Cow boy builders - disaster

6 years ago

hinall,

I am am hoping for some wise advice from all you nice people so I thought I would share my disaster story.

I can’t divulge too much into his due to much due to legal reasons but my house renovation has been an absolute distaster. Number 1 we had cow boy builders in who absolutely destroyed our property.. We have lived in a building site for a year with no kitchen and 3 children. We havent been allowed to start any of the remedial work due to legal reasons but it basically consists of ripping down half the house. We have lived in a building site for a year - it’s been tough !! The remedial work will have a major impact on the rest of the room of the house which have just been renovated. Which will be financially heartbreaking.

To top it off we paid for a high end wet room this was the only room we could renovate without being impacted by the remedial work. It was lovely at first but cracks soon started to show. The grout they used was faulty, the walls were not tanked and water leaked under the floor. My marble stone floor is horrific and I can’t face to even look at it. The company we used are refusing re do the room they tried to rectify it and made an even worse job. So it’s another battle I’m faced with.

I’m fed up at all these disasters - a project that should of been an exciting and enjoyable part of my life has turned into a living nightmare - I hadn’t prepared myself for how much could go wrong. I have read about horror stories but I never thought I would be in this situation myself. Never !!

Can anyone else share their experiences if they have been through anything similar...

thanks

lisa x

Featured Answer

Rose Williams

6 years ago

its alright saying ring Dom. ... I had my builder nightmare featured on BBC but it does no good as the programme is gone forever after 30 days on iplayer and the same builder was featured the year before and the BEEB wont even sell a copy on request .... makes you want to stop paying tv licence

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Comments (10)

Chris
6 years ago
I had a nightmare plasterer I couldn't make it up the things he did wrong in the end I sacked him and have had issues with other trades it sounds like taking legal is the best course of action the wet room is upstairs ??
Emily
6 years ago
I’m so sorry! I feel bad for moaning about my builders and tradesmen for just taking too long now. I really hope things get sorted for you. Actually the worse I’ve had is a plumber who messed me around and then didn’t come back at all. And the new plumbers had to rectify lots of mistakes and I’ve ended up with visible pipes to some radiators where the exposed look is not in keeping.
But your situation is intolerable!! Good luck.
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Daisy England
6 years ago
I'm sorry to hear your story. I'm lucky because my husband and son are both joiners so that part of the job is easy for us (although time consuming because I'm always last on the list) and we use other trades who we trust and have used for many years so all in all anything construction wise in my home I'm always pleased with. I'm fairly hands on myself too.

Why did you use the builders who did this work for you? Were they recommended or did you simply choose them at random? Did you ask for testimonials or see any of their work? Did you pay deposits and balances making you out of pocket?

What will happen now?
Rose Williams
6 years ago
My experience with a cowboy builder resulted in small claims court to try to recoup the money, he didnt turn up so default win, had admitted fault anyway. However, getting the money back is not a chance. I even had his accounts frozen for the funds, but his main accounts are joint so all I got judgement for was under £400 in his savings account.... that the bank hasn't paid me despite the court judgement!
I hope all turns out well in the end for you, good luck
fullrenov
Original Author
6 years ago
Hi

Thanks for all your replies - it’s much appreciated.

I do agree you have to be careful who you choose for any type of home improvement.

We choose the builders on Recomendation and we saw some of their work - I really don’t know what happened.

All the extension we had done by the builders is flawed. The amount of damage they have caused is nearly £100,000. They are now facing prosecution from the Local Authority for non compliance with building regulations. I just can’t believe they were that stupid to cut corners that have resulted in such high costs to put it right. The list is endless what they have to put right, every part of the extension is completely flawed. I am lucky that the their work did not cause any accidents -‘it is that poor.

I am hoping we have turned a corner now after a long hard year. However I’ve lost all my inspiration and excitement for my house, I’m hoping once the remedial work is all completed I will get into the grove again- hopefully !!!!!

Thanks everyone

Lisa x
dorsetdor
6 years ago
I feel your pain and you are not alone, albeit yours is an extreme case. We were left with a crap subfloor in our (cripplingly expensive) kitchen extension. I won’t bore u as I posted about it before. The only real solution is to rip it out and redo - however due to underfloor heating and a kitchen being installed this isn’t immediately feasible and without an admission that thingsarent right (settlement my arse) we aren’t in a hurry to address things, even cosmetically, we can’t afford to!

my friend and neighbour is 3 yrs down the line following building work and only just finishing (small Victorian semi!) due to a whole litany of bad practice-builders (with every credential going inc loads of recommendation) went awol, Plumber’s work led to condemned boiler., all new bathrooms had to be ripped out the list goes on.

another friend is paying 15k to have roof work redone after a bodge job from her builder who got off at court due to a technicality.

theres no answer other than confronting them, escalating cases to legal eagles, and naming and shaming those who rip u off and take no responsibility for bad practice or even sometimes genuine errors.

once u get your house back you’ll soon get inspired and want to finish it off nicely (and quickly)! Have u lined up someone to redo works?
PRO
Create Perfect
6 years ago
Hi Lisa,

I just wanted to say how sorry I am to hear of your problems (understatement). These people really do give contractors a bad name but I assure you there are plenty of descent and very good people around so please don't give up hope on having your dream home.. you will get there and it *will* be worth it. I wish you all the best, Gina
jessegee
6 years ago
What a living nightmare for you and your family, I hope those cowboys never set foot in another property again. It will all be over one day, ring Dom if you don’t get any joy!

We had duff builders, they’d done our chimney/ roof, and were pleased to remodel/ extend our kitchen diner too.
They said they could do it, then I caught them reading a ‘how to diy book’. !
We had to get their electrical work redone, and finish the rest ourselves when the money ran out.
My mistake, never again!
PRO
Orange Key Design Studios
6 years ago
Hi Lisa, So sorry to hear of your dreadful experience. We (and our clients) deal with contractors all the time, and know only too well that finding the best possible builders and tradespeople is essential when taking on any build or renovation project.

It sounds as though you did the right thing in getting a recommendation and viewing their work - the only thing we would add to that (for your and other's future reference) is to ask for recommendations from friends, neighbours, a designer (if you have one), Building Control and previous clients - then to meet with (if you can) at least 5 contractors, see their work, speak with their clients, and invite them all to quote, using a fully detailed tender document.

If you follow these steps you will hopefully end up with a builder you can communicate with (essential) and trust (equally essential), whose quality of work is first rate and who understands your project and your budget. Any good builder will then be happy to enter (with you) into a detailed Contract of Works for your project.

Good luck for the future! Regards, Jo at Orange Key

Cow boy builders - disaster

Rose Williams

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