One of two scams

[scammed]

Hi

We are in our late 70s, I am an old builder by trade, I left the buildings some 40 years ago during which time I am aware that there have been many new methods and products that have changed and are available, I am still very keen to listen and learn the new ways.

In February 2025 we decided to have some new building works done to our new home, we wanted the front and rear garden made maintenance free by having them block paved, concreted, or tarmacked over and were open to suggestions, we contacted one of those mybuilder companies and a man arrived saying all the above would be too expensive and suggested an 804 base and chippings on top, I commented that this would not give us a solid surface to drive on, the builder explained that they finish with a fine aggregate that once rolled will make it as solid as concrete that I was not aware of.

We agreed a price and the work commenced, there were men, diggers, materials, rain, mud and damage everywhere, some days later he asked for the full payment saying he would be back to fix all the damage they had done to the gutter and such like and laying 804 and chippings over the hight of DPC, but after paying him, in full in cash which is what he asked for, we never saw him again, the finished job itself is of loose chippings, like walking on a pebble beach.

Our question is: is there anything we can do to make the 804 and or the chippings go hard like concrete which is what we asked for, without starting the whole job all over again.

This was only the first scam we suffered from over this one job.

Kind regards

 

[Wayners]

Hi.
Sorry to hear your had a bad experience and it seems many have similar experience when customer recommendations don't seem to be how things happen.
Unfortunately you will be better to find a decent tradesmen to finish the work off to how you would like it done.
You should get a written contract with a payment agreement and never pay in cash, and never pay until it's all completed.
Guess we all know this but sometimes things don't work out that way.

 

[stevie888]

You could try adding cement and mixing it with a rotovator watering and compacting, but if the level is too high that won't help.

 

[scammed]

Hi

I will have to dig below DPC in any event, that means removing all the loose chippings, the top layer of the 804 and the black matt membrane and more of the 804 underneath that, it will be quite a big job for me;

this was the reason I contacted a second builder (scammer number 2), from the same source, after agreeing the job and price it became a nightmare of its own, I paid 2k deposit in cash, and 11 months later with endless excuses and delays I was still waiting for the job to begin,

I was hoping for an easier remedy to all of this.

 

[Koolpc]

As an ex builder surely you should know most of the pitfalls etc etc......never pay until full satisfaction.

 

[opps]

My, now ex, was ripped off by someone she found on MyBuilder. He took thousands for the bathroom sanitaryware. MyBuilder didn't seem to give a toss. I did some research and discovered that he had 4 outstanding CCJs (from former customers). There was little point joining the queue to sue him. That said, the plumber she found was pretty good. The decorators were morons. I am a decorator, but we had reached the point where we didn't talk very often. Needless to say, she begrudgingly asked me to rectify their work... it took me longer to sand back his paint finish than it would have taken me to do it from scratch.

 

[scammed]

I have the same problem with so called builders work myself, having to undo what they have done before I can do the job properly, as with the job at hand, there seems to be very little integrity with builders these days, I believe very few of them ever did a trade looking at what some of them do, they grab the money and you don't hear from them again, by that time its too late.

 

[opps]

I have the same problem with so called builders work myself, having to undo what they have done before I can do the job properly, as with the job at hand, there seems to be very little integrity with builders these days, I believe very few of them ever did a trade looking at what some of them do, they grab the money and you don't hear from them again, by that time its too late.

I think that part of the problem is that many customers would not know a good quality of finish from a barely acceptable one when they leave reviews. Additionally, so long as the tradesman turns up and finishes on time, they will often receive a positive review. Marginally disgruntled customers might not want to leave a negative review given that the tradesman will see their name in the review.

I try to rely on recommendations but that isn't always possible. As a tradesman (who spends a lot of time in the pub), I have a network of people to whom I can defer. That aside, from time to time those recommendations have not been up to scratch.