A couple claim they are facing financial "ruin" after returning from holiday to find their home in a "horrific" condition. Tracy and Stephen Williams, from near Swansea, allege the builder they hired to renovate their house has caused damage which could cost £20,000 to fix. The builder Morgan Gay has defended the standards of his work.
Mr Williams claims he received an electric shock from a live wire allegedly left hanging in the kitchen of the Three Crosses home. The 54-year-old alleges he also hurt his hip when he slipped in a "pool of cement" left on the lounge floor. Mr Gay, 21, claims the couple had been advised not to come back to the house until the floor screed had dried for 72 hours — which Mrs Williams denies.
Mrs Williams, 51, has borrowed £2,000 from her mother to help cover the bill for repairs including re-plastering and rewiring. "It's like something you see on television but you never believe it will happen to you," she said. "What kind of Christmas are we going to have? All I can do is cry. I can't eat or sleep."
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The couple, who transferred £19,766 to Mr Gay for the work and materials, bought the three-bedroom house for £185,000 in March and moved in on July 8. Mrs Williams said: "This was the last move we were making and with the profit my husband made off the previous property, we could afford to buy this house and get it done up because it was quite outdated."
She says she found Mr Gay through an online advert and hired him for an eight-week renovation at an expected eventual cost of around £30,000. "We bought units and fittings for the bathroom and kitchen," she added. "He was meant to get the house re-plastered and painted, do the new bathroom and kitchen, electricity work and plumbing."
Work started on July 16 but Mrs Williams says she became concerned over the progress. "Materials seemed to be getting paid for but never appearing. I had a few words with him about four weeks in. I asked him what was going on. Nothing was finished. It felt like he was fobbing me off."
Mr Gay, who claims he had done three previous renovation jobs, defended his work. He told WalesOnline: "I had been on the job nearly every day myself as well as the carpenter [a subcontractor] was there every day."
The couple had been living downstairs while Mr Gay was working upstairs. Mrs Williams claims that shortly before they went on a week-long holiday to Portugal, Mr Gay told her that work would start downstairs while they were away.
They returned to the home at 10.30pm on September 15 and allegedly found the downstairs doors and light switches had been removed. Mrs Williams claims that there were four or five live wires hanging from the wall and about six from the ceiling; that "inches" of plaster dust covered the beds; that plaster was "falling everywhere" off the walls; that radiators had been taken off the walls and piled up; that there were chips to a new bath and sink; and that there were scratches on a toilet seat.
In the darkness Mr Williams, who has osteoarthritis, slipped in the "pool of cement" and suffered bruising around his hip and elbow which left him needing painkillers, said his wife. He also received an electric shock from one of the wires, she claimed.
Mrs Williams, who has three young grandchildren, said: "It made me afraid to stay in the house. It could have easily been one of the children who was shocked. The builder put the hot and cold pipes the wrong way round, causing the shower mixer not to work, so a plumber must cut the pipes and move them round. We are lucky there is space enough for them to do it, otherwise it would be the bath being removed."
Mr Gay told us: "I understand where she is coming from with the 'pool of cement on the floor'. This was because she had gone back to the house too early after it had been self-levelled. The carpenter had told her over the phone that it would take up to 72 hours to dry so he advised her not to go in there... As far as I am aware the cables in the kitchen were all in connectors and no live cables were out."
Mrs Williams denies any instruction to return later. WalesOnline has seen a conversation she filmed in which Mr Gay told her after her return: "When I left here I 100% thought [the wires] were dead to be honest." Later in the exchange he said: "I understand why you're p****d off."
The builder told WalesOnline: "All the bedrooms had the doors closed... I had explained to Tracy from the start there was going to be a lot of dust. Originally she wasn’t to be living in the house while the renovation was going on."
Since their return the couple claim to have paid £4,300 for new workers to re-plaster walls and make the electrics safe. "[Mr Gay] had used metal fittings and earthed none of them," alleged Mrs Williams. "The living room's ceiling has had to come down too due to the unsafe electrics they needed to get to... It's horrific."
Mr Gay said: "A qualified electrician was going to be provided... There would have been a certificate for the electrical work downstairs in the kitchen."
Mrs Williams, who has post-traumatic stress disorder due to a previous incident, said the renovation project has hit her mental health hard and left her feeling like her life is "ruined". She added that she expects repairs to cost more than £20,000 in total but the couple have savings of only £3,000. "This money was earned from working hard all our lives. He's financially ruined us."
When WalesOnline asked his qualifications, Mr Gay said he had an NVQ Level 2 in bricklaying. He is hoping to turn professional as a boxer in the "near future".
He added: "All money that had been sent over to me by Tracy for materials had been spent on materials as well as giving her my trade discount in places I get discount. Also I was getting her cheaper prices on materials in places by paying cash for the materials as it was losing the VAT. Tracy had not had any words with me from the start of the project up until she had kicked me off the project about what was going on."
Mr Gay also claimed completion within eight weeks was not possible after Mrs Williams "changed her mind a lot through the job". He added: "For example changing the design of the built-in bed and also removing the brickwork airing cupboard in her bedroom added time to the job. Also with the really hot weather we had it was unhealthy to be working inside."
He claims he has made an offer following the complaint. Mrs Williams said: "The only way [ahead] is civil action at a cost of almost £1,000."
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