Michael Goling and his family were beyond excited for their extension, with hopes to transform it into their dream home. Just three months after the building work had begun, everything just stopped
It felt like a dream when Michael Goling and his partner were finally able to start their extension in their family home, having saved up their hard-earned cash for years. With plans to create a more comfortable space for themselves and their three older children, they got the go-ahead, but the building work abruptly stopped just three months later, leaving them completely in the lurch.
Michael, 46, who lives in Essex with his partner, 50, and their three older children, said it was all about space when it came to their extension. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, he said: “We knew space was limited in the property, so we thought in terms of this being the dream home, we were going to extend to have that open-plan feel.”
He continued: “We had plans for a family dining area, a downstairs shower/wet room, a pantry, an open-planned kitchen with an island, and then beyond that there would be another open space and bi-folding doors, opening out into the garden.
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“It would have been a flow from the kitchen into another space and into the garden, almost like an ‘L’ shape. We had our plans and thought that if we could make this our reality, we’ll have our dream home.”
Having saved for years in order to transform their home, Michael, a youth worker practitioner, said they were filled with elation before work began on their property. “It was 100% excitement. We’ve watched all the programs where people make big changes to their homes, and they’re amazed by the end results, so we thought this was going to be our journey,” he shared.
To make their vision a reality, the couple were referred to an architect through a family friend to draw up the plans. “This gentleman was recommended to us from previous work he had done, and they said he was a good architect,” Michael explained.
Kicking off the process in 2021, Michael and his partner worked with the architect for five to six months, drawing up the plans, making changes, and getting planning permission.
Knowing the potential risks involved in taking on an extension and wanting to ensure they were working with the right people, they “built up a rapport” with the architect, and there was an “element of trust”. They had regular meetings, went through everything “meticulously”, and if any issues were raised, they would go over them with a “fine-tooth comb”.
When it came to choosing their builders, Michael told us: “We were very cautious and wary of who we would end up with in terms of the build. We started to look for builders in the area, we spoke to our neighbours and met a few other people, but then our architect said he had a build team. He told us he had a team that was doing a build at the time in Hackney.”
Michael said that even though they had been working closely with the architect and had built up a trusting relationship, they still wanted to do their due diligence on the builders he had suggested to them. This saw Michael and his partner visit another couple who had used the same builders for their own extension, and they left feeling reassured.
He added that they would have preferred to meet other people but said, “There wasn’t anyone else he had recently done projects with.” They went on to fix contacts but were still “learning as they go”. They were also mindful about “not handing over a lump sum of their money” in case they encountered any issues with builders, having heard horror stories.
Their architect essentially became their building contractor, bringing in his team of builders to start the demolition and brickwork.
Their payments were split up into four stages, and Michael said they would pay 25% at each stage. However, once they had made the first payment, they had a delay. “There was a period where dates that were set were changing, and we started to get a bit worried,” Michael shared.
“We asked what the reason was for the delay, and we had asked, ‘Are you sure they can start in December?'”. After going back and forth with their contractor, the builders started the demolition and brickwork in January 2021, which was a huge sigh of relief to the couple. However, things then took a worrying turn.
Michael shared: “Later down the line, we were introduced to another gentleman who was his [contractor’s] floorman. That’s when things started to go left. In one drawing, they made changes where there were radiators rather than underfloor heating. The floorman tried to play it off that we were going to have problems with underfloor heating. He tried to convince us, and we thought, something’s not right here.
“It seemed like the floorman was trying to save money. He was trying to change the design and layout, but we had a contract that had been agreed.”
Along the way, Michael also said they had to fork out for additional costs, including plastering walls, rewiring, soil, and concrete slabs. Worryingly, as these issues began to appear, he claimed their building contractor “faded into the background,” and they struggled to get in touch with him.
Then, on one occasion, the couple turned up at their house and discovered that there was a different team of builders. “We saw the quality of the work falling, and things weren’t up to scratch,” Michael said.
He added: “The contractor said his team would be doing the work for us, so we thought it was a team that he specifically employed, but we then found out that he actually subcontracted them. One of the builders told us that they hadn’t been paid, even though we had paid our contractor, but he hadn’t paid the builders.”
Michael also alleged that their contractor hadn’t put down their £4,000 deposit at a company for their bi-folding doors, and that it was later established that the contractor had forged their invoice for this.
The couple looked thoroughly into what had happened, speaking to their contractor and “trying to justify where money had been spent”. Michael claimed that their contractor had been paying people “cash in hand”, but when the builders were no longer getting paid, they laid down their tools and left the extension completely unfinished.
They went back and forth with their contractor to sort it out, with him promising he’d get a loan out to get back to their initial plans. Michael said they then didn’t hear from him again despite trying to get in touch, and later received a letter sensationally claiming they owed him £12,000. Thankfully, they didn’t have to.
“We were left with a half-finished structure, no roof, no windows, no doors, no kitchen, and a home that’s felt more like a construction site than a safe haven. We’ve been cooking on camping burners and trying to live day-to-day in a space that’s incomplete and unfit for a family, Michael shared.
“We used every penny of our savings, maxed out credit cards, and took out loans just to make the extension watertight and secure. When we tried to take legal action, we discovered the builder had liquidated his company, leaving us with nothing but debt, stress, and a long road ahead.
“It’s had such a huge impact, including on our health and the sheer stress of it all.” Michael estimates that they spent about £46,000 on the unfinished extension.
They’ve since tried to salvage their home with the help of friends, family, favours, loans and YouTube tutorials. They’ve had to change the design, but have managed to raise the floor and get the roof completed.
“It’s still a shell, but it’s water-tight, it’s got doors and a roof now, but we still don’t have a kitchen,” he added. As of today, it’s set them back over £100,000.
Reflecting back, Michael said: “We thought we had done our due diligence, we had heard about the horror stories, and we watched videos on YouTube about what we needed to ask. We had site visits and meetings to answer any questions we had. I specifically said to the contractor, ‘Please do not do us over, this is our savings and our family home.’
“What hurts most is that we trusted this person. We told him we were putting everything we had into this build. We begged him not to do us over, but he still walked away, and we’ve been left to deal with the financial, emotional, and physical toll ever since.”
Michael has set up a GoFundMe page to help finish the work in their home after a gruelling four years. You can visit his page here.