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Tom Cayless

An Iraq war veteran has been left with an uninhabitable home after a two-month renovation job turned into an eleven-month nightmare.

Army doctor Tom Cayless, from Newport used ÂŁ30,000 he received in compensation for injuries he sustained in Iraq to fund the renovation scheme.

In April 2011 he engaged a local building company called Build Tech Construction 33 Ltd, which was run by Stephen Roberts, to completely renovate his house.

“They came back quite quickly with the quote”, he told X-Ray, “It looked very professional the way it was all presented”.

They quoted him ÂŁ22,000 and said the work would take around two months to complete. The cost of the work later increased because re-plastering the house was not included in the original quote.

Work started well but 16 weeks later Tom had handed over ÂŁ28,800, and work had ground to a halt. He called a meeting with the builders.
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He was met with some devastating news: “Mr Roberts and his son Kyle they told me that the company Build Tech Construction 33 Ltd was going to be dissolved. They were shutting it down was the exact words he used”.

And when he asked about where all the money had gone that he’d given them – money he’d presumed would cover the complete renovation – he says he was told it had simply gone: “When they told me that I just felt sick really that that money had gone, I didn’t believe how money could just disappear”.

But they came up with a solution. Mr Roberts told Tom he was setting up a new construction company called Enterprise Build, with his son Kyle as a Director, and they would finish the renovation work. They would charge only for outstanding materials – they quoted a completion price of £7,200.

Tom asked another builder to quote for the remaining work who said it would cost around ÂŁ20,000, "I had no choice. I either carried on with Mr Roberts for ÂŁ7,000 or paid ÂŁ20,000 for someone else," he said.

“Mr Roberts said he had a good reputation and that he was willing to do it free of charge but that he was under no obligation to do so, so I felt I had little choice.”Ěý

So Tom handed over another ÂŁ4,750 to Stephen Roberts and work began again in August. But work soon ground to a halt again.

“I tried first of all getting in contact via email, just a polite reminder of the work that was outstanding”, said Tom. “There was no response to that so I wrote a letter of concern, no response to that, so I wrote a formal complaint and there was no response to that either.

“I got back an email in November saying that they had been working away and saying that they were going to come back and do the kitchen, this didn't happen until eventually in December [when they came] to fit the kitchen units.”

Tom now paid out nearly £34,000 to Build Tech and Enterprise Build and is still living with his parents – eleven months after work had first started on his house.

After X-Ray got in touch with Stephen Roberts he hired a quantity surveyor to look at the property. He says the work is near completion and will be worth over ÂŁ35,000. Tom, though, disputes the figures. Another builder has quoted him ÂŁ20,000 to finish the job.

“I can't move into the house in the state that it’s in at the moment. The electricity hasn't been completed, the central heating hasn't been completed, there's no bathroom fitted so it is completely uninhabitable at the minute.

“So I'm paying out for a mortgage every month for a house I can't move in to”.

He has also discovered that the original company, Build Tech, was never dissolved. Instead the company is now based in Stoke on Trent and has a new director called Salim Rahman. He has not responded to our letters and it is not clear how the company was transferred to him.

“Had I been told that truth that that company was still trading I would have acted in a different manner. It's just been a big shock really and it has taken over the whole of my life for the last ten months and especially the last six months since I was told the company was being dissolved.

“It's been difficult to focus on anything else really.”

Stephen Roberts’ accountant has responded to X-Ray. He says Stephen is "displaying a supportive and diligent attention to his clients".

He blames business difficulties for the delays and last week he said he would complete the work within two weeks. But in another letter he now says he might not finish the job.

X-Ray will be going back to Tom's house to see what happens.

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