Hello everybody,
First of all, let me tell you how stressed out I am...
My 61 year old mother had downsized after my father passed away to a smaller property, to a beautiful cottage-cum-bungalow in Watford. Shortly after moving in, she encountered some problems, of which she had been aware when, but decided to tackle these head on and to employ a builder. She searched high and low for the best part of a year, found one she liked and thoroughly checked him out. She got him through RatedPeople.com, rather his business partner. Shortly before he started work, his partner and he parted ways and, as charming as this guy was, persuaded my mother and I that he was the best man for the job. He started work on 6th August 2012 and was initially charged to take on the demolition and reconstruction of a garage. On 26th September, he walked out on us, since he had hideously overrun on budget and was becoming slacker by the day. He left my moth with an unsightly hole in her bedroom wall (he told her her window needed an extra lintel and so he dug out some featured brick work. He left it gaping for over a month, despite him urging my mum to have the work done asap! ) As he was coming to the end of the budget for the garage, he persuaded my mother to have her utility room knocked down (it houses a boiler). This was knocked down and left to the elements for 3 weeks! It became clear that he over-phased himself and when we told him that he had had enough money, he got nasty. He would turn up to work at 9.30, disappear after a few hours to price another job before returning a few hours later. In the end, we had no option than to withhold money until he had made some evident progress (he was working on a daily basis and persuaded mum to be paid once a week!)
I have watched programmes like "Cowboy Builders" for ages and have always wondered how people could ever fall prey to such reprobates, but, well, it really is quite easy. I feel angry at myself for being so gullible and for, of course, these awful men!
His name is Brian Leete of Kohle Construction - avoid like the plague!
How can my mother be reimbursed? - finding a builder half way through a job puts us in a very vulnerable position!
Best
Mike
First of all, let me tell you how stressed out I am...
My 61 year old mother had downsized after my father passed away to a smaller property, to a beautiful cottage-cum-bungalow in Watford. Shortly after moving in, she encountered some problems, of which she had been aware when, but decided to tackle these head on and to employ a builder. She searched high and low for the best part of a year, found one she liked and thoroughly checked him out. She got him through RatedPeople.com, rather his business partner. Shortly before he started work, his partner and he parted ways and, as charming as this guy was, persuaded my mother and I that he was the best man for the job. He started work on 6th August 2012 and was initially charged to take on the demolition and reconstruction of a garage. On 26th September, he walked out on us, since he had hideously overrun on budget and was becoming slacker by the day. He left my moth with an unsightly hole in her bedroom wall (he told her her window needed an extra lintel and so he dug out some featured brick work. He left it gaping for over a month, despite him urging my mum to have the work done asap! ) As he was coming to the end of the budget for the garage, he persuaded my mother to have her utility room knocked down (it houses a boiler). This was knocked down and left to the elements for 3 weeks! It became clear that he over-phased himself and when we told him that he had had enough money, he got nasty. He would turn up to work at 9.30, disappear after a few hours to price another job before returning a few hours later. In the end, we had no option than to withhold money until he had made some evident progress (he was working on a daily basis and persuaded mum to be paid once a week!)
I have watched programmes like "Cowboy Builders" for ages and have always wondered how people could ever fall prey to such reprobates, but, well, it really is quite easy. I feel angry at myself for being so gullible and for, of course, these awful men!
His name is Brian Leete of Kohle Construction - avoid like the plague!
How can my mother be reimbursed? - finding a builder half way through a job puts us in a very vulnerable position!
Best
Mike
