A couple say they've been living off microwave meals for months after a ' cowboy ' builder failed to finish their kitchen extension.
Gaenor Robson, 54, and her partner Steven O'Keefe, 55, hired a tradesman to build an extension and create a larger, open plan living area with a new kitchen in their home, in late 2020.
The builder, who was recommended by a friend, allegedly agreed to do the job for £32,000 and, while no 'deadline' was set, the couple expected it to take no more than six months.
But almost two years down the line and after forking out more than £36,000, the couple say they have been left living on a 'building site' with their kitchen ripped out and just the 'shell' of the extension built.
Gaenor says they opted to sack the builder in August after growing tired of his 'excuses', slow progress and spiralling costs - as he said they would owe another £10,000 on completion due to 'extra costs'.
But the builder blamed the impact of Covid on building work and supply orders, issues with planning permission, changes in the building plans and other 'hold ups' and complications for the long, costly job.
He claims he was just two weeks off finishing the work when the couple told him not to bother coming back to their property - though Gaenor says she still only has a 'shell'.
The couple say the builder has agreed to refund them £5,000 due to the work not being completed after so long but he is yet to pay up.
Gaenor, from Great Lumley, County Durham, said: "The work started getting done in 2020 and we're now in 2022 and I've got no kitchen and we're living on microwave meals.
"When we've had our meals I've got to go upstairs and do the dishes in the bath because we've got no sink.
"I've got my microwave and kettle on the floor because I've got no worktops and my new kitchen is on the floor in the extension.
"My house is just a complete mess. He's left us living on a building site, it's an absolute disgrace.
"I've stopped him from proceeding with the work because he never worked a full week - if he came one day he didn't come the following day and there's not an excuse I haven't heard about why he can't come."
The couple claim their oven was ripped out along with the rest of their kitchen in June, forcing them to live on microwave meals for the last four months.
Their new oven and a small corner of units stand in their barren kitchen but they claim the oven has not been connected and so cannot be used yet.
Gaenor claims their new builder has advised that even those standing units have not been fitted properly and need to be taken out and redone.
Their unfinished extension has an open doorway boarded up and is filled with their boxed up new kitchen units, meanwhile their old kitchen and other building waste litters their garden.
Gaenor and her partner are still at loggerheads with the 'cowboy' builder to get some of their money back in the hopes of being able to pay this friend something for his work.
Gaenor said: "Our money is running out now. We want our money back that is rightfully ours.
"The new builder has even slated him as a cowboy builder."
The builder blamed a series of issues for the long delay, including Covid, the customers 'changing their minds' about the steels, a boundary dispute on the property that needed resolving and stock issues.
The builder said: "Basically what's happened is with Covid and the customers changing their minds about the steels and things like that there were a lot of hold ups on it.
"The change of plans on the inside put another five or six weeks on the job and I can't just go and pull a deck chair out and sit there for six weeks but they don't see that.
"Everything goes through the council and building control - there's a procedure of how things are done. Everything is above board.
"I had a week off because I had to tend to family problems and I spoke to Steve about it and he said 'that's fine just come in on the Monday' and then when I got there Gaenor said 'pack your stuff up, I've found someone else'.
"There were two weeks left of the job until completion. Everything was there, the steels and everything - all we had to do was put the steels in, board the ceilings and skim the extension. It's not a shell.
"To get the steels in we've had to take the kitchen out but what we did is put the other side of the kitchen in and left the cooker and washing machine in for them.
"A week prior she told me to take the cooker out and throw it out and I said 'are you sure?' and she said yes.
"It was £35,000 the original estimate but I don't price up for any drainage or anything like that and there were a lot of extras - it wasn't a straightforward job.
"All the drainage had to be moved outside into the new manhole, the toilet upstairs had to be moved and the pipework had to be sorted out for that, the foundation had to be moved, extra concrete - it all mounts up.
"They paid £36,000 but there was still a lot left on the job because it did mount up with all the extra work. I went through this with Steve and he said 'yes that's fine'.
"I've done everything I can in my power to get it where it is now and then two weeks before finishing they've got someone else.
"They could have sat down with me and said 'it has dragged on, can we get a deadline' and that would've been fine but that wasn't the case.
"I'm still in contact with Gaenor because I'm sorting giving her some money back. I'm just waiting for it to come in on my end and then I'll transfer it to her no problem. Hopefully it will all be sorted out by the end of the month."
