Builder, 39, is investigated after allegedly swindling more than 20 families out of £100,000 on botched home extensions – but he claims customers are ‘ganging up on him’

• A total of 22 customers have complained about builder Andrew Perry, 39
• Sarah Phipps, 50, said she took out £45,000 bank loan to pay for home repairs
• Mr Perry says he intends to pay customers back and disputes the amount owed
• Trading Standards will investigate but Mr Perry says he has not been contacted 

A builder is being investigated over claims homeowners paid his company thousands of pounds for ‘unfinished’ home extensions.

A group of more than 20 customers have demanded Andrew Nathan Perry, 39, return the cash – which they say adds up to £100,000 – after leaving jobs incomplete.

Trading Standards today said it was made aware of the builder’s ‘actions’ and confirmed it was investigating the allegations made.

However, Mr Perry, the director of Ibuild Contractors Ltd, told MailOnline he has not been approached by Trading Standards and said the approximate payment he has received from the customers adds up to around £80,000, but approximately £50,000 has been spent on materials and staff wages.

Sarfraz Tabussom says rubble was left strewn on his property after paying Mr Perry more than £15,000 for a two-room extension on the back of a house he rents out

Mr Tabussom represented a group of 22 customers who have formed a WhatsApp group after reporting similar issues with their home extensions. Mr Perry accused them of ganging up on him and said Worcestershire Trading Standards have not contacted him despite confirming they were investigating claims made against him

Mr Tabussom, 47, said he paid Mr Perry £15,000 for a job on a property he rents out in Worcester. He claims Mr Perry completed part of the work but then disappeared for two weeks. The building claimed Mr Tabussom did not have the required planning permission for a two-storey extension

A total of 22 of Mr Perry’s customers set up a WhatsApp group after reporting similar issues with their home extensions.

Sarfraz Tabussom, 47, who is representing the group, said he paid Mr Perry more than £15,000 for a job on a property he rents out in Worcester. 

He said he hired Mr Perry to extend two rooms on the back of the house and that he started work on June 1.

Mr Tabussom claims Mr Perry demolished part of the back of the property and then disappeared. He says he paid Mr Perry £7,000 before work started and another £4,000 on extra staffing costs.

The nurse said Mr Perry returned to fully demolish the rear side of the property and asked for a further £4,200. After this, Mr Tabussom claims, Mr Perry ‘disappeared for two weeks’ due to death in the family. 

Mr Tabussom said he had to pay for another building to remove the rubbish that was left. 

Speaking to MailOnline today, Mr Perry claimed Mr Tabussom did not have the required planning permission for a two-storey extension of his property.

Worcestershire Trading Standards confirmed it was investigating claims made against Mr Perry.

In a statement provided to MailOnline, a spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm we’ve been made aware of the actions of this trader and we will be investigating any allegations that suggest criminal offending.

‘Beyond this, we will look to see if we can improve the situation for past and future customers through the provisions in the Enterprise Act.’

Mr Tabussom says he paid Mr Perry £7,000 before work started and another £4,000 on extra staffing costs. He then paid another £4,200 to have him fully demolish the rear of the property. Mr Perry said the allegations are ‘ludicrous’ but he would repay the money

Mr Tabussom said he paid another builder to remove the rubbish after not hearing back from Mr Perry for two weeks

Mr Perry said he had not yet received any contact from Trading Standards and said he has stopped taking any extra jobs until he can repay customers who are owed money.

Claiming the customers were ‘ganging up’ on him, Mr Perry said the building delays have been caused by supply issues or a sudden increase in costs because of a ‘crash in the market’ and that he had approached each customer to eventually repay what they are owed. 

‘The company has crashed,’ said Mr Perry, who has run Ibuild Contractors since January. 

‘The whole industry has crashed and so I haven’t been able to get hold of materials or in some cases the costs have increased way beyond the price I gave customers.

‘The customers have created a WhatsApp group and ganged up on me but I’ve not done anything illegal. If I wanted to be a fraudster then I would set up a company in a different name and be sunning it up in Marbella right now but I’m not.

‘There are even reviews out there with one comment claiming to be posted by me, giving my company five stars. It’s totally fake. 

‘I could just liquidate the company and nobody would get any money, but I’m not doing that. I don’t want the company to go under and I intend to pay these people back.

‘These allegations are ludicrous.’  

A review on Trust Pilot, claiming to have been written by Andrew Perry, gives Ibuild Contractors five stars and says they did a ‘cracking job’. Mr Perry today denied writing the comment, calling it ‘completely fake’ and said someone posted it claiming to be him

Sarah Phipps, 50, said she and her disabled husband Martin, 54, from Solihull, West Midlands, lost their savings to Perry after taking out a £45,000 bank loan to pay for repairs.

Mrs Phipps said Mr Perry has received £30,000 from them and had to pay a roofer £10,000 to have their roof repaired after Mr Perry’s work.

She added: ‘He gave all these excuses about his grandad dying and his girlfriend being pregnant.

‘We kind of fell for it because he had seemed plausible and checked out online initially.

‘The work that they had done and I use that word loosely, it was really bad. Everything he says is a lie.’ 

Mr Perry told Worcester News he had contacted his customers and intends to pay them all back after suffering ‘a lot of sleepless nights’.

Source: Read Full Article