Cowboy Builders

[xraanswerban]

Re. Cowboy Builders on television.

Hello,
I am confused, how is it a builder can go on ripping unsuspecting people off time after time and not get into trouble.
On Cowboy Builders [channel 5 26/01/2011] a builder had taken over £100,000 from 26 of his clients and walked away leaving jobs unfinished and unsafe,
this is seen week after week, how is it they can do this,
it's robbery, it's steeling,
if you walked into a shop and stole goods then the full rigger of the law would be down on you like a ton of bricks, yes bricks
why do these builders get away with it week after week?
I am now retired from the building trade after 50 years
and in all those years I never ripped anyone off.
What a rotten world we now live in!

[ganesh]

I know,it's got so bad you dread having to have work done..and no-one can recommend any good reliable ones any more.

[dotty.]

It's all down to the silvery tongue and the smoke screen. Some guy turning up to look at a job will know straight away whether the client has any clue about the work needed and the costings, they will over estimate in materials and labour because that is what they have always done. Sometimes it goes well , other times they can take the preverbial and not turn up or leave a kid doing the work whilst they go to another job or sometimes they bail because it's not cost effective anymore, i.e. the money has tun out, They then rely on the client doing nothing and getting fed up of being ignored.
The only way to not let this happen is at the very first contact, the client should ask for references, a written contract and stages payments.
The builders get away with it because they know there is no paper trail to back up any claim

[R1Geezer]

Yes theft plain and simple. No idea why the law is so weak in this area.

However the householders must take some responsibility for being stupid. Give a Builder most of the money up front and many of them will pi55 off! Just pay as you go and never take a cash run out. if they haven't got enough on the firm to do some stuff in advance then they are a fly by night sh0wer anyway so don't pay them up front. A reputable builder will agree to stage payments.

[hc4361]

dotty, these people did all that - paid in stages, got references, got contracts.

This man has been taken to court by clients numerous times and got CCJs against him. Enforcing a CCJ is another kettle of fish though.

[dotty.]

that isn't the norm then is it? More than CCJs should be the answer, company's house can bar him, the local trading standards can stop him trading I think. He will not manage to get any kind of mortagae with CCJs and he can be forced to sell his house to pay his creditors and thouh that may all take time it will mean an end to it

[R1Geezer]

Given how much was paid and how little actual work was done they must have paid slabs up front.

[dennisb66]

I can never understand why so many people pay money up front.or in one case shown last night agree to pay £350 per week by Direct Debit before work has even started.

[Nosha123]

Luckily I married a good one!!!

The other side of the coin is that a particularly nasty woman he did some work for went to a Cowboy Builder programme about him.. making out he did x y and z wrong to her house and conned her. Making out that he was a cowboy.. even the presenter and an independent surveyor said to her that she had not been conned by a cowboy builder and she should move on with her life and get over it.

What come back do we have??? He wasnt named in the programme but she goes around telling people he is a cowboy builder when he isnt!

Perhaps I'll just send a load of horse Sugar round to her driveway!!!

[Old_Geezer]

Never pay the deposit by credit/debit card. Once they have your details ....

[xraanswerban]

Thank you for all your answers but the question is still not answered,
why isn't Mr Policeman stood at the end of their street waiting to arrest them?

[R1Geezer]

Becasue the law is vague, he'll say he did the work or lie or say you got what you paid for. Essentially the criminal law is not interested. It's a civil matter.

If I said I'd clean your car for a price and you wern't happy with the result and wanted your money back or me to clean it again and I refused, no criminal offence has been committed. You can take civil action. That's is analogous with what happenned here.

[TonyV]

because it is a civil not criminal matter possibly?