This was our big dream for my son. But all we have for £28k is a big mess and a big repair bill

Fury over botched extension

Catherine McKendry paid £28,000 to add an extension to her house for her disabled son.

It meant James, 26, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, would have a bedroom and wetroom all on one level.

But Catherine has been left with a botched job and a bill for £9000 to fix it.

The 47- year- old said: “This is devastating. I can’t afford to pay someone else to do the work properly.

“This was supposed to give James a new lease of life. Instead, it has ruined our home and set us both back.”

Catherine, a midwife, signed up with James Thomson, trading as Whitehill Builders, in 2016 after contacting him through Rated People.

But her written contract did not specify the exact work to be carried out – only that it would take six weeks.

The job started in November and Catherine transferred £5000 a week by bank transfer as the extension progressed.

She said: “There were problems right from the start. They cut through the mains electricity for the whole street on the first day.”

She expected to be back to normal by Christmas – but she was left with a gaping hole in the side of her house.

Catherine said: “By week three, no one was turning up. Then I was told James Thomson was in hospital. Two of his workers came but did very little.

“The result was that we were sitting in a building site with a hole in the side of the house covered with tarpaulin over Christmas and New Year.”

Work resumed in January. But she said: “There were too many issues and they were not capable of sorting them.”

Catherine, of Wishaw, Lanarkshire, was horrified when another contractor quoted £ 6000 to correct the wetroom and £ 3000 to redo the plasterwork.

She said: “The wetroom needs to be ripped out, pipes relaid and a new floor put in with new fittings.