What to do if you're a victim of a cowboy builder  

Sometimes, no matter what you do and what precautions you take - even if you've read how to spot a cowboy builder you're just unlucky and get taken in by a cowboy builder. What can you do?

If you're now left with a building mess or perhaps you never even got to that stage and they just swindled you out of your deposit, then what the builder has done technically constitutes fraud. Your first port of call is the police. However, don't hold your breath. If the builder has done any work whatsoever, the police will say that this is a civil matter and you will have to pursue them through the courts. Even if they haven't done any work you'll be lucky to get them to do any serious police work. The police aren't really interested in this sort of crime. They'll make some phone calls, but unless the builder is a complete imbecile, he'll make it difficult for the police to get an easy pinch and they'll probably walk away from it.

The police are generally interested in solving easy crimes where there is a high chance of conviction for a low amount of police work. 'Crimes' such as people speeding in cars, beating up drunks on a Friday night or high profile cases where they have to be seen to be doing something. I'm sorry, but that's the reality of the situation.

Next you can complain to Trading Standards. Now, Trading Standards are quite good at pursuing businesses with infrastructure, employees, offices - usually fairly legitimate entities. Where they run into problems is with crooks, believe it or not! You'll probably find that this guy has done it before and he's already known to Trading Standards - which is a pretty powerless organisation where a real crook is concerned. Eventually they may get enough evidence to get a conviction but the chances of you getting any money out of it are - well, they are remote.

You could take him to court yourself - assuming you can track down the cowboy builder, that is. If it's a small job you can file a Money claim online form. They are around £80. It will go to a county court unless he pays up in the meantime (unlikely). Although the county courts are staffed with very inefficient administrators and the judges are from the lower percentile of those who qualified with a law degree, county court decisions do usually favour the consumer, so you'll probably win. However, the court has no power to enforce it's decision. That's right. If the builder refuses to pay, you have to take him to court again to make him pay!

If your cowboy builder has messed up a big job, again court is your only option. But for larger claims of £5000 you're going to need the services of a solicitor. And now you're in hefty legal bills territory - and you still need to employ a good builder to finish the project.

I'm sorry to say that there are limited options if you've been taken to town by a rogue builder. You might try to get on a program like Cowboy Builders on Channel Five - we've helped them out ourselves - Serviceteam help Cowboy Builders! The best solution of course, is to take the time and find a builder who'll do it right the first time - but that is little comfort to you now.

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