Cowboy builder cost me £80k but I’m building a new life with the man who came to help me
MUM Vicki Mileham was £80,000 down with her roof about to cave in on her thanks to a cowboy builder.
In desperation, she turned to Facebook for help after learning her longedfor extension was a ticking timebomb that could collapse at any moment.
The botched construction needed to be pulled down and Vicki, 51, was begging for help.
One good samaritan who responded was bus driver Asher Paniri, 47.
And what happened next rendered singletons Vicki and Ash speechless.
They bonded quickly – and are now well and truly in love.
Vicki says: “They say that love strikes when you’re least expecting it.
“I certainly had bigger things on my mind when I met Ash – but now I can’t imagine life without him.”
Vicki remortgaged her home, maxed out credit cards and took on loans when the nightmare project spiralled nearly £50,000 over budget.
HATE
The pain wasn’t just financial. One of the builders launched a hate campaign after Vicki and Ash shamed him on Facebook. Kyle Muir, 25, threatened to tear down Vicki’s home and stab Ash.
Muir is now behind bars and awaiting sentence for harassment.
Vicki, mum to twins Ruby and Ellie, says her year-long nightmare began last November.
She explains: “The twins are 14 and I wanted the extension so they could have a bedroom each.
“They started on November 5 and by Christmas the block work was done and the roof was almost finished.
“Then all of a sudden Muir said he was splitting from his business partner because they weren’t getting on.”
Vicki, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, says Muir left the job to a colleague.
But she says: “He didn’t show up for weeks on end.
“I was constantly chasing him, asking when he was going to finish the job, and I got excuse after excuse.
“Eventually he said he couldn’t continue because it had gone over budget and needed more money.
“Stupidly, I borrowed against my mortgage so the work could continue.
“But what I didn’t realise was that everything that had been done up to that point was wrong.”
In March, with work still incomplete, a concerned neighbour approached Vicki after spotting her new roof was sagging. “He lives opposite and could see
a dip in the roof,” Vicki says. “I felt out of my depth so he rounded up a few neighbours who had building experience to take a look at the work.
“They walked in with looks of horror on their faces and basically said it was a death trap.”
With the UK in lockdown, Norfolk County Council got a building inspector to take videos and photos of the extension. The news wasn’t good.
Vicki continues: “One of the walls wasn’t straight, they’d used the wrong supports in the roof and built a gas pipe inside a cavity wall.
“A supporting girder had been wedged in with blocks of wood and they’d used
interior bricks on the outside – joining them with the wrong cement.
“The blocks were basically balanced on top of each other.
“The inspector said we should tear it all down and start again.
“Virtually everything but the footings had to be removed.”
Vicki made repeated calls to the builders but no one would respond.
A neighbour set up a GoFundMe page and posted a call for help on Facebook. Ash takes up the story, saying: “I was quite new to the area and because of lockdown I had lots of time on my hands.
“I saw the post and thought ought I’d step up. I helped Vicki demolish molish the extension and the more re time I spent at hers, the better r we got to know each other.
“It was a bolt from the blue. I’d been planning to emigrate after a relationonship break-up, but Vicki and
I have been talking about what the future holds – and I’m here to stay.”
Ash says he spoke to Muir and was told help and materials would be sent for a rebuild. They never arrived.
“In the end, I named and shamed him on Facebook. We didn’t want others suffering the same fate as Vicki,” says Ash.
“He was furious because he lost out on work – and the threats started.”
Angry Muir sent Ash texts threatening violence and telling Vicki he would “smash her whole house down”.
Vicki recalls with a shudder: “I was terrified. I was at work at the time and the girls were home alone.
“I had to tell them to pack a bag and go and stay with a relative.”
After threatening to stab Ash, Muir then called his bus company boss and accused him of dangerous driving.
He also posted offensive Facebook slurs, in which Ash was falsely branded a paedophile. Last month Muir, from Gorleston, appeared before Norwich magistrates and admitted harassing the couple.
He also pleaded guilty to unrelated assault and criminal damage charges, as well as affray and possession of an offensive weapon.
Me Meanwhile, with little hope of recompense and short of funds, Vicki and volun volunteers have been slowl slowly rebuilding the exten extension. But she still has a leaking roof and holes in her walls.
She adds: “They’re cove covered with plastic sheet sheets at the moment, but t the house is freezing and we’re headi heading into the middle of winter.
“I’m still cooking in the living room beca because we had to move the cooker in th there. I had no running water in the kitchen for months and had to wash up in the bath. I’m desperate to secure the house before winter really sets in. I’ve already got saggy, mouldy ceilings where rain has come through the roof and there are cracks in my walls.
“I’ve sold everything I can spare to scrape together the money to pay for a rebuild, but the reality is I’m going to be in debt until I’m 68.
“Meeting Ash is the only good thing to come out of this.
“There are days when I’m a complete wreck and I’ve told Ash he should just do a runner. “But he says he loves me, and that makes it all better. My extension might be in ruins, but hopefully Ash and I can build a life together.”
VICKI MILEHAM ON HER BUILDING NIGHTMARE