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The UK hit TV show Cowboy Builders is currently searching for cowboy builders abroad.
Have you been ripped off abroad? Has a language barrier cost more than it should have?
Has your dream place in the sun become a nightmare of shoddy workmanship?
Ricochet Television is currently producing a brand new series of Channel 5's Cowboy Builders and is keen to hear from British Ex-Pats who have fallen victim to rogue builders away from home. We would like to hear from anyone who has lost money on building or renovating a dream new abode or holiday home in Spain as a result of under qualified workmanship. So if you've been ripped off by a British or English speaking builder and you want us to expose them and maybe even help to fix your property, then please contact the Cowboy Builders team on consumeraffairs [at] ricochet. co. uk
Ricochet Television is one of the UK's leading independent television production companies that produces high quality Factual and Entertainment programmes for broadcast by major networks in the UK and the US . Recent, award-winning shows include Food Unwrapped, Britain's Empty Homes, Hollywood Me and Cowboy Traders. For more information please visit our website richochet . co . uk
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I resent the term ‘cowboy’ being applied almost exclusively to builders. Of course there are incompetent or fraudulent builders. However, statistically, the integrity and expertise of those in the building trades comes out far ahead of lawyers, politicians, retailers, web designers, bankers, estate agents, financial advisors, journalists, … the so-called professions. When are we going to see a constant stream of TV programmes exposing this lot?
I was an assessment manager for the Federation of Master Builders and the Guild of Master Craftsmen for twenty years.
Over the years I have been privileged to make the acquaintance of those in the building trades whose hard work, competence and integrity have impressed me. How about a programme giving the building trades some respect? The building trades have been the whipping boy of the TV industry for far too long.
PS Here is an inspirational idea. "Television lies. All television lies. It lies persistently, instinctively and by habit. Everyone involved lies. A culture of mendacity surrounds the medium and those who work there live it, breathe it and prosper by it. I know of no area of public life - no, not even politics - more saturated by a professional cynicism. If you want a word that takes you to the core of it, I would offer 'rigged'. ......... is it dishonest for the presenter to imply that the pundit in the chair is free to offer any opinion, when the truth is that 50 pundits were telephoned but only the fellow prepared to offer the requisite opinion was invited?"
- Matthew Pariss. British Press Awards Columnist of the Year. Daily Mail, 21st April 1996.
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I'm absolutely fed up with this 'homes from hell in the sun', 'cowboy builders in Spain', cheap TV. Investigate the UK for all their cheating bankers and politicians and leave us ex-pats alone.
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One of the best things about living in Spain is that the good weather allows me to get out of the house more. I go out on the bike, I go for walks and I have an annual pass for the Bioparc here in Valencia. This means that I watch very little TV. And this is a good thing because the quality of TV is worsening by the day. Cowboy builder programmes have been around for far too long (much like channel 5) and all the '.....from hell' type shows outstayed their welcome a long time ago. How about 'Crappy TV shows from hell' which would show you exactly how little effort goes into making TV these days.
I think they can refer to certain builders as cowboys because there are good ones and there are bad ones. With lawyers, politicians and bankers, the 'cowboy' is silent.
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If they do make this TV show about cowboy builders and it's presented by and with that bald headed chap....I wont mention his name so it cant get blocked out...…I know him, and a bigger cowboy and con artist that he is dont exist, time they searched his background out and made a 'Cowboy' show about him.
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We bought our dream home in 2004 in the Murcia Region go Spain. The house was finished in 2007 one of the last ones on the urbanisation. We were delighted with the two bath, three bed house with a pool in a 750 metre square plot. Then the problems started, cracks began to appear in the surrounding walls round the house, then into the house itself. Damp started to come up in all the rooms, plaster fell off all interior walls. The pool started to leak and tiles began falling off the pool, it cost over 3000€ to have the pool re done. We had an architect to look at the house and he did a report to say it would cost 48.000€ to put the house right. After we had the report all the floor tiles have started to crack and raise due to damp coming under the floor another 20.000€ to have damp proof and new floor tiles! The builder went into liquidation, did not pay the architect so we have no builders insurance. Now we have a leak in one of the bedrooms ceilings, tried to claim on our house insurance which we purchased through La Caixa Bank but they won't pay up as they said the roof had not been maintained! Had a quote for 1000€. On top of all that we had illegal mortgages on the house from the builder which have just been lifted, we estimate our solicitors bill for that between 7 and 8000€. Back in 2004 these houses cost 236.000€, now they are selling for 135.000€ so basically ours is worth about 50.000€ as it stands. As we are pensioners we do not have the cash for all the work that needs doing. To top it all, the three builders live on here, the famous 3 who took deposits from all those poor people and never built the houses. It is estimated the have got away with approx 90 million euros!!! Cowboy builders is to good of a name for these people, if they had done that in England they would have been locked up ages ago, It makes you wonder why they are still out and about, the whole thing stinks! While I am now having a rant we have Spanish squatters moved into a house stealing water and Electricity. We have called the Police twice in the last few weeks and nothing has been done. The president has contacted the owner who has send an e mail to say she wants them out and has not given anyone permission to move in to show the Police. The strange thing is they have keys to this house??? The builder did not give many people their spare keys as the has been mislaid. I will let you all draw your own conclusion to this. Rant over ....for now
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Poor Daisymil. What a catastrophic situation for you to cope with. I hope you can find ways of coping emotionally and mentally so that you don't become ill as well. All the best from me.
As regards the TV programme, I believe there is also another crucial aspect that needs to be covered in order to show balance and that is 'cowboy customers.' Many trades people and builders have been ripped off by the customer and done thousands of pounds of work which they then are not paid for. Obviously, this can be disastrous for them. If this other side is not given some decent airtime in the programme, it will be a very biased and therefore poor quality programme.
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I wasn’t born yesterday. In fact I am a pensioner who is generally on the ball.
However, I employed someone, who turned out to be an English “cowboy builder”,a year ago to re-tile my roof terrace that was leaking. He came highly recommended by friends and acquaintances.
As I had paid him the full amount he wasn’t interested when the grouting in between the tiles, literally, fell out. He made a shoddy attempt at re grouting but when the heavy rain arrived later in the year, the terrace was leaking worse than before,running into some of the electrics downstairs.
He didn’t respond to my e-mails or phone calls.
I had someone else re-tile, where the water appeared to be coming into the house and to water proof the drain holes. This appears to have temporarily sorted out the problem.
I couldn’t afford to take CB to court or have the terrace re tiled as it should have been done in the first place. I realise with hindsight that I should have asked to see some of his previous tiling work, before employing him, as well as withholding some of the payment until having it checked out by someone who knows more about tiling than I do.
I am seriously considering going on the cowboy builder programme.I have a vast collection of photos of CB'S shoddy workmanship as well as the existing tiling that is deteriorating before my very eyes. Before doing so I would be interested in what baz1946 knows about the bald chap on the programme. You can send me a pm if you don’t want to state this publicly.
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http://whatiswrongwithme-blackpower.blogspot.com.es/2011/07/cowboy-builders-put-unrealistic-price.html
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Hello,I have just read the link posted by DonLochnagar. It's rather abusive.supposedly quotes from the BBC'S production Cowboybuilders team. I thought Dominic Littlewood was working for Channel 5. How seriously should one take all this. DL is diabetic so wouldn't be sucking lollipops anyway 
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Eggcup has posted my philosophy already regarding cowboy customers. There are far more of them than cowboy builders, but as one progresses through experience as a builder it becomes a little obvious how to avoid problems with payment.
Definition of a cowboy builder,,,,,,,he only works for cash
Definition of a cowboy customer,,,,I will pay you cash (no vat)
If, in a deep recession I accept cash or lose the job, then I'm a cowboy, but I always have a written and signed contract stating exactly what is to be done and exactly what it will cost. Any variations asked for by local authority, customer or for any other reason are NOT to be included in the contract sum and must be costed, agreed and ordered in writing.
Oh, and I think we all know about the dubious background of the little bald fellow on TV who's name mustn't be mentioned :-)
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Hey Pegeen, don't shoot the messenger, lol. I think it's a spoof anyway. How do you know whether I am diabetic or not. Are you Doc. Julio?
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Please enlighten me as to the" dubious background" of the little bald fellow;I'm intrigued.
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Until Spain devises a reputable independent system of accreditation for the various professions to route out the bad apples from within, it will sadly continue to receive a bad press.......
This message was last edited by ads on 24/08/2013.
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Oh, and I think we all know about the dubious background of the little bald fellow on TV who's name mustn't be mentioned :-)
What is it then?
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We bought our house in Spain in 2007 it was just what we were looking for, the courtyard was just a concrete area just over 400 sq mt which was not that nice to look at, we went to a "HOME & GARDEN EXPO" & met two english chaps who's business was called "THE CHASE GROUP" who were avertising a product called "SPRAYED IMPRESSIONS" which they claimed would be the answer to our concrete problem & would greatly enhance our coutryard & add value to our property, we made arrangements for them to view & give us a price for the work to be carried out. They were really quick at coming to us & gave us a price which we did manage to bring down to €8000:00 it took several phone calls to get a date when they were going to start after paying them 50% of the total cost, they did start after a couple of months, & during the treatment being done it did not look anything like what they were claiming, & after several more phone calls to complain we decided to tell them if they never put the problem right we were not going to pay the final €2000,( we had already paid an interim €2000) were wer told if we did not pay they would not finish the job!!! So being new in Spain & not knowing where to get advice we agreed to pay.
We have been trying to get in touch with these so called builders because the treatment has all liffted off & our courtyard now looks even worse, we left untold messages obout the problem but it seems they have just dissapered off the face of the earth, we have sice found out that there were other poor "MUGS" like us!!! We have now given up trying to find these so called builders, & have just put it down to a bad experience & "NOT TO TRUST ENGLISH BUILDERS OPPERATING IN SPAIN" You would think that "EX-PATS" would stand by eachother??? How wrong can one be???? Just be very careful who you get to do any work for you, & watch out for "THE CHASE GROUP" thats if they are still opporating here in Spain??? €8000 is a great deal of money for me as I am a pensioner.
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Castalla-did you not think that even the reduced price of 8000 euros was a hell of a lot?
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Hi Don Lochnagar, Being diabetic wasn’t about you but the bald fellow on TV who's name mustn't be mentioned :-) He just happens to have the same initials as you LOL
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Dear Camposol,
Yeah!! that was a lot of money but it started of as €50 a sq mt, & pressed concrete was even more expensive???
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We're still waiting to see about the little bald fellow-what is his "dubious background?"Can't make those sort of comments without justifying them!
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