In the proverbial

So there we were, in the dark with no electricity and water still entering the property.

The following day I telephoned the Building Inspector and arranged for him to come out and inspect the works as we were at a loss to know what to do.
Mr Martin arrived and while at the site noted many points which failed building regulations. He informed me that he had requested an inspection of the roof before felting to ensure wind bracing had been installed and that we would have to remove some of the felt for proper inspection. He noted many faults with the roof and we discovered that not one tile had been nailed in place and the roof lacked ridge tiles flashing and guttering. He was particularly concerned with the tiling and told me that we would be liable if the roof came off in the storms and injured our neighbours or their property.
Mr Martin was also surprised to see the patio had been 'laid' as he had not inspected any pipework or seen any soak aways. Mr Martin asked me to put a hose down the runoff drains. We lifted the manhole and it was clear that these pipes had all been connected to the main sewer outlet. Mr Martin informed us that the patio would have to be lifted to expose the pipework and soakaways would have to be installed.
Mr Martin was also very concerned about the electrical work, sockets, exposed wiring and the RCD board which he said was not sufficient. I told him not to worry as there was no power to it anyway. He told me we'd need to have it all checked by an approved electrical contractor before he could issue a certificate and if needs be wiring exposed and replaced.

Mr Martin told me that although many of the faults did not specifically breach building regulations he had never come across such poor quality work in all his years.

Mr Martin made notes of all the other building regulation breaches and told me that the only thing he could do was write to us with an official notice under penalty to correct the faults.
I received a letter from the building inspector dated 14th September 2005 which set out a number of serious defects to the works.

On Sunday 18th September I was installing a CCTV system at our house as I feared for the safety our property and my family. While I was up a ladder at the front of the house an obese woman appeared who I later learnt was the Cowboy's sister.
She shouted up at me ‘Is your name ****?’ I replied ‘Yes’ and she said ‘Well this is for you’ and she stuffed an envelope through our door and made a quick exit down the drive.
On opening the envelope I discovered what is referred to as a final account demanding a total of £45,671.13 plus VAT. Both myself and my wife were horrified. I repeat I have never received any firm written quotation or statement of account or receipts from the Cowboy. In total given that we had already paid him £21,000 he was demanding £66,671.13 + VAT for a half finished extension full of defects and incomplete work.
I would never have agreed to pay anything like that amount of money for a single storey extension of any size, let alone of the size we required. In fact the rebuilding costs for our property for insurance purposes are only £130,000 including all the outbuildings. At no time did the Cowboy ever tell me that the agreed sum was increasing or for that matter that because of any particular difficulty the sum of £22,000 which he had verbally quoted would be more.

I phoned a friend and business colleague to tell him what had happened and he suggested that I get a solicitor straight away as from his knowledge these people have a habit of turning nasty.

To my eventual detriment I took his advice and phoned Gepp & sons solicitors of Chelmsford and spoke to a Mr Peter Littlefield civil litigator who wrote to the Cowboy.