Mother forced to sleep on daughter’s sofa after bungled renovation
Divorced mother of three, 56, is forced to sleep on daughter’s sofa and live through ‘absolute nightmare’ after builder left off skirting boards, electrics unfinished in project littered with faults
- Nichola Evans, 56, from Swansea has been forced to couch-surf by a builder
- After agreeing to 14 weeks of work in February Nichola still hasn’t moved back in
- She now believes she’s been left with £20,000 worth of damages to try to fix
A mother from Swansea has been left without a roof over her head after renovation works arranged after the death of her parents have been fumbled.
Nichola Evans, 56, had arranged renovation works to be completed using some of the inheritance given to her after her parents died.
Agreeing to a schedule of work that should have lasted 14 weeks and a price tag of £21,370 Nichola moved out while work commenced.
Nichola Evans, 56,(left) and her daughter Katy, 27, have been forced into cohabitation after a builder has left Nichola’s house in a worse state than when he started
The entire outside of Nichola’s house has been left bare without any form of proper cladding or frontage
But the dream turned into a disaster for the mum of three when she found out that the house had not been completed – after the cost of the project spiraled to a cost of £31,000.
She has since had to move in to her daughters house and is forced to sleep on the sofa in a bid to keep spiraling costs down.
Nichola said: ‘I’ve been sleeping on my daughter’s sofa since May and I haven’t been able to sleep under my own roof in my own home since February.’
‘It’s been an absolute nightmare, my two dogs and I are living with my daughter in her two bedroom house.’
‘I’ve had break downs, the stress has been terrible, I’ve had sleepless nights.’
Inside the house is no better with floorboards torn up and wiring pulled haphazardly from the wall leaving deep canyons in the plaster
‘The builder has had total disregard for what he’s done, I can’t put it into words really.’
Nichola had owned since 1987 after her divorce and following the death of her two parents in 2013 and 2015
The work began in February and at the end of the first week Nichola made the first payment of £5,000.
When she asked for an update on the work with the expectation that she would soon be able to move in she was told repeatedly that more time was needed.
She alleges that despite paying money for work to be done on the property much of it was never completed and what work took place was of poor quality.
Despite not being as obvious as missing floorboards, Nichola’s windows were left improperly fitted meaning the house won’t hold heat as well and will cost a fortune to keep warm in the coming winter
The costs for the project also increased after the builder informed Nichola that the house had severe damp and required rewiring, increasing the overall cost to £31,000.
She said: ‘He hadn’t finished the tiling, putting the skirting boards on, finished the wiring or anything like that. He hadn’t finished the front of the house either.
‘I thought everything upstairs was fine, I organised for the carpenter to go up and when he came up he told me the skirting board hadn’t been done and the electrics hadn’t been done.’
The house was littered with faults with much of the work that Nichola had been promised incomplete.
Nichola has already had some of the damage repaired as shown here where one wall that was left littered with holes has now been patched up
Nichola, who had originally hoped to move into the house in April now
estimates that £20,000 of damage has been caused in the house from the initial building work.
She is currently raising £10,000 on GoFundMe to fund the cost of another builder coming into the house and completing the work so she and her family can finally move in.
Nichola’s daughter, Katy, 27, said: ‘It’s been a nightmare, at first it was exciting for my mum as it was a fresh start, but then it got stressful as we noticed what was happening and then he started taking us for mugs.
‘It’s put a lot of strain on us all, he’s disrespected us and taken us for fools.
Nichola’s nightmare renovation broken down
What Nichola initially agreed to:
1. Supply skips for all rip out works and rubbish.
2. Hack off and remove chimney breasts, ceilings and walls in back bedroom, front bedroom, staircase and landing. Also remove chimney stack through including ground floor.
3. Full re-wire of property with a registered sign off after completion.
4. Insulation and plasterboard new ceilings and plasterboard walls.
5. Plaster all new works complete including ground floor living area.
6. Install four new radiators.
7. Fit new RSJ steel beam to open up living area to maximum.
8. Paint all building areas
9. Paint all works with white ceilings, magnolia walls.
10. Remove all waste from the site
What now needs to be done to fix the mess:
1. Refitting of two RSJ beams
2. New loft wall
3. Replastering of ceilings in the bathroom, toilet, passage way and below attic bedroom
4. Replastering of seven walls in the house
5. Rewiring of the whole house
6. Replastering of areas around plug sockets
7. New ceiling above the bay window at the front of the house facing the garden
8. New facade to the front of the house
9. New garden wall
10. All doors in the house need to be replaced.
11. All skirting boards in the house need to be replaced
12. Under-stairs was absolutely terrible, so that had to be redone properly.
13. New airing cupboard installed
14. New laminated floor in the living room and passage way
15. Instillation of new radiators
16. Whole house needs to be repainted
17. Staircase at the top of the house needs to be straightened
18. Instillation of new banister on stairs at the top of the house
19 Installation of box around the boiler
20. Instillation of shower unit cabinet
21. Unblocking of back garden drain
22. Repairs to attic room
23. Instillation of new fitted wardrobes
24. New bathroom cabinet
25. New cupboard under the sink
26. New tiles in bathroom
27. New tiles in the kitchen
28. New tiles in toilet
29. New tiles in passage
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