After years of hard work and savings my husband and I decided to invest in an extension on our home. My husband is an ex member of the British army and am a beautician.

Embarking on such a large project is never easy, but we thought it would be beneficial for our whole family.

We found a builder who was quick to get us a quote, he seemed competent and very proud of his work, showing us jobs he had completed locally. We agreed for him to start an extension on our home to make it more comfortable for our family. We had built a strong rapport, and he was quick to take full advantage of the situation. We needed time to apply for a bank loan for the required works. In hindsight we were too open and honest.

Our builder seemed understanding and encouraging, he said he wanted to help us, or so we thought. Now I realise it was manipulative behaviour. He started work on our home on July 2024, before the loan was granted. We were nervous; however, the builder reassured us that all would be fine. He trusted us to get the money and before we knew it, scaffolding had been assembled and a team of builders were swarming our house and walls were knocked through. As alarmed as we were the builder continued to reassure us that he knew what he was doing, despite us insisting that he wait. But he was bullish and said this was all in ‘good faith’.

From August, the builders attitude changed. Not sure if it was poor communication, but he began to pressure us for money. Materials, workers, tool etc. Feeling cornered we borrowed £20,000 from family to keep up with the momentum.

By mid-December and finally with an approved loan, our builder continued with the extension works, claiming 50K in funds to maintain the 4-man building team. However, things were slowing down and stalling. This was weeks before Christmas.

Two weeks into freezing January, the builder was demanding more cash. By then the garden had been dug up, external wall demolished, pipes and floors stripped, and we had no central heating. My 7 and 9 year old sons (eldest with special educational needs) struggled to understand why our house was so cold during winter? Why can’t they play/sleep/eat in another room? Both caught nasty colds and suffered for weeks as the house couldn’t get or stay warm.

We confronted the builder at the lack of pace of the job. He yelled at my husband, ‘why don’t we understand English’’, how dare we question his work! What a risk he took waiting for our loan, how ungrateful we are! The builder took back all his tools and hasn’t come back. He won’t take our calls.

Current day, 70K in debt, no functioning heating. No builder. No proper roof. Whatever was completed is shoddy and likely needs to be redone as it doesn’t meet building standards. We've since found out he done this to other people.

We managed to convince a plumber to fix the hot water supply..its a start but we have such a long way to go. The building inspector told us that we now needed a structural engineer to assess the faults in the work that has been done.

Feeling robbed is an understatement. We are emotionally and physically drained, our livelihood completely diminished. We need another builder but don’t have any money left. Please help us. We can only plead for support and kindness of strangers to help us get a roof over our heads and a heating system as our boys deserve so much better than this.