BUILDING the perfect forever home is something most people dream of.
But with reports of rogue traders up by a quarter in 2022, it is no wonder we are fearful when hiring someone to carry out the job.
And even when you do find a trader, costs can spiral, with 69 per cent of projects going over budget by more than ten per cent.
It is a problem Claire Harris knows only too well.
When her partner Gary died of kidney cancer aged 36 in 2012, Claire wanted to give her children a fresh start.
They had been living on a run-down estate and the house was filled with painful memories following Gary’s death.
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Like many, Claire, who runs a pet taxi business, struggled to find an affordable property.
But six years after Gary died, she spotted a “perfect” 1930s house for £325,000.
She says: “It was a very small two up, two down and needed an extension. But it was on a nice street with a lovely big garden.
“Finally, after years of sadness, we’d found our forever home.”
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Claire, 46, got planning permission for a double-storey extension to provide bedrooms for her children — Lauren, now 26, Jake, 22, and Elliot, 21 — and more space downstairs.
‘I was shocked’
But to her horror, cowboy builders walked away halfway through the job, leaving part of the property roofless and completely unliveable.
Claire, from Milton Keynes, Bucks, said: “We were without a kitchen for three months, had no hot water for four months and no heating for two years. Part of the back of the house is still just breeze blocks.
“It gets very cold and I have to put a towel down to stop the draught blowing in.
It was meant to be our dream home, but I call it the house from hell
“It was meant to be our dream home, but I call it the house from hell.”
Sadly, Claire’s story is far from unusual, with reports of rogue traders on the rise.
Comparethemarket.com research found that more than half of homeowners — 56 per cent — have fallen foul of cowboy builders.
In 2022, the Citizens Advice helpline received nearly 60,000 reports of shoddy work.
And while 22 per cent of people with issues have left negative reviews about workmen online, 15 per cent admit they did nothing about it.
Of those who did get some money back, only one in five was fully refunded.
Katherine Hart, lead officer at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, says issues with rogue builders are vastly under-reported.
“People feel embarrassed,” she says. “They feel they are not supported and they feel they shouldn’t have cut corners in the first place.
“But there is no blame on the victim. A lot of the time, the people ripping them off are criminals.”
Claire, whose son Elliot has autism, learning difficulties and is partially sighted, says: “We moved in September 2018 and I found a builder, who was recommended to me by an architect.
“I checked his references and previous clients were happy with his work.
“He quoted £70,000, my maximum budget, which was what I had from the sale of our previous home.
“In April 2019, he got to work, turning up every day with a team of workmen.”
Claire made weekly payments to cover labour and materials, but began to worry cash was running out quickly, though little work had been completed.
She says: “I raised concerns after around three months as the roof hadn’t been finished.
“None of the internal work had been started either, but he put my mind at ease, saying they’d had to pay up front for a lot of the materials and it would only be labour costs as the project went on. I believed him.”
But in late July, the builder told Claire he had underquoted her and would need an extra £15,000 to finish the job, upping the total to £85,000.
She says: “I was shocked as I’d been clear from the start that £70,000 was the maximum I could afford.
“I was so upset and I missed my husband even more, finding it a struggle to make big decisions on my own.”
One weekend, while Claire was away visiting a friend, the builder just collected his tools from her home and disappeared.
Stunned, she phoned him. He offered to finish the job for £7,000. But she still couldn’t afford to pay him. After that, she never heard from him again.
With no heating and part of the extension still roofless, Claire and her children were forced to live in the only two habitable rooms.
Devastated, Claire took the builder to the small claims court and won, but as he didn’t have any funds, she was not able to claim compensation.
Claire says: “He said he’d made a mistake and had quoted the job too low.
I felt worthless and stupid. Even friends treated me as if it was my fault
“He claimed he’d been a builder since he left school aged 13 and had never walked off a job before.”
The ordeal took its toll on Claire, who was diagnosed with depression and referred for counselling.
“It is the closest I have come to ending it all,” she says.
“I was in a bad place and didn’t know what else to do. The kids were struggling and depressed too, the house was freezing and I worried about their health.
“My daughter was forced to live on the sofa and had no room of her own.
“Worse still, this happened during Covid when she was working as a nurse on the front line.
“It was the lowest I’d felt after losing Gary and there were days I didn’t think I could go on. I felt worthless and stupid. Even friends treated me as if it was my fault.
“They couldn’t understand why I hadn’t checked his references, but I had.” Afterwards, Claire used the remaining £10,000 she had to fix the roof, make the house watertight and install electrics and heating.
She employed a builder who was reviewed well on a Facebook group called On The Tools and although he was more expensive, his work was good.
Claire says a lot of the work that had been carried out previously turned out to be shoddy.
She says: “The new builder said the roof was missing struts and could have fallen down at any moment. The whole project has been a catalogue of disasters.”
Claire estimates she has since spent another £40,000 trying to fix the house, but the roof is finally finished and she managed to complete her kitchen using second-hand units bought online.
She says: “For the last five years, I’ve had to use every spare penny to fix the house. Usually I manage to save about £170 a month after bills and that pays for a builder to come and do a day’s work.
“The main part of the house is liveable, but the back is still an empty shell. It’s just breeze blocks and a roof. It’s been very depressing, slow progress.”
Claire feels ashamed of the house and says it is an eyesore on an otherwise pleasant street. She says: “I am embarrassed. It still looks like a building site.
“I’ve been trying so hard to fall in love with the house again, but I just can’t. It’s tainted for me now.
“If I had enough money, I’d put it up for sale and move, but I couldn’t afford to now. What was meant to be our dream home turned into a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.”
The whole project has been a catalogue of disasters
But despite her ordeal, Claire feels more positive about the future.
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She says: “I feel proud of what I have overcome, despite being a single parent on a low income.
“Bit by bit I’ve built this house pretty much by myself and although there is a long way to go, it does feel satisfying to know what I can achieve when I put my mind to it.”
Outsmart rogue traders
RESEARCH is key to help avoid a dodgy builder. Katherine Hart, of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, says: “Do your homework.
“Don’t rely on Google or Facebook reviews. And if all reviews appear favourable, I’d be asking questions about that.
“Make sure you get quotes from three different people.
“We found that some traders turned up and said they could get three quotes, but they were all coming from the same family.
“Never engage with someone that cold calls you. Try to use someone who has been vetted by your local authority or someone who is part of the Trusted Trader scheme, or has an approved code of practice. Always get everything in writing.”
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Laura Goddard
