Father's nightmare as builder's bungle may have to come down

A furious father is facing rebuilding an extension after a bungled job by a builder who featured in a documentary.

Gharm Ghatora, 38, of Ryefield Avenue, Hillingdon, volunteered to take part in Cutting Edge documentary Bobski the Builder, screened on Channel 4 on Thursday.

The father-of-two agreed to let film makers monitor the progress as British builder, Terry Barnes, constructed an extension to the back of his house.

At the same time the crew followed a family in Slough who hired a Polish builder for a similar job, in a bid to compare standards.

While Mr Ghatora's extension took months to build, the Slough family's was finished within weeks.

Mr Ghatora said: "I should have moved into the house three months ago, but we just can't live there. I'm so annoyed. I've been as patient as anybody can be. I just wanted him to do the job and go."

Mr Ghatora was desperate to move into his home before his wife gave birth to their second child. But daughter Amrita arrived well before the work was completed, forcing the family to continue living with relatives.

"I was waiting for my daughter to be born and he was just asking for more money," Mr Ghatora explained. "It was going to be a new home, a new baby. He knew the situation we were in."

Mr Barnes claimed the development was delayed by disputes with Hillingdon Council and the water company.

But the council said they had no record of Mr Barnes contacting them, and confirmed the extension was not up to building regulation standards.

Speaking from Egypt, Mr Barnes said: "It's got so out of hand I'm discussing whether to come back. I've got a good reputation. I love laying bricks, it's in my family. I've got plenty of clients who will back me up."

Engineering company sales manager Mr Ghatora has been told by inspectors he must either tear down the extension or make significant changes.

He added: "At the end of the day the facts remain the same. I'm going to have to spend more money to get this fixed. My new builder, John Madden at Britannia Builders, has said he's appalled by the whole extension."