A DAD claims he has paid nearly £400,000 to an alleged “serial cowboy builder” but, more than a year later, his home is still unlivable.
Ayham Ashqar has paid out three times as much as he budgeted for, with the job originally only supposed to take four months.
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And to make matters worse, as the work has dragged on, he has found four other customers of the builder who claim they have had their own similar experiences.
Ayham, from Dagenham, east London, estimates that they have all given close to a million pounds to the same man – only for work to be, allegedly, left unfinished and not up to standard.
His two children, aged 16 and 12, meanwhile, have been enrolled in school in Qatar – where the family has been based during the works – since last February.
The dad told The Sun: “This has affected a lot of people and involves a lot of money.”
READ MORE ON COWBOY BUILDERS
He said he has reported the issue to his local council, but claims he was told the responsibility falls on him.
And he says the police have not been able to do anything either.
Ayham and his family, came back to the UK for several weeks over the Easter break, before flying back to the Middle East earlier this month.
The dad had hired the builder to begin work, including extensions to the front and back of the semi-detached home, and a loft conversion, in February 2024.
Ayham claims he was persuaded to pay £150,000 upfront, with the promise the work would be done by July that same year.
But the problems have allegedly continued to mount, and he has paid out a further £180,000 in just over 12 months – with still no end in sight.
“He keeps just refusing to do work and demanding more money,” he said.
“I can’t hire another contractor, I don’t have the funds and he knows the project too closely.”
Ayham went on to say: “Every few months he makes another contract and adds items that I’ve already paid for and assigns money to them.
“If I don’t pay the money, he doesn’t do the work – even though I’ve already paid for a lot of it.”
“Because of the situation I had to do it, but I shouldn’t have to do this.
This has affected a lot of people and involves a lot of money.
Ayham Ashqar
“It will cost more money to get a new builder and a new contract.”
He added: “He fits things around himself and currently won’t do any work.”
Ayham said the work is “shoddy” and the builder has “broken a lot of things in my house”.
“Everything he does, he leaves one thing unfinished. He fits new doors but one is broken or not fitted properly.”
He said the builder also billed him £7,000 for a private inspection but then hired the council to do it.
And has allegedly left a string of subcontractors owed money.
‘Nothing seems to be linked to him’
One fellow victim allegedly told Ayham he paid the builder £50,000 for a loft conversion, but had to pay out the same again to another builder to complete the work.
Ayham claims the builder allegedly operates under multiple businesses.
“We pay different companies. Nothing seems to be linked to him,” he said.
Ayham has sought legal advice, and looked at trying to replace the builder but said his funds are dwindling.
“We’ve given him too much and he’s too involved. We can’t even afford to take him to court.
“I’ve contacted the council but they’ve said the responsibility is on me, not him.”
When the family returned to the UK to live at the house for a few weeks Ayham said the problems were quickly apparent.
I lost £200,000 to a ‘cowboy’ builder – my life is ruined, my home is a mess and there’s NOTHING I can do to get it back
EXCLUSIVE by Ryan Merrifield
A MUM has had her life ruined after “cowboy builders” took nearly £200,000 for a home renovation – and still haven’t finished two years later.
Daksha Patel and husband Mukand Patel hired a construction firm to complete the extensive project in Ilford, North London, before it was outsourced to a subcontractor.
The project is nowhere near completion and they have almost no money left, with one subcontractor allegedly threatening to damage the semi-detached property if he’s not paid the money he’s owed.
The Patels, who have two teenage children, have been mostly living in one room for months, and have been forced to use kitchen facilities in an outhouse, including during the freezing winter.
Daksha has also been injured after falling while trying to move around the home as she says the builders have failed to abide by proper health and safety procedures.
“All my money is gone,” she told the Sun in tears. “We have been so stupid with this, agreeing to pay bit by bit.
“I was crying like hell. I was praying so hard, I don’t know what to do, where to go. I was feeling suicidal, I’m just fed up with this.”
Daksha – who moved to the UK 25 years ago – runs an off-licence shop in Bermondsey, South London, and she, her husband, son and daughter previously lived in a flat above it.
However, they were gifted the semi-detached home by her sister-in-law in 2023, though it needed a lot of work to make it liveable.
They took out a re-mortgage of £208,000 in order to pay for the revamp, with the project initially due to take six months.
Daksha paid a building firm a deposit of £60,000 to begin and the work was then subcontracted out to a third party builder.
He has already run up an estimated bill of £184,000 but the work is barely half complete, and he owes money to other workers he’s subsequently outsourced to.
Daksha and her family rented a property in Seven Sisters for a year and a half, costing £2,000 a month in rent, on top of the £1,800 mortgage on the Ilford home, not including bills and council tax.
She explained: “The builder is never on site. He says he hasn’t got enough money left to carry on.
“He keeps repeating he needs another £22,000, that’s all he ever says. We’ve stopped paying until he starts doing work.
“It’s not a hundred or two hundred pounds, it’s thousands of pounds.
“There’s loads to do, most of the home is unliveable. The work that is done is shoddy, the finishing is horrible.”
Daksha said the builder went to Albania for an extended break over Christmas.
She went on to say: “The man doing the roofing is really angry and he wants money from us.
“I said ‘my contract is with the builder, nothing to do with you’. He has threatened to smash this place. It is really scary.”
Daksha also had to hire another trader separately to fit the boiler so the family had central heating over the winter after they moved in from the rental property last year.
“I tried to call the council but nobody replies… I’ve got no money to take legal action,” she said.
“Mentally they are torturing us – they are playing a very smart game.
“I told him (the builder) I’m going to report him but he said I don’t care. They know this country’s regulations in and out.”
She added: “We are living in distress, depression, the whole house is in a mess.
“I was suicidal, I tried to kill myself but luckily my husband supported me.
“We work so hard, seven days a week 70 or 80 hours to build up the property and suddenly someone has come and messed up your whole life.
“If Keir Starmer can make a law to punish the rioters immediately, he can do something to protect people against builders like these.
“Protect hard earners and ensure they don’t suffer. People making an honest income are suffering so much in this country.
“I went through hell, I don’t want anyone to go through the same problem I went through.”
“When we started living here the problems kept ramping up. Things were coming off, there’s damp. We don’t know if there’s going to be bigger problems.”
He added: “Every time we ask him to do the work, he wants more money in advance.”
The family will return again in July when they hope the work is finally completed.
He said, out of the blue, multiple people have knocked on his door and claim the builder had been showing people his home and the work he was doing in an effort to advertise his services.
Ayham has since tracked down four other families who have paid money to the builder, only for the work to be completely unsatisfactory, they say.
“We can’t get our money back,” he said, adding: “I approached a solicitor and they said it will cost a minimum of £10,000 and no guarantee the court can enforce anything anyway.
“I want to warn others.”
One, he understands shelled out £300,000 a couple of years ago.
Other customers The Sun has spoken to include a homeowner who paid over £30,000 – and a year later the work is still not done.
Outsmart rogue traders
RESEARCH is key to help avoid a dodgy builder.
Katherine Hart, of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, says: “Do your homework.
“Don’t rely on Google or Facebook reviews. And if all reviews appear favourable, I’d be asking questions about that.
“Make sure you get quotes from three different people.
“We found that some traders turned up and said they could get three quotes, but they were all coming from the same family.
“Never engage with someone that cold calls you. Try to use someone who has been vetted by your local authority or someone who is part of the Trusted Trader scheme, or has an approved code of practice. Always get everything in writing.”
The dad, who did not wish to be named, said he spotted the builder doing work at Ayham’s home and approached him about doing some work for him.
He told us: “We agreed eight weeks and it would be finished. This was the end of June last year – we’re now over 10 months later and still not finished.”
He said he’s been unimpressed with the work and the builder allegedly constantly asking for further funds.
“It came to the point I was so frustrated, I told him just get it done and get out – I didn’t even care about the quality anymore.
“He was supposed to finished one room, a bathroom and the kitchen, but not a single one is finished.”
The homeowner and his family were living for several months in the living room, where they had to move the fridge due to the never-ending works.
“We haven’t had a cooker for over a year because the kitchen wasn’t done. He can see that we’re struggling.
“It’s been a nightmare for us, lots of stress and tension. You come to point where you pay them anything to get rid of them.”
The Sun has seen the contract that was originally drawn up but never signed by either party, which the homeowner admitted “was my mistake”, adding: “I didn’t do my due diligence. I should have checked up on him better.”
He said payment has been made in instalments to one of the builder’s companies but on one occasion to a man he said the builder allegedly claimed was his brother.
He added that having spoken to other customers the builder appears to have now “just disappeared”.
He had considered taking legal action but said: “I haven’t got that kind of money, it’s not worth it for me.”
However, he said even if a small claims court finds in his favour, it is difficult to enforce any order for funds.
“There’s no protection at all for customers,” he added.
The Sun has contacted the builder for comment.
Have you been the victim of a cowboy builder? Email ryan.merrifield@thesun.co.uk
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