Cowboy builders bring misery for homeowners

10th February, 2006

The mistakes made by cowboy builders produced one hundred thousand complaints in Britain last year, a survey has revealed.

Research by the government-backed TrustMark scheme reveals that poorly-applied home improvement work, supposedly by trained tradesman, has hit the lives of one in five residents and costs the country an annual sum of £1.5 billion.

Nine out of ten homeowners fear that hiring a tradesman would be an unpleasant experience, while over a third admitted they did not trust any tradespeople at all.

Carol Brady, spokesperson for advice service Consumer Direct, said: 'Complaints about home improvements and building repairs are one of our top ten complaints, whether it be roof repairs, poor house construction or overcharging on fixing leaky taps.'

The TrustMark scheme has approved trades including general builders, electricians, heating engineers, plumbers, glaziers, and fence installers, to assist the long-running government campaign against 'rip-off Britain'.

To help protect your property against unwanted damage, it is worth casting an eye over the many competitive deals in home insurance, which can be investigated by looking online.

 

• Next Article: Home security is Britain's no 1 priority
• Previous Article: Expensiveness of garage contents makes insurance a must
• This Month: News For February 2006