Bad builder forum

Twonk

How do I post a message about bad work ?

wealdroam

Twonk wrote: »

How do I post a message about bad work ?

Good to see you've managed it:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/68517749#Comment_68517749

worried123

Really sorry to hear the terrible things that have happened to people....

I didnt lose much money at all but it is the principle.....I have posted about this problem on another thread but if I can name and shame this man it would give me much pleasure.

Quoted me a price for plastering a room - walls and ceiling and some electrical work. Said he would remove the radiator.....half way through day i realised he hadnt done this and he said that nobody would know !!!!! was supposed to be doing one long day but knocked off t 2.30 saying he would return the following week to finish things off...........i stupidly paid him in full....cash with no receipt and have not seen him since.........the job is rushed and needs remedial work before decoration....none of the electrical work is done.......he does not answer his phone, respond to my voicemails or text and i have written to him.

The most dishonest, greedy man that i have ever met.

John Collin plastering services.

Silverweed road. Walderslade. Kent. (explains it all really!!)

Left me his rubbish to dispose of and used my broom to sweep plaster that i had to throw away - i even cleaned up after them as they were trying to put my furniture back on the floor caked with plaster......thoroughly unprofessional and slap dash job....heaven knows how he gets referral work.

Stan-the-man

Please avoid at all costs;

Impression Construction Ltd
Owner/director Tom Bell
7 Muddy Lane
Sittingbourne
Kent
ME10 4LU
01795 883556
Mobile 07881 541884

Appalling standard of work that breached building regulations, time keeping also poor never working a full day then downed tools, had to be sacked from the job.
Only when a new contractor employed were the breaches in building regs identified, all work had to be ripped out and redone.
I cannot emphasise enough to avoid this builder at all costs.
Beware he has been employed by insurance companies as a sub contractor.

E_Johanson

Hiring Neil Arscott and his company NRAA Construction Services Ltd was one of the worst mistakes we have ever made. The majority of work carried out is incomplete or completed to a poor standard/ finish. Even worse, much of it does not meet building control regulations and will need to be redone at an extra expense to ourselves. One example of this (from a long list of contraventions) is NRAA installed the WRONG size roof rafters, even though the correct size was clearly marked on structural drawings. This has resulted in the whole roof not meeting building control regulations. This was not identified as building control was not called to check it. In addition, we later discovered that the builders employed by Mr Arscott, were not only non qualified tradesman (as repeatedly assured) but have no actual legal standing to work in this country. All and all we are bitterly disappointed with the quality of work carried out and the substandard service provided. I would not recommend this company!

Lime14

Update on Mark Fittes, builder.

Mark Fittes BSG Contractors Ltd Director. Company liquidated 2011 with £64k of debts.

Mark Fittes WeatherAll NE Ltd Director. Company stopped trading November 2014 with approx £50k of debts. Mark Fittes told creditors he was going into administration but just stopped trading long enough to strike the company off ( illegally, as he never told his creditors) so no one could put this limited company into liquidation. None of his flyers or adverts showed it was a limited company.

On the same day he stopped trading as WeatherAll NE Ltd in November 2014 he started up Bowmont Roofing and Building Services (Bowmont.net) as a sole trader keeping £8.5k deposit of a retired couple in Heddon on the Wall who had cancelled their contract. They had done this because they had lost faith in him after he had changed the start date of the work six times and bad reviews about his company were appearing on the internet. Trading Standards also told them that the contract they had been given was illegal as it did not include the required 14 day cancellation clause and they provided a letter template for the couple to use to legally cancel the contract. Mark Fittes told people he was paying the couple their deposit back and only when he was confronted about this lie did he make a derisory offer to pay ( less) money back over 4 years and they would have to sign a confidentiality clause stopping them from talking to anyone about the arrangement and preventing them from being witnesses in the Trading Standards court case. The couple could not afford to give him an interest free loan and did not want to be silenced with their own money and they had become aware of many more people that had been affected by WeatherAll . They took him to County Court and in December 2015 got a personal County Court Judgement against him , with £2.5k costs, because he had got them to pay the deposit into his personal bank account not the WeatherAll NE Ltd bank account.

He has not paid a penny back and apparently has been telling people in the area lies about the cancellation of the contract – saying that he had been left out of pocket as he had bought supplies for the job. This is not true; the couple offered to pay for any supplies he had already bought but he told them he hadn’t ordered anything, but he still kept all their deposit. Using typical rogue builder behaviour he lives in his girlfriend’s house and says he has no assets so you cannot collect debts using high court sheriffs. However, he was using this address on all WeatherAll NE flyers, adverts and his business cards so he looked like a respectable businessman living in an expensive estate. He also used her 4x4 car to attend meetings with prospective customers.

Mark George Fittes went bankrupt on 12th May 2016 but somehow forgot to declare he owed the couple £11k on his paperwork. He had previously went bankrupt in 2001 so should be familiar with the process.

Anyone with a complaint against him please contact the police. He is a bad man and numerous people have complained to Trading Standards in Northumberland but they have been ineffective and not taken action against him after a three and a half year investigation because of resource constraints. This is despite there being upwards of 14 people / businesses being affected by Mr.Fittes , with some people being elderly and others with ill health.

Remember his name as he will be back. He has been operating like this for many years.

RosesInTheHospital

A very dis-organised and unprofessional company. Dealt only with Les Cloughly (father of the duo) but later found out Martin Cloughly actually owned the company (when on the only occasion I had the misfortune to see him, Martin said he would 'Fold' the business so they wouldn't complete the job)
Agreed T&Cs including 2 week timescale. We paid 80% of the cost of the job within the first 10 days and they did a day here and there (not full days though) - it took them 6 weeks to decide they were not going to finish.
They left a long list of outstanding items to supply as well as fit/build.
They claimed we had/were interfering by asking questions when actually we were at work and they would just not turn up for days on end.
They Lied about Building Control visits.
They didn't complete the work to the standard of agreed contract.
They verbally insulted and bullied us and then blamed everyone else but themselves for why the works were not being completed.
They kept on banging on the same drum for two weeks that they couldn't get a Chippie in when they could have completed the work themselves - it was for fitting door jams/frames/skirting
They asked for part of the last installment to be paid before the works were complete to 'keep the ball rolling' then once paid, they decided it was for work already undertaken and claimed we owed for 'extras' which were actually already included in the written contract.
The insulting emails and texts and records of the conversations are my proof of the above.
We had to then incur further costs to get the job done in order for Building Control to pass.
Les and Martin Cloughley of BGPS South East Ltd should be AVOIDED at all costs!

Blunderbelles

Hi,
I want to give an informed review of my experience with this builder for anyone who might come across him given he doesn't have a web presence.

First, I will give him credit that he at least knows how to construct an extension - it is a solid build - and he spotted things that the structural architect missed. He has tried to make amends by apologising for taking so long with the work and we negotiated a reduction in cost.

My issues are related to the finish: the standard of work is sloppy and rushed, often not properly finished (e.g. doesn't sand or join skirting boards, didn't seal one of the outside windows or put edges on the window ledge, nothing in the house has been completed to the standard where it can just be painted - work has had to be redone / made good by electricians, joiners and decorator).

Timescales were awful: He decided to slot us in between jobs so a job we were told would take 3 weeks took over 12. He'd say it was all hands on deck to get work done and there would be 2 people there for less than 2 hours. This has a knock-on effect with other contractors - he made us source a plumber because he couldn't find one to do the work.

Although quick to apologise, he's been aggressive and working with him is a rollercoaster and full of drama. For example, two subcontractors have complained to us about not being paid, saying money is being withheld because we're not happy. We have ended up in the middle of all sorts of dramas that are simply about him wanting to avoid paying people and blaming it on us.

He's clearly got an eye for how to make a building work and he knows the construction side of things but be warned. I will never do construction work with a company that doesn't have someone dedicated to project managing and someone who is a qualified joiner etc. It may be more expensive but I'm sure it would be much, much less stressful....

[Deleted User]

General builders - ask for 2 or 3 examples of previous work, visit them.
New Build Homes - employ snagging firm before final monies paid.

Shouldn't have to do these things but can save many of the problems reported here.

Even without the above, if a builder can start quickly, ask yourself why they aren't busy.

edward_jones

New house in LUND near Diffield East Yorkshire
We have always wanted to live in the beautiful village of Lund, so we made a day of it and looked at three new houses being built by a local builder in the village; my wife brought a friend who knows the area well as he was a policeman in the east riding for many years. We looked at the houses and retired to the pub in the village for lunch, where we discussed the pros and cons of a possible purchase. We were overheard by a couple of ladies who knew the wife’s friend who advised against any purchase from that builder, they went on to explain the builder had changed his company name from REEF HOMES as there had been a lot of legal action regarding several homes and or buildings he and his previous company had been involved in.
They gave us a name of a couple living in a nearby village and advised we contact them; we did by phone through our friend and his contacts, they gave us a solicitor to contact. They also advised to do some digging with the local planning department before we made up our minds on any of the builders properties. We retired to the restaurant where we were served by a very nice person who overheard our conversation, they (as they served our meal) advised (in a low voice) not to buy from that builder as previous purchasers had complained about extreme shoddy and dangerous workmanship, who then had to resort the legal action, as Mr Walker refused to put the deficits right hiding behind several lawyers and solicitors, changing his Ltd company to dodge his responsibilities.
We were now intrigued and decided to look into this and contact the people advised by my wife’s friend and previous customer.
We phoned the solicitor who gave us a name of a Surveyor who in turn gave us another surveyor who worked with Mr Walker who had legal action taken against him because of the REEF HOMES builder, who we now know definitely as a Mr J Walker. All of the above gave sound advice – “do not buy any house from this builder” - we thanked the people we contacted and accepted their advice.
We still are hoping one day to live in Lund but we will now look to an existing house rather than a new one.
We are not saying not to buy any of these three houses, we are saying we are not and would never take a chance with so much adverse advice for so much money.
A home buyer