Episode 9 Cowboy Trap

Once again, I'm on the road

to uncover some really dodgy building work.

Now, cowboy builders may well be able to hide their work from you,

but even the most cunning can't hide their tricky work from these eyes.

I've got my dream home, my vision in my mind,

and it's just all collapsed around me.

I'm going to bring in a top team,

who will put right the wrongs that these cowboy builders have caused.

-We've now been bathing in a plastic tub for nine months.

-Wow!

My advice and tips will be able

to help you spot the telltale signs of the cowboy builder.

That is just downright dangerous.

You've got a drop of two feet or more.

There's no way anybody can be around here.

It's time to show YOU how to avoid falling into the cowboy trap.

Today, we're near Heathrow, in the town of Ashford in Surrey,

to meet single mum Lesley Sukamto.

Lesley's varied work life has so far taken many routes.

I've been a secretary, er, worked on a building site, actually...

been backpacking round the world,

I've been a chauffeuress in a limousine.

I'm also a qualified beauty therapist.

Lesley Sukamto has lived in a two-bed semi for 19 years.

Now, with daughter Honor, she wanted an extension.

That was her dream - to have extra bedrooms and a bigger kitchen.

But the real icing on the cake

was to have a family bathroom and a nice en suite downstairs.

I've got my dream home, my vision in my mind - my bathroom upstairs,

all nice and big and new, my shower cubicle area downstairs,

the en suite... You know? That's what I dream of, and that's what I want.

Lesley found a builder and invited him round to quote.

He came up with a figure of £31,950.

That was to build a two-storey extension,

creating a new bathroom, an extra bedroom

and an en-suite shower room and a bigger kitchen.

Lesley gave him the green light,

and the builder asked for £5,000 in cash upfront. Oh, dear.

Take my advice.

A reputable builder has accounts with suppliers,

which can be settled later.

A cowboy doesn't.

You've been warned.

Lesley's builder didn't get off to a good start.

He took out her bathroom without making alternative arrangements

for the young mum and her daughter to wash.

They had to use a plastic tub, with hot water out of the kettle.

What?!

You know, I was literally having to keep boiling up kettles.

'And you know how kettles run up your electricity bill.

'So that's it, filling up all the bath all the time.

'It could take you two hours, all in all.'

It wasn't only the lack of washing facilities that got Lesley down.

She was handing over money left, right and centre.

And the quality of the work was - how can I put this? - rubbish!

The pointing was so bad

Lesley thought she could do a better job herself.

I saw a considerable amount of lack of pointing down the side alley,

so I found some wet, discarded mortar,

so I just literally, in my daughter's little bucket,

put it in and got down the narrow gap

and started pushing it in and pointing it myself,

which of course gave me mortar burns that lasted about three weeks.

By now, Lesley was two months into the project

and nearly £28,000 out of pocket,

and her dream home was nowhere in sight.

Instead, she had dangerous, unfinished construction work,

upheaval and mess everywhere, no bathroom and no heating.

So it meant both mother and daughter

were forced to camp out in the lounge.

This sofa makes up into a sofa bed, so we've been sleeping out here.

You know? Pull it out at night, put it back in the morning.

That's how we've been sleeping,

cos with no heating, it was just so cold to go upstairs.

Then came the final straw.

He'd been dragging his heels, turning up late, leaving early.

I went out into the garden

to see what he'd been doing the previous day,

and I saw how he'd re-bricked up my patio.

This is what I discovered.

That was the colour of the brick before,

and he's put in this... orange engineering bricks.

No effort. Look at that.

Literally thrown in there.

Well, that was it, to me. "That's it. That's enough."

Lesley confronted the builder,

but instead of being apologetic,

he demanded another £1,700 to finish the job!

Lesley refused, and that was it. He walked out, never to return.

Lesley and her little one are left in an unfinished building site

with no bath or shower.

N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-nightmare!

Lesley's story is a particularly tragic one.

Her life has been turned upside down

by having to live in a house with an unfinished extension.

And on top of that,

she's now stony broke, due to having to borrow money to pay the builder,

who, in my opinion, is not only a cowboy, but a callous one, too.

I think it's time to meet Lesley and find out where it all went wrong

and see if we can put her life back on track.

-Hi, you must be Lesley.

-Surprise, surprise!

-How are you?

-I'm Clive from Cowboy Trap.

-Pleased to met you.

-Now, I hear you've had problems with cowboy builders.

-Yes, yes.

And I can tell from the outside that it doesn't look too good.

-I think I might as well check this first, do you?

-Yes, yes.

-If I was you, I'd go down the side alley first.

-OK, brilliant.

-I'll put the kettle on for you.

-Great!

-Careful!

Careful, cos there's two holes.

There's two holes? There's a massive hole, isn't there?

-And there's a very little hole, too.

-So I'd better be careful.

Thanks for warning me in advance. Thank you for that.

I'm not looking forward to this.

'This is meant to be the new downstairs shower and study room.

'Don't think so!

'The house wall to the side of the extension still hasn't come down.

'And check out this brickwork!'

This brickwork here, I've got to say,

is child's play, really, looking at it.

It's just incredible the way these are all twisted.

But they knew full well that that was going to be covered by render,

so a lot of the job wouldn't be seen.

If this is part of their work, it is very, very poor.

And the way they've actually done the interior blockwork,

the gaps, the mortar gaps are just way, way too wide!

It just doesn't look right, at all.

And, really, this needs to be barriered off,

because there's a child in the property.

If they come anywhere near this,

I mean, who knows what sort of injuries

an adult could get from walking on this, let alone a child.

It is, again, one of the situations - pretty poor.

Well, I think I've seen enough in there.

Let's go and check inside and see what the problems are.

'Remember, Lesley wanted a new bathroom and bedroom upstairs.

'Doesn't seem too much to ask,

'bearing in mind the builder was on site for three months, does it?'

They've plastered one wall. I just don't really get it.

Now, let's just say it's in a state of, erm...

incompletion.

'This bathroom is miles away from being finished.

'In fact, it looks like it's hardly been started.

'Let's see if the bedroom is any better.

'Well, what do YOU think?'

You can certainly see where her plan's going and where her dream is.

On these joists here, they've put packers on the top, timber packers,

so they obviously miscalculated.

This is not the safest in the world to be doing,

so I'm going to get onto this board.

HE SIGHS

So, it actually makes quite a nice-size room,

but again, it's been left in a state of danger.

I mean, just having a board across there isn't enough,

especially, again, when you've got children in the property.

You've got a fall there right through,

down into what looks like the kitchen extension.

It's not safe. It's just not clever. It just looks such a mess!

'When I check out downstairs, it goes from bad to worse.

'Lesley's handed over nearly £30,000.

'And this isn't just a cowboy trap, it's a death trap.

'It's amazing Lesley and young Honor

'haven't suffered any serious injuries.'

That is just downright dangerous.

You've got a drop of two feet or more, two and a half feet.

For a builder to leave it in this state, he should be ashamed.

Now, take a look at this. This door is temporary in more ways than one.

If I try and shut it, think about the security angle

before we even think about the amount of cold air coming in.

But look at that. The whole frame is moving.

Now, the danger with that, of course, is

a good, strong gust of wind,

who knows how long that's going to stay there?

And if anybody was down in this hole when that drops,

this is a weighty old door, let me tell you.

And then all you've got there, look, is plastic tarpaulin

up and over the top of the threshold.

Great for posting your parcels, if nobody's in, but that's about all.

This home footage shows the devastation this cowboy caused.

What a disaster!

Lesley's offered to give me a guided tour. Hope we survive it!

-Let's go upstairs.

-Right. Follow me, Clive.

'I think Lesley deserves a medal for staying sane

'in the midst of this incredible bungled build.

'This must be among the worst cowboy traps ever.'

My old bath was there,

and my daughter and I, we had our bath that morning,

and I jokingly said to her,

"Oh, I wonder how long we're going to be without a bath.

"Maybe three days?"

Little did I know what I was letting myself in for,

because we've now, to date, been bathing in a plastic tub

-for nine months.

-Wow!

-Yes, yes.

It was originally my daughter's old baby bath

-that I got down from the loft.

-Right.

But of course, me squeezing in there, eventually it split.

So I ended up in a plastic box that I got up the local dump!

-That's ingenious...

-Mm.

-that you've done that,

but should you have ever been in that position in the first place?

Well, of course not. It's the only way I can have a bath in this house,

and that's what I've been doing for nine months.

-You should never have had to have been doing that...

-No.

..for all this time. We need to start to put an end to that.

Well, if I knew what I knew now,

there is no way he would have taken my bath out that Monday.

-Monday 17th May. That date will stick in my mind for ever!

-Yeah.

'And the botched work in the bedroom is pretty unforgettable, too.

'Cowboy-tastic!'

Well, I'll tell you about this room.

Erm, it actually was lower than the rest of the house.

-That's why he's got the packers up.

-Yes, yes.

It is just rough! It is just terrible!

'This work is mad, bad and dangerous.

'Just look at the hole in the floor.

'And the downlighters are a serious fire hazard.'

Before anybody seals this floor off,

that has got to have fire hoods put on it,

basically, because the heat that's generated

from those low-voltage lightings is intense.

And, of course, you've got all of this,

you've got combustible materials all around.

All of this sawdust goes to combustible materials.

I'm amazed you've lived in this house

for this length of time in this condition

and had no injuries.

'What I've seen here is really worrying me.

'But that's nothing compared to what Lesley tells me next.'

-He's, literally, built on top of the original flat roof.

-Right.

But there's a steel beam in there.

'Lesley's home footage reveals all.

'That steel beam across the flat roof of the kitchen

'is now supporting the entire upper floor of the extension.

'But if the hidden far end is only resting on the old lintel,

'this whole building could collapse like a deck of cards.

'My heart really goes out to this unlucky single mum.'

You are having to bathe in a bucket.

Mm.

Now, that is no fun for anyone.

The dream's gone. The dream's up in smoke.

I was planning on going to college in September. I had to cancel it,

because it's just too time-consuming getting ready in the mornings.

-You see the effect it has on just your daily life?

-Mm.

-But it's now thrown you out. You were going to go to college.

-Mm.

That's thrown you out. You've got...

I would imagine your heating-bill quarter, with all of the...

..kettle boiling.

Well, not just that, but I'm talking about the fact

that you've got great big gaping holes

round the door through to the kitchen.

That has to be mega, mega stressful. How does that make you feel?

You just seem to be shorter-tempered, really.

It creates stress with your daughter, as well, you know.

So it's not been a good time.

How anyone can leave a house in this dangerous state

with a little one running around is beyond me.

But the good news for Lesley

is there's now light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm determined to bring her dreams back to life.

What could we do to start putting things right?

Well, what would make me happy is

if I could get the wall taken down in the downstairs toilet room

and the staircase supported

and get that little en-suite shower room that I wanted.

Who - who had a conscience - would leave somebody living like that,

with no bathroom?

Who indeed? A low-down cowboy builder, that's who.

Clearly, a lot needs to be done.

For a second opinion, I've called in independent surveyor Simon Levy.

Time to get his verdict.

What have you seen that you don't like?

The work carried out to the interior of the house is appallingly poor.

There are works that don't comply with the building regulations,

there are works that are flawed in terms of their design

and the manner in which the works have actually been carried out.

The standards of workmanship in some instances are utterly appalling.

Give us a mark out of ten, what you think this is worth.

On average, the inside works are probably worth

about three out of ten,

but where some works actually have to be demolished to put them right,

they can be given zero, or one, out of ten.

Zero out of ten and three out of ten is where it'll stay,

and that tells me everything about this build.

'Whether it's zero or three out of ten,

'either way, it's an awful score.'

Well, clearly this is unsafe

not only for an adult, but particularly for a child,

so I'm going to seal the area off.

It is now a no-go zone, and I'm going to call in the good guys.

'And here they jolly well are, my gallant knights in shining armour.

'Huzzah! Meet Ray Johnson and his trusty sidekick, Paul Long.'

Boys, this is always my favourite bit, bringing in the good guys.

But I have to say, there are pockets of disaster all over this property.

I don't know where you're going to begin,

cos the thing with cowboy builders,

it's not what you see on the surface of the job, it's what's beneath.

We've had to delve right the way back

through the site visits that the inspectors have made

to uncover what mistakes this builder has done,

and they were atrocious problems.

But tell us roughly what jobs you're going to do through this property.

The most important one - above this ceiling,

there's a steel beam that's resting on this wall.

It looks a good, solid wall,

but there's only a very small concrete lintel there.

If that goes...

..the beam, the room above, the roof above

will all come straight down into this kitchen.

Lesley will get hurt, the child could be hurt.

Well, anybody in this vicinity could be hurt, like we could be right now,

and we don't want that to happen!

'Not kidding!

'This face is much too pretty

'to have half a building parked on top of it.

'Thankfully, Ray and Paul waste no time swinging into action.

'So much needs doing Lesley's chipping in.

'The good guys diligently get drilling

'and gallantly remove some glazing.

'When they remove the plaster,

'they find a creaking concrete lintel cracking under the strain.

'Looks like Ray's team arrived just in time.

'They replace it with an RSJ.

'Phew-ee!

'So far, so good,

'but can the good guys get Lesley's dream back on track?

'Only time will tell.'

'Three weeks have passed, and the good guys' work is done.

'I've returned to ask them how it's gone. Fingers crossed!'

-Ray the builder! Ray of light! Ray of sunshine!

-Hi, Clive!

-How are you, mate?

-I'm all right, thank you.

I tell you what, it's a whole heap different

to the last time I was here.

Just talk us through everything you've done in this kitchen.

Well, you remember that we had the problem with the lintel?

-That's now been replaced with a real solid steel beam.

-Brilliant.

And that is now supporting all the upstairs,

so there's no problems there of any more collapsing.

-OK.

-The other thing that we've done is we've made the wiring safe there.

-Got no cables hanging.

-No, no cables.

We've then gone on and we've done the plastering and finished off the room.

We've done the floor, which has met with building control.

And the door's in. From a security point of view, the family are safe.

Looks so much better, doesn't it?

Well, there's still a lot more to do to get the house as it should be,

but hopefully we've gone a long way

to getting Lesley started on that process.

Now, what about in the office and in the shower area, as well?

Come and have a look at that, and I think you'll be surprised.

Right, Clive, this is the other room that we've done.

I tell you what, that is really bright and breezy now, isn't it?

You remember how the wall used to be across there?

-Yes.

-Well, that's all gone.

We've then fixed the staircase, so that is supported,

and then we've done all the plastering

and everything else in here.

And, of course, the windows are in now,

so from a security point of view, again, really important.

And I tell you what, Ray, the floor looks great, mate.

Let's have a look in the shower area.

Oh, yeah, man! That looks totally different as well, doesn't it?

It's very compact, isn't it?

But do you know, the thing is it's fit for purpose for her now.

-That's it.

-You know, she was having a bath in an old plastic tub.

Now she's got a shower, she's got a basin, toilet, lighting,

tiled...

It looks fantastic. I think she's going to love this.

I think she's going to love it.

I mean, it's a lesson for

other customers who want extensions and that done.

They should look on the Federation of Master Builders website

to get a recommended builder

or they should go on the Trading Standards website,

-the Buy With Confidence.

-Wise words, Ray. Wise words.

I tell you what, brilliant job.

And I can't wait to show her what the good guys can do.

But before that, I've tracked down a phone number for the cowboy builder.

It's a chance for Lesley to give him a piece of her mind.

I think it's high time that your builder answered some questions,

some much-needed questions.

But I would like to know from you

what questions you would like to ask him.

Why did he remove my bathroom?

To remove a bathroom in somebody's house

when that is their only facility for having a daily wash

-is just out of order.

-OK.

Well, I'm going to give you that chance now.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to put it on speakerphone for you.

-PHONE RINGS

-There.

Hello? Do you recognise this voice?

I have some questions to ask you, if you don't mind,

and you have the right of reply.

Why did you remove my bathroom upstairs

when you had put no drainage in place?

You have left me with no bathroom in this house.

Why did you take my bathroom out?

'For legal reasons, we can't broadcast the builder's voice.

'But when asked about removing the bath,

'he said he was only following Lesley's instructions.'

Cos I asked you to?!

I did not ask you. You are in charge as the builder.

You said to me, "Do you want me to fit your bath upstairs

"downstairs temporarily?" And I said "no".

I said after three weeks, I would have expected you

to have had my bathroom re-installed upstairs.

My second questions is, at the same time,

why wasn't a steel beam discussed internally?

You allowed the bedroom and the roof to be built on top of the kitchen,

when no steel support had been put in internally.

So ten months, all that weight was sat on a kitchen doorway

that didn't have sufficient support there.

'In response to this allegation, the builder said

'he DID want to investigate the kitchen beam

'but was told by Lesley not to.'

You really don't know what you're doing as a builder, do you?

I think all you are is a painter and decorator.

Anyhow, forget it!

Ooh! Now, THAT was fierce!

He's constantly pushing the blame back at you.

I didn't want this and I didn't want that!

How would you not want an RSJ to support the upstairs floor over...?

Because it's not whether you want it,

-it's not whether he wants it, it's building control...

-That's right.

..that actually want it.

So all of these things he was trying to put back on you.

But that was tough. It was hard.

And I could feel the passion and I could feel the pain from you.

But listen, well done, Lesley.

'Well done indeed! Next, on to the fun bit.

'Lesley's been living with the work as it's been going on,

'but now it's time for the grand tour.

'Can't wait!'

Here we go.

-Lovely!

-What was it like before? Remember?

Well, we had a big trench there.

There, there was a grey block wall, wasn't there,

that the labourer built? It wasn't even straight.

So now they've finished the wall off and plastered it all,

-got the chrome lights. I really like chrome lights.

-Looks really good.

It looks so much brighter, as well, doesn't it?

I mean, you've still got a bit of tiling to do, but do you know,

one of the most important things, for me, or two of them,

-remember about the beam? What was the problem?

-Oh, yes.

Yeah, the beam, yeah. Having the beam done is, well,

structurally making the house not going to collapse in time.

Yeah, exactly. That was the thing. I mean, obviously,

this was the discovery that there was every possibility that

that upstairs extension, the bedroom, could have collapsed down.

One of the things that I really hated

was the fact that, from a security point of view, the door was like...

-There was your big opening.

-You could put your arm through.

You could! So I'm really pleased to see the door and the frame in.

-It's a magic door!

-Yeah, that's right!

Everything's in!

Yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, it really is.

This is like... For you now, is this a new beginning?

Well, what I shall do now is I shall get a nice kitchen table here

and we'll be able to start functioning again

as a family, downstairs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now then, do you remember the bath situation?

It was bucket bath time.

-Joke. Absolute joke.

-Indeed.

And this is where I want to show you now, what the office area's like,

cos you wanted the office bit.

You also wanted an en-suite area, too. So shall we go and have a look?

-Oh, yes, please.

-Come on.

Come and have a look.

-Cor, look at this!

-Hey!

-Do you remember this, Honor, before?

Do you remember the builder was never capable of taking this wall down,

was he, and supporting the staircase?

Yes.

Do you remember, Honor, looking at the electrics and everything,

the way the flooring's been put in,

just tell us what you're going to be using this for

and how excited you are about it.

This room is going to be for my college work.

I go to college, don't I?

So it's a nice little area for you to come

-and sort of concentrate and do your work.

-That's right.

But also it's just a lovely little escape area, too.

But of course, if you remember,

we'd got huge holes all over the place, windows weren't there...

No windows, no. That's our fire-exit window.

It's now gone in, of course, you know.

And this was very cold, this room.

I mean, I was packing the holes up with tissue paper and plastic bags,

because, of course, we had to bath in here.

There was gaps, gaps in the wall. So yeah, I used to pack it up and...

-I don't know how you did it, actually.

-Well, neither do I.

I really do not know how you coped with it.

As I said, I think I've most probably aged this year

and become more of an alcoholic!

Well, let's hope we can stem the tide. We don't want you doing that.

Now, do you remember, Honor, what your mum had to do,

when you wanted a bath? What happened?

-Yeah.

-A baby bath, then a tub.

-That's right. That's right, Honor.

Because of that situation with bathing in a tub,

in a plastic tub, I want to show you the en suite.

Come on, Honor, go and have a look in there.

Oh, look at this!

That's fantastic, isn't it?

Now, obviously, in here you've got the toilet, you've got the basin.

I love the chrome towel rail, as well.

Mirror... You've got the extraction fan,

you've got what they call "zone one lighting", as well, for in here,

and above the shower, which means it's water resistant,

it's moisture resistant.

Look, Honor! We can go in there and get spruced up and washed up

in about ten minutes instead of two hours.

-Yeah, it's just brilliant now.

-So overall now, how do you feel?

Well, I'm just really, really grateful to you, really I am,

because I could have never, ever done this myself.

So are we having a hug? Are we going to have a group hug? Yeah?

Come and have a group hug. Awww, that's nice!

-Thanks very much, Clive.

-Hey, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure.

I tell you what, that's a cracking job by Ray and Paul.

But it's not over yet.

I've got all the evidence here in the evidence box

to take to the nearest Trading Standards office

and hope that they will pick it up from there.

So, watch out, all you cowboy builders,

because we're on your trail.

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