An Angry Birmingham couple have been awarded almost £70,000 in damages and costs after successfully suing a “cowboy builder” who botched work on their house so badly it could even put their lives at risk.
Kate Theophilus and her partner Stephen Playfor hired Neil Hancox to extend their semi-detached house in Haunch Lane, Kings Heath, after a friend recommended the builder.
The couple paid Hancox – owner of NDH Construction in Tipton Street, Dudley – £50,000 for the work, including a ground floor and second floor extension and a new garage.
But instead of transforming the property into their dream home, Hancox turned it into a house from hell – eventually taking all the cash but leaving the job unfinished and leaving behind a catalogue of almost 50 building defects that could have cost the family their lives.
His Honour Judge David Grant, sitting at the Technology and Construction Court at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre last week, ruled that Hancox pay the couple £43,925 in damages and £29,419 in legal costs for his blunders, as well as the “nuisance, inconvenience and distress” they suffered at his hands. Hancox failed to attend the hearing.
The court heard how work began in December 2008, but alarm bells began ringing within a few months when the family returned home one day to find the kitchen flooded, with water pouring through the spotlights and electrics after the flat roof above it had not been properly covered.
The property was flooded time and time again during the following seven weeks. Kitchen units were damaged beyond repair, and the burglar alarm was hanging off the wall with water dripping off live wires, said nurse Kate, aged 37, who has two daughters Amy, nine, and Lucy, six, with partner Stephen, a 44-year-old doctor.
But the crunch came when one day a concrete lintel supporting part of the ceiling “dropped out”, crashing through the first floor into the kitchen below, smashing the fridge and the electrics unit.
“I was in bed when I heard this almighty bang, it sounded like a bomb going off,” said Kate. “I was horrified.
Thank goodness nobody was in the kitchen when it happened because they could have been killed.”
The family was forced to stay in a hotel but the stress was taking its toll, with one of Kate’s daughters suffering a fit.
“I remember sitting in the hotel bathroom after my daughter had recovered from the fit and just crying my eyes out,” said Kate.
She said even though Hancox had replaced damaged kitchen units, the boiler and burglar alarm, the work was still not finished and by January last year communication had broken down.
“We went to his house, sent him texts, even tried him on Facebook to beg him to finish the work but we were getting nowhere,” said Kate.
Feeling they had no other option, the couple decided to sue Hancox.
An independent survey of Hancox’s work by chartered surveyor Ian Fowler found a catalogue of 48 errors – including a major leak from the underground drainage system which was causing the left corner of the house to sink and the brickwork to crack.
The lintel that fell out had been placed on crumbling brickwork; the WC was so small the door could not be closed if someone was sitting on the toilet and the downstairs extension had not been built according to the approved plans.
Giving evidence, Mr Fowler said Hancox’s work was not of a standard expected of a “competent tradesperson”.
Now, three years on, the house is still not finished and the couple have had to pay new builders £36,000 to fix Hancox’s botched work.
Kate said: “The last three years have been a living hell.’’ She added that “Hancox is the definition of a cowboy builder and I hope people read our story and make sure they do their research when it comes to hiring tradespeople.”
“Nobody deserves to go through what we have.”
Stephen added: “I feel disappointed as both a man and a father that my family has had to cope with all of this.”
Please believe in the best. Check references from previous customers before you assign work.
