“The walls fell, I lost everything”: the great risk of using cheap materials

We all love to save some money, it is normal that we always seek to avoid spending more money than we have, and that is why we look for cheaper alternatives… Although the situation can end up being even worse. When it comes to our properties it is not advisable to go for the cheapest, repairs have a cost that must be paid. The quality of the materials is an important point, would you be willing to risk losing your home just to save some money?

In the following article, we will know the case of a man who lost his home because of the contractor’s greed for money.

“I can do it for less money”

Those were the terrible words that convinced Devin Charter (name changed) to hire an unscrupulous contractor to do some remodeling work on his property. Devin’s house, located on the outskirts of Leeds, had damage to the walls of several rooms, and Mr. Charter wanted to remodel his nine-year-old son’s room and make other minor repairs, so he decided to seek the help of a contractor.

With a fairly small budget like the one he had, he could not afford the services of most of the contractors that had attended. Desperate due to the inability to increase the budget, Devin contacted a contractor on the recommendation of one of his friends. The contractor offered to carry out the repairs that Devin needed for a much smaller amount, this was enough for Devin to trust the work of this scammer.

After a couple of weeks, the contractor finished his work and said goodbye to Devin, guaranteeing that he had done a magnificent job. However, this would only be the beginning of a true nightmare for Devin and his family.

Devin noticed something strange with the walls of the rooms: they felt very weak to the touch and began to crack at the slightest contact. A call to the contractor was only answered with a simple “The walls are still fresh, in a couple of days, everything will be as new” these words made Devin trust the contractor again and so give up on continuing to check the walls of his house. Serious mistake.

The next night while he and his family slept, Devin was awakened by his son’s scream from the other room. Devin and his wife got up at full speed to investigate what was happening with their son and when he got to the room his surprise could not be greater: the wall was starting to break and separate in two.

Anticipating a possible catastrophe, Devin took his son in his arms and ran along with his wife outside the house. From outside Devin could hear how the wall of his son’s room began to collapse, after a couple of minutes the other walls that had also been “repaired” by the contractor, also gave way.

The next day, investigations began to determine the cause of that accident. Experts determined that the contractor had used very poor quality materials and even some of those materials had already expired. “I’ve lost everything, my house, I don’t have any more money…” Devin said when he was interviewed by a local newspaper.

Cheap ends up being expensive

Mr. Charter’s sad case alerts us about the importance of using quality materials and hiring certified experts to perform the repairs suitable to our property needs. Many unscrupulous contractors take advantage of the innocence and goodwill of those who hire them. Avoid being a victim of these scams!

Property surveys offered by HICH allow you to detect any damage to your property, before and after a repair job. Our new generation reports can even determine the quality of the materials used during the process. We also have an extensive database of the best contractors from all over the UK, we select only the most professional so you can contact them through our website.

Do not take unnecessary risks and contact us to request your property survey or one of our certified contractors.

Remember, your well-being and that of your property are our priority.