My house has been left with no back wall after building firm's £61k rip-off | The Sun
A WOMAN was forced to sweep puddles and wash dishes in her bathroom sink – after disgruntled builders walked off her £57k renovation.
Catharine Lewis, from Tonyrefail, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, hired the kitchen firm to construct her extension, but the builders stopped before its completion.
With no back wall, the intensive care unit nurse had to clean the dishes in her bathroom sink and sweep puddles when it rained, WalesOnline reported.
Working in perilous circumstances during the Covid-19 pandemic, Catharine wanted her would-be refurbished home to offer a sanctuary after working hours.
In 2021, Catharine had agreed a price of £57k with her builders to create a ground floor extension in January last year.
But trouble ensued after the firm blamed the nurse for the plans she had written up – before accusing her of not having sufficient funds to pay for the extension.
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Catharine said: "I'd saved up for this for a long time – hadn't gone on holiday abroad for 13 years and even re-mortgaged the house.
"I just wanted to treat myself and have a sanctuary to come home to, especially after working in intensive care during Covid – but instead I got this."
After the job ran months over schedule, Catharine had to cough up £4k extra.
And by December 2021, the builders had turned their back on the project.
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The 44-year-old had observed a number of issues with the workers, whom Catharine's neighbour labelled "the 20-minute builders" because of their short work stints.
She continued: "They'd be in the van or standing in the garden chatting, rather than doing anything constructive.
"In the end I got so frustrated I finished breaking up a concrete floor by myself.
"Me and one of my daughters carried all the mess out to the skip – for which they then had the audacity to try charging me the labour costs."
The local community have since promised to pitch in and support Catharine after the nightmare ordeal.
Neighbours put out a call on the village's Facebook page for "bricklayers, carpenters, roofers, tilers, plumbers, electricians, kitchen fitters and decorators etc" to step up and help "fix the devastation left behind."
Neighbour Nicola Wellman also set up a GoFundMe page which has raised more than £6k of its £20k goal.
Other considerate residents have stepped in to support the "incredibly humbled" ICU worker – offering to help with laundry and washing dishes.
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Rhondda Cynon Taf council trading standards officials are investigating the dispute.
The Sun Online have reached out to the kitchen firm for comment.
What to do if your builder goes AWOL
Check your contract
Are there any clauses in your contract to say what to do in the event of a dispute?
Give your builder one last chance in writing to fix or finish things before going to the next stage.
Make sure you record as much evidence as possible including emails, texts, letters, invoices, records of payment and photos of the site, to help quantify your evidence for a future claim.
Try Mediation
This is a low-cost option of resolving a wide range of civil disputes out of court, where an impartial, third party helps both sides work out an agreement.
There’s usually a small fee for this.
Contact Citizens Advice
As a charity organisation, your local Citizens Advice centre will be able to offer you free, confidential and independent advice on how to solve your particular problem.
It will tell you the law that applies to your situation and pass information about complaints on to Trading Standards.
Adviceline (England): 0800 144 8848
Advicelink (Wales): 0800 702 2020
Protection under the section 75 Consumer Credit Act
If you paid your builder with a credit card, then you may have a degree of protection under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
This will be for services costing between £100 and £30,000.
Take your builder to a small claims court
This is a costlier approach for small claims worth £10,000 or less and can take up to 30 weeks to process. If your builder doesn’t respond, you can ask for an order to be made against them.
A report by Consumer Focus in 2010 found that of those who won, 25 per cent received only a portion of their money while 10 per cent got nothing.
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