A retired fireman has seen his pension fund drained after a three-week renovation job left him and his wife ‘traumatised’ – and they’re still in financial peril two years on
A retired firefighter has been left with his pension drained after a highly recommended tradesman turned what should have been a three-week renovation project into a two-year £60,000 nightmare.
Malcolm Carter, 72, and wife Terri, 71, say they’ve been left ‘traumatised’ after paying nearly £40,000 more than planned on renovations to their four-bedroom detached country home. However their builders deny they’re in the wrong.
The saga began in September 2022, when Malcolm and Terri paid Nationwide Construction Specialists Ltd, rated as ‘highly recommended’ on tradespeople review website Checkatrade, £23,891 for work which involved fitting a new kitchen, turning part of the garage into a storage and utility room, and adding an en suite to one of the upstairs bedrooms.
Advised that the property would be uninhabitable during construction, Malcolm and Terri, of Hythe, Southampton, headed off on a three-week holiday in Guernsey while work was underway. Malcolm said: “I now regret leaving the house unattended.”
The couple believed they would return to a newly revamped house, but a few days before they were due to go home, Malcolm learned the builders were a week behind schedule, and so decided to extend their trip, staying for an extra six nights in Guernsay’s Imperial Hotel at a cost of more than £800.
After finally returning home on October 15, Malcolm said the house was ‘filthy’, and without water upstairs or heating. The couple then checked in to a local Holiday Inn Express for another two weeks, after which point Malcolm began to fear the build would never be complete. He proceeded to write to the company, stating that the builders had failed to deliver their service and that he wanted them to leave.
Malcolm, who had been drawn to Nationwide Construction Specialists Ltd’s ‘five star’ Checkatrade review, recalled: “I did ask him if I would get any money back and he just said ‘no, you owe me’. We then had to make the place liveable, so we got some other firms in.”
Nationwide Construction Specialists Ltd representatives have strongly denied the allegations, stating that the construction was ‘a few weeks overdue’ due to additional requests but had been completed and signed off.
A survey conducted on January 21 2023 by loss adjusters at Crawford & Company determined that completing the unfinished works would cost more than £40,000. Checkatrade has since removed Nationwide Construction Specialists Ltd from its platform, and has said that cases such as this are very rare and are always treated seriously.
After contacting a solicitor in Lymington as well as Citizens Advice and Hampshire County Council Trading Standards, Malcolm brought forward a claim for £8,454 against Nationwide Construction Specialists Ltd on March 29 2023. The company failed to respond, and Hampshire County Court ruled in Malcolm’s favour, however he’s yet to receive a penny. Malcolm said: “He completely ignored everything and hasn’t paid a penny to anyone.”
A representative for the business stated that they have been advised against responding to the judgment as they are currently in the process of being closed down. Nearly two years later, Malcolm is still working to restore his home after hiring another building company to finish the job. And the subsequent financial strain has left his fire brigade pension depleted.
According to Malcolm: “The money I had was from my fire brigade pension, but that’s gone now. It’s been a logistical nightmare because we were living out of suitcases and had the trauma of having to hire builders all over again. It was very traumatic. What was supposed to be three weeks, we are still living with today and it has taken a toll on our mental health.”
Malcolm has revealed he was also forced to apply for equity release on his home – an agreement whereby a property owner takes out a bank loan secured against their home, repaying a certain amount each month. Malcolm shared: “We’re paying about £470 a month, and that’s just the interest, because otherwise I worked it out and in about 10 years they (the bank) would own this house completely.”
Back in February, Malcolm was forced to sell his 2012 Mercedes E-class estate to cover yet another week of work and materials, and the project still isn’t complete. Unfinished work includes connecting the kitchen extractor fan and installing a water pump, plus replacing flooring and tiling in the bathroom.
Malcolm paid Nationwide Construction Specialists Ltd £23,891 but says he’d paid £61,415 overall for the renovation project. A Nationwide Construction Specialists Ltd representative said: “I strongly disagree with what Malcolm is claiming as the job was completed and signed off.
“Contractors bent over backwards for him and the only reason it went sour in the end was because he had several thousands of pounds worth of electrics done by an electrician knowing it was extra work and not in the quote. Yes, it was a few weeks overdue but only due to him adding a lot more work on us and changing things several times.”
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