00 | |
the old brittle vinyl tiles. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:02 | |
Then straighten up the hollows. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:04 | |
So, what...the cowboy guy had basically | 0:40:04 | 0:40:08 | |
laid those new tiles | 0:40:08 | 0:40:10 | |
over the top of an existing floor? | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
Over the old vinyl tiles, yeah. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:15 | |
It's common practice - you remove the existing floor covering | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
when you put a new one down, don't you? | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
Yeah, you get down to your sub-floor, | 0:40:20 | 0:40:21 | |
which is your original floor. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:23 | |
So why wouldn't you do that? | 0:40:23 | 0:40:25 | |
Laziness? | 0:40:27 | 0:40:28 | |
-It's a short cut. -Yeah. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:29 | |
Right, time for a heart-to-heart with Cathy and Mike | 0:40:31 | 0:40:33 | |
to see what their cowboy builder had to say for himself. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
To begin with, he denied he'd done the tiling. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
But eventually he admitted he HAD done it... | 0:40:39 | 0:40:42 | |
as a favour to you. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:44 | |
-A favour? -Yeah. | 0:40:44 | 0:40:46 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:40:46 | 0:40:48 | |
OK! | 0:40:48 | 0:40:49 | |
As far as he knew, you were happy. | 0:40:49 | 0:40:51 | |
When he said, "That's the best I can do," we said, "We're still not happy". | 0:40:51 | 0:40:55 | |
And he just said, "Well, I can't do nothing else now." | 0:40:55 | 0:40:58 | |
He also said that if you'd got in touch, | 0:40:58 | 0:41:01 | |
he'd have come round and re-done it for you. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:03 | |
No. | 0:41:03 | 0:41:05 | |
He came back the first time... | 0:41:05 | 0:41:08 | |
-..bought some more tiles at our expense. -At our expense. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:13 | |
And we came back and there was big gaps in it. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:17 | |
-The grouting hadn't even been done right. -It was awful. | 0:41:17 | 0:41:20 | |
And he just turned round and said, "There's nothing else I can do." | 0:41:20 | 0:41:23 | |
I do think Mike and Cathy have to take some of the blame | 0:41:25 | 0:41:27 | |
for thinking a specialist job could have been done by any old builder, | 0:41:27 | 0:41:31 | |
but hopefully, they've learned a valuable lesson for the future. | 0:41:31 | 0:41:34 | |
Can you put this behind you? | 0:41:34 | 0:41:36 | |
-Yeah. -It's your first house, and it won't be your last, | 0:41:36 | 0:41:39 | |
so you'd keep this lesson with you | 0:41:39 | 0:41:41 | |
when you next get a tradesperson in, hopefully. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:43 | |
Definitely. Definitely. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:45 | |
And I wish the guys the very best of luck in the future, | 0:41:47 | 0:41:50 | |
but right now, it's time to find out how Mike and Cathy feel | 0:41:50 | 0:41:53 | |
now they've got the slick and stylish floor they dreamt of. | 0:41:53 | 0:41:56 | |
I tell you what, it looks totally different here now. | 0:41:57 | 0:42:00 | |
Beforehand, it looked like a naff, knackered old Spanish villa! | 0:42:00 | 0:42:04 | |
You know. But now... | 0:42:04 | 0:42:05 | |
it looks more like it should do, doesn't it? | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
It looks like a modern apartment type place. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:10 | |
Perfect job. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:12 | |
This is what we...this is the finish that we wanted. | 0:42:12 | 0:42:15 | |
You can see it's level, anyway. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:16 | |
You've had a proper tiler do it, that's why. | 0:42:16 | 0:42:18 | |
You can actually walk on it without your shoes on without cutting your feet to pieces! | 0:42:18 | 0:42:22 | |
That's hardly too much to ask in your own home. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:25 | |
Different now, though. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:27 | |
Next time, don't get a bad roofer in to do a good floor! | 0:42:27 | 0:42:31 | |
-Learned that lesson. -Learned that lesson, definitely. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:34 | |
And on that note, it's time for me to leave Mike and Cathy | 0:42:35 | 0:42:38 | |
finally to enjoy their first home together. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:41 | |
Well... | 0:42:42 | 0:42:44 | |
whenever you take on a house, your first home, | 0:42:44 | 0:42:47 | |
it's a huge step in your life. | 0:42:47 | 0:42:48 | |
But then the thought of bringing in tradesmen, it's hugely daunting. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:52 | |
And I think maybe a cowboy builder took advantage of this. | 0:42:52 | 0:42:56 | |
But...well, thanks to our Good Guys, | 0:42:56 | 0:42:59 | |
by the sounds of it, Michael and Cathy's faith | 0:42:59 | 0:43:01 | |
has been somewhat restored in the building trade, | 0:43:01 | 0:43:04 | |
but they've also managed to achieve their dream of transforming | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
the living room in their very first home. | 0:43:07 | 0:43:09 | |
And hopefully, this will be maybe a springboard | 0:43:09 | 0:43:13 | |
for carrying out future jobs in this home in years to come. | 0:43:13 | 0:43:17 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:43:25 | 0:43:27 |