Cowboy builder destroys home with 'shabby' £70,000 makeover nightmare
A cowboy builder has ‘mutilated’ a family home with a botched £70,000 makeover nightmare, with the couple saying ‘this has ruined our lives’.
Hayley Price, 42, and David Rego, 43, wanted a dream makeover project but said it has turned into a nightmare.
They hired Leighton Walkley, 46, to build an extension on their house, a summerhouse and patio.
The couple paid Walkley up front to complete the work on their home in Caerphilly, South Wales.
But his work turned out to be ‘shabby’ before he deserted them to take on another job.
‘It’s not an exaggeration that this has ruined our lives,’ they said.
The couple paid Walkley up front to complete the work on their home in Caerphilly
They hired Leighton Walkley to build an extension, a summerhouse (pictured) and patio
The couple are now living a ‘nightmare’ with a summerhouse ‘subject to collapse’, drainage problems, rubble in their garden and unsafe steps leading to an uneven patio.
Their garden has become so hazardous that their young children Beatrix, six, and Freddie, two, can’t go outside to play.
Hayley, a welfare rights advisor for cancer patients, and David, a procurement supply analyst in the steel industry, said Walkley was recommended to them.
They said: ‘We thought he was trustworthy – when we met him he was pleasant.
‘Something changed during the job and he abandoned us. It was a fiasco.
‘He took our money, took on another job and disappeared.
‘The work had been sporadic and when we contacted him to ask him when he was coming back he would make it sound as if he was doing us a favour.
‘We felt like he had us over a barrel.’
‘We feel so angry and frustrated that we live in a house that we now despise which has been damaged and mutilated by him.’
The devastated couple had to remortgage their house to pay Walkley and aren’t able to find the cash to rectify his work.
‘It’s also difficult to find someone who will take on somebody’s else’s bad job,’ they said. It’s a vicious circle.’
Pictured here is the mess he left behind in thee garden, where their children can’t play now
Hayley Price and David Rego wanted a dream makeover project but it turned into a nightmare
Walkley was prosecuted by Caerphilly trading standards and appeared at Cardiff Crown Court last month.
He was handed a suspended prison sentence after he admitted to unfair trading.
Walkley, of Penyrheol, Caerphilly, could be forced to pay the couple compensation after the prosecution applied for a proceeds of crime hearing.
Hayley and David are now calling for a change in consumer protection and building regulation laws.
They said: ‘Ours isn’t an isolated case, this is rife and the system allows it to happen. The system is broken.
‘We think there should be some sort of insurance policy to protect consumers and there should be regulation of builders.
‘We were also lucky that our trading standards team were so good and took our case on but I think trading standards are mostly woefully underfunded in this country.’
The couple added: ‘Our advice to other people is don’t be forced into paying up front. Make sure you don’t get pushed into it.
‘We’d like there to be support for people who don’t know where to turn. A lot of people who fall victim will be more vulnerable than us.’
A judge condemned Walkley as ‘greedy’ after he strung his victims along by promising them he would finish the job.
Walkley, who was trading as L&B Brickwork, appeared for sentence at Cardiff Crown Court. A judge heard he was paid £70,000 and only completed around 50 to 60 per cent of the work he was supposed to do.
Judge Carl Harrison told Walkley: ‘One of your victims said she felt like you were pressuring her to give you more money.
‘The couple felt they had no option but to pay in the hope that the building project would be completed.
‘You give assurances over and over again that the work would be completed but each time you failed to follow them through.’
The court was told there was ‘a lengthy catalogue of failings’.
These faults included incorrectly fixed drainage pipes and ceilings, uneven flooring and loose cables.
‘The workmanship in many areas was incomplete and below the minimum standards set within industry, an expert said,’ Judge Harrison added.
‘It was shoddy and slapdash with little evidence of competent skill or basic understanding of simple domestic work of this nature.’
Walkley was jailed for six months but the sentence was suspended for two years and he was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
He is set to face a proceeds of crime hearing in September.
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