Redditch grandmother, 92, paid out £30k to 'cowboy builders'

Claudia Fyfield was looking forward to spending quality time with her family after her grandson Jermaine and his wife Adele suggested she move in with them and their four children in November last year.

But the house in Redditch, which was built mid-20th century, did not have a downstairs bedroom and bathroom, which meant Claudia would either have to climb the stairs or use the outhouse, and so they decided to embark on a £70,000 build.

Building materials left in Jermaine and Adele’s garden (Image: PA)

Despite there being “red flags”, the couple hired local builders Hemming Construction Limited – a company that was dissolved in December 2021 according to Companies House.

Jermaine said the company told him this dissolution was due to a team member leaving the business, so they were looking to “start fresh”, and the couple were invited to visit one of their other construction sites as reassurance.

Building materials left in Jermaine and Adele’s garden (Image: PA)

Claudia paid a £13,000 deposit and made two more payments totalling £17,000 for the work to start on May 30, but after building two walls and ripping off the garage roof, Jermaine said the Solihull-based builders stopped showing up 16 days later.

Jermaine, aged 41, said the workmen blamed delays on their “boiler guy” before giving him the “run around” for the next three months during which time heavy rain flooded the garage.

Live electrical appliances were being covered in water (Image: PA)

They had no choice but to source Claudia a commode, a type of portable toilet that does not use running water, because otherwise, she would have to walk through the garage where live electrical appliances had been covered in water to reach the bathroom in the outhouse.

The couple later discovered other people claiming to have been ripped off by the company, which Jermaine described as “cowboy builders”, and he said he is now in a WhatsApp group with eight other homeowners to co-ordinate complaints.

The builders left a gapping hole in the roof causing the garage to flood (Image: PA)

Based upon the work that has been completed, the family estimates Claudia is owed around £10,000 and have launched a GoFundMe in a bid to recuperate their losses and complete the work before winter.

“I’m distraught because this is money that she worked for and is part of her life savings,” Jermaine told PA Real Life.

“To know that someone is frivolously spending this money and getting away with it scot-free is distressing and makes me physically sick.

“I feel like they have taken some of her dignity.”

Jermaine says the experience has taken away some of his grandmother’s dignity (Image: PA)

The family decided to renovate their home in March 2023 a few months after inviting Claudia, who is originally from St Vincent in the Caribbean and came to the UK as part of the Windrush generation, to come to live with them.

Jermaine said he was suspicious when Hemming Construction Limited quoted significantly less than the others and Companies House listed the company as dissolved.

The family have launched a GoFundMe in the hope of recuperating Claudia’s money (Image: PA)

Jermaine has reported the builders to Trading Standards and HMRC while he said other homeowners have contacted the police.

The GoFundMe fundraiser for Claudia has raised over £1,000 so far.

PA Real Life contacted several former employees of Hemming Construction Limited but they had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.