The Reluctant Builder and Why He Became One 

As a West London self builder myself I can completely identify with Mat. I've done my own extension and loft conversion by watching Skill Builder and RU-vid videos and got really positve feedback from the building inspectors. Apparently my work was to a "really high standard"! I found this confusing as a first time builder, surely the pro's are better at this? There's now a team of professional builders doing the same extensions to the house next door. Everytime I look out of the window I'm glad I did mine myself! Hang in there Matt the feeling of satisfaction when you finish is fantastic.

Agree 100%. All the issues with our self build was down to the contractors not being able to think past the block and brick bread and butter build, with one pendant light in each room mentality. Then questioning them, you would get the typical response of "We are the professionals". I designed the house, had an architect and structural engineers do the drawings and calculations, but I knew that design and every element of it with my eyes closed. I ended up doing all the bay window roofing timbers and roof tiling and lead work (all without previous know how), all because my chippy had designed it and set it out that the bifold doors opposite could not open with his implementation, and every time I questioned him he sent me to the builders merchants for a "Long Stand", just so I was not in the way. I totally agree, that you need to push back, not accept any flimflam and stick to your guns...oh and become an expert overnight on whatever is causing the friction. You come out the other end being more confident in your own abilities and perspective. Well done for not accepting mediocre.

Amazing video, Roger. Hats off to Matt, he knows more than some of the so-called pros. This is exactly how I started my career - by looking at the pros work and having to put it right.

I became a DIYer for the same reasons, the professionals were just too unreliable and slipshod. If you want a job done properly, do it yourself.

Cheers Roger, I needed to see this, and some of the comments from others with similar experience of the building trade. I'm 7 years into a self-build barn conversion. It started 3 years before I got involved. But 2 of my 7 years were my Dad and I working everyday except 2 Christmas days to remediate the previous builder's work before we could actually move forward. He expected the people he gave the job to to know their job and do it well. Such a mistake. Then had further problems with joiners and roofers. Utterly depressing at one point; had to take 5 months off site, to just about keep it together & keep my day job going. If I can avoid having to pay someone else now, I'll avoid it almost whatever the cost. No tool is too expensive, and I'll figure it out. Not been a good experience, but the place'll be simple and right in the end, and with any luck, warm! All the best as you progress Matt.

What a story - Learning by doing and gradually ending the nightmare through your own resourcefulness and sheer hard graft. Big thumbs up to you Matt and Best Wishes on the rest of the build👍

Massive kudos to this chap, very impressed. Such a shame he was let down so badly but wow has he stepped up to deal with it. Congrats

I feel for the bloke, fair play to him! Nothing like on his scale but everything a trade has done to my house I've ended up redoing.

How the fuck has that man not gone mental? After the first dodgy job I wouldn’t of let anyone else set foot on the property. Fair play to him for sticking with it and pushing through all these problems. Remarkable story.

Well done respect to your learning journey. Every time I have ever employed so called experts I end up putting their work right at my expense. I am doing a 2 year bricklaying course so I can do the work on my extension myself, so many cowboys out there.

The issues he has had is why I do it all myself.

Hat's off to him and much respect.👍

Great job, big learning curve. Think builders and engineers should be vetted more though. If they can make mistakes like that, who can you trust? I thought England had some better standards. Shocking

Wow, thats unreal. How do these builders get away with so much bodge work, they are supposed to be the experts. Fair play to them for taking on the build and having the confidence to question the shoddy work. Best of luck with completing the build

ya doing ya grandad proud mate....top job

I am a fairly competent DIY’er partly for the reasons here, partly because I enjoy it and I could not afford trades until recently. We are looking at an extension. This sort of thing is the reason a lot of ours will be self build. How many people just don’t realise what a mess their property until years later when a complete mess unveils it self! This is a tail of one individual (couple) with huge resilience, good on you 👍🏻

Absolutely fantastic video. Really enjoyed watching this 👌 👍👍👍

Great video. The building industry is the wild west, it's about time it was properly regulated.

Keep up the good work, just legendary ❤

The state of trades in this country has become a joke. I think your video with the guy with the floor leak, who had returned to the UK from Canada, summed it up when he said the British now only seem concerned with how much money they can screw out of you rather than doing the job you need.

Just amazing so many things that have gone wrong. Hats off to them for sticking with it as I think I might have given up by now. Do they have a RU-vid channel we can follow?

Wow! Huge respect!

Massive job on his hands there. To quote Rodger....it'll be lovely when it's finished.

Much respect, this is why I’ve been doing my own building work and I really enjoy it. I’m in finance.

Cant wait to have an extended video series on this

Well done Matt bet you’ll have a fantastic house and do your Grandad proud👏

Wauw, this is next level. Great respect for the guy.

16:00 i feel you, same here. It's hard to find skilled and commited technicians/builders.

Oh how I can sympathise with Matt. It was my own bad experience with a builder (although on nowhere near the same scale as this) that led me to find Skill Builder and other related channels. I could tell the builder was cutting corners and feeding me BD on a daily basis. Watching Roger and friends' videos gave me a better idea of what was reasonable to expect and how far short of that these guys delivered. I ended up throwing them off the job and finishing things myself as I my trust in 'the professionals' was utterly destroyed. It's a real shame that their are bad workmen about that tar the reputation of the entire trade and leave a trail of unhappy homeowners. Another commenter mentioned the never-ending trail of 'Easter eggs' you continue to find, same experience here.

Should be proud of achieving this!

Wow, what a major, major construction job. Years and years long. Good luck with it. But it makes me want to live in the countryside...

You can’t help but feel sorry for these people , when they employee people in good faith only to be totally let down . Despite everything the cowboys are still out there , and inal honestly they are increasing in numbers . A sobering thought is just how many of there jobs go undetected , which are potentially like ticking time bombs to go off in the future . Thanks again Rodger for highlighting this worrying situation . Best wishes and kind regards as always 😀👍👍👍

"If you can, do it yourself" 👍

I’m out of breath watching that, poor Rodger couldn’t get a word in 😂

That was a nice one Roger, with a bit of thought everyone is capable of carrying out thier own work, this guy was sick I can see of being ripped off by cowboy builders, so he has taken the task on himself, good.

My kinda man 🙌

Plz make a video for different bricks used for different purposes and benefits and disadvantages of using different bricks

Very similar boat, I just don't trust contractors - I'd rather read up on everything and carry out works myself. Reading up means I do everything to the book.

What a shit show, not just us who finds poor workers then. I'm forever fixing problems caused by so called "professionals" do what I can myself now.

Neat house!!

If you’re gonna do your first self build… GO BIG! 😅 Respect!👊🏼

I know how this guy feels, we had a re-roof and new gutters and soffits, half of it needs pulling back off, wrong size, not secure properly. They came back to fix a leek and left me with flashband to compensate for some inadequate flashing. I think a as a DIYer you can often do a much better job by spending the extra time and thought, it's sad but I don't trust people to do things right.

Phew! I'm exhausted.

Same story in most trades tbh, learn skills & get it done yourself, i know there are brilliant people about but finding & affording them is a different story.

A mammoth task there but such an interesting video 😳🧱👍🏽

Any building videos coming up?

I see Matt is using cat6 UTP but its best to use (S/)FTP if you go anywhere near power cables

Please follow his project!

He will have peace of mind when it's all done, money can't always buy that 😁

What a great guy! I feel his pain I think it was a bunch of clowns that put my house together as well. I have taken to building work myself as well. The cost for builders is too much for the work that is done. I'll only call them in if it's a job that requires more than one guy. Some other jobs I'm doing, I don't know any electrician that would do it or understand it.

I've had customers who want jobs built to their low budget and not to what the job should be. With experience you learn to say no, the correct way or not at all. Matt deserved better. But as he says he should have looked closely at the engineers plans.

I've never had and never will, have a builder in my house!

It's so difficult to find trades people who you can trust to leave them to it. Had my drive re done and they made a mess and have disappeared. Highly rated gas engineers for a combi install, missing screws in thermostat, large hole left side of boiler. Leaking hot water pipe, no system flush or chemicals added. Fortunately invoice won't be paid until it's sorted. It's main reason why I rather do the work myself, but not being registered what choice do you have! It's a nightmare.

Quality, schedule and cost.....pick two. That's the building game for you.

A job like that needs to be project managed by a professional. Ninety nine percent of all those problems would have been spotted before they ever happened. Part of management is being able to ascertain the capabilities of, and monitor, the tradesmen you employ. They all say "yeah mate, l can do that".

Skill builder who do you think makes the most reliable cordless nailers?

I don’t think I’ll ever do a building addition or renovation ever. Not after watching this.

What a bloody night mare ..... 😔

Wow!

please pardon my ignorance. is the storm water system not seperate to the sewer?

loads of bodges but also note the architect specifying that roof light which is terrible!...people seem to put so much reliance on silicone.

I feel sorry for those who can't self build, as they can't tell a screwdriver from pliers... They are left to rely on these contractors... How bad is that.

Why are the side of stairs in old houses always painted at the side apart from the bare strip up the middle.

This experience would have killed me.

Another great politics free video. It reminds me why I take the time to learn and do the jobs myself because our industry is FULL of sub standard tradespeople. Several times, it has been cheaper for me to go do a course, pay the accreditation fee and self certify than pay a so called professional to do it. This applies from domestic electrician and wiring my own extension to street works and putting in my own drop kerb.

A lesson learnt would be to keep a retainer from each subbie, payable after a maintenance period and/or making good of any defects.

From my experience bring a trade in to do one task , there is no overall responsibility for the overall result . I’d guess that get a proper building contractor in and this chap doing his day job would have been more beneficial , cost effective etc .

my god what a bunch of work he had done :(

These findings are in line with mine, (large self build). Sorry to say, much better training and professionalism as well as honesty is needed at all levels within the building industry. Standards are much higher on the continent. It hurts, but it's the truth.

I’ve actually done something similar at home, I shuttered all the walls and used sika adhesive to the concrete. It’s been dry for 5 years. I am yet to finish the project. Typical builder does everyone else’s house but his own 😂

This is a nuclear bunker spec, imagine living next door to this

I think the story told in the video above is the inevitable result of the educational system we have in the UK. Let me explain why. In Switzerland they have two main educational streams: if you can you go to university. There's quite a difficult process to get in so its for the brainy. For those that don't make university there's an apprenticeship system whereby people learn a trade and get 'proper' qualifications. Building in Switzerland is expensive but not as expensive as 'getting it done on the cheap'. Build quality is simply on a different level. Estimates have guarantees. Most importantly people that have a trade can be proud of their work and live with dignity rather than a career based on constantly managing to 'get away with stuff'. They are professionals. The UK will not improve until they reform(!) the educational system and that, as far as I can see, is not on anybody's agenda. The powers-that-be prefer to look after every Roel, Abdul, and Ndongo rather than Tom, Dick, and Harry. I'm not a religious guy but Matthew has it right: ""..first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye".

What a nightmare. Matt has had to learn the hard way, unfortunately mistakes are very costly. At least now he has a good understanding about the job in hand. Didn’t he work with a project manager or building control?

I admire the guy. I am somewhat in a similar situation(building a house from scratch in a rural area). One question, related to the big oak beam: are the bolts that run through it from brass or stainless steel?

Seven years...

It's no wonder we have a national productivity problem. Every job is being done twice!

All the problems highlighted would have been negatad had the local authorities building inspectors been up to scratch, were the works certified as they progressed or was this a bodge it and scarper build. I would prefer a self build any day as those doing the work investigate and usually go overboard on the design and works as it is obviously in there own interest to have the job done right even if moving the property on .

It's disgraceful how many cowboys are out there claiming to be builders and tradesman. Hats off to the guy.

The more work I do on my place the more bodges I uncover from so called professionals. It’s infuriating. It would be so much easier to pay someone to do the job but not if they are going to screw it up. Went to fit a Matt well in my place then discovered that the floor wasn’t even close to being level and the screed was coming apart where it looks like they turned on the heating too soon and screwed the screed.

Why wasn’t the steel bars checked by council

That well known building firm bodge it and scarper.

First off mesh is legitimate reinforcement. Standard structural mesh is available with 12mm bars. Also you can quite safely bend steel on site, but you need a tool that gives the proper bend radius. Unfortunately there are many chancers out there that think its just grey stuff being thrown in a hole, or that a hammer is the correct tool for driving screws or even cutting holes in timber sheet. And pre-drilling holes for screws looks like something from a book of fairy tales. Apparently doing things properly is messing about.

15:32 what kind of channel is this?

Horrendous & exactly why I do everything my self. I talked to 12 different roofers this year about re-roofing my house where I asked exactly how they would do the job & what materials would they use etc & every single one of them made me realise that this was yet another job I was going to have to do my self. Never done a completely new cut roof plus slating etc so it was a killer but the jobs a goodun.

He sounds like the RU-vidr "Ferro"

I'm a bit at a loss with this video, in one hand I think the subs he had in have done him over and on the other hand you wonder if it's the project management that has let so much of the process down and he bit off more than he can chew. As a diy'er who does building work I've learnt not to expect anything from anyone and ask every question under the sun because guaranteed the one question you don't ask or hold someone to will bite you in the arse. His key message is 'read the engineering plans and understand them'. Caveat the glass people seem like t0ssers. That should never leak regardless.

I feel sorry for him. There seem to be a lot of cowboy builders in London.

Money for old rope springs to mind.

Don't just f........ hate builders scamming twisters

Poor chap!

The College system in part is woeful as can be seen by two American Chippies that took time out to visit a Technical College in Europe that put their level of Carpentry to shame. So much so they want to work with the College on bringing their practices to the USA!

Thames Water get your shit together!!!;)

People don't tell the whole story, my dentist charges me after he's done my teeth, I don't negotiate, funny how people think builders are labourers and jobs are all the same

5 boxes of UTP cable for one house?! It seems this man will be mining the cryptocurrency :)

he is know a structural engineer????

Kind of boring hearing trades saying “you get what you pay for”. Clearly plenty of People are not getting what they pay for. The suggestion is somehow it’s the purchaser’s fault… my advice is check references, reviews and recommendations. And even then there’s a fair bit of luck, and chances are the bricky will bugger off on another job and hold up other trades - before you know it happy site is a grumpy one. I speak from bitter experience…

London builders for ya all the decent ones will just charge a bomb and all the crap just gestating in the bottom and middle of the market.

Not to have a digital the trades there is lots of good trades doing fantastic work ... and here's the but there's lots of cowboy builders too and these companies that buy the trust polit logos AND I MEAN BUY might be decent but you'll never know till the ply their trade..... so it pays to be proactive but it could piss your builder off I'm sorry to say its a bit of a lottery because even a good builder has a bad day 😕 Research your builder and good luck. And I know I don't have to apologise too the good builders as they too are plagued by the cowboy builders and bad customers it's a two way street unfortunately

You can pay someone to do a job, but you can't pay them to give a Sh!t...

Well well well - what do we have going on here then……. I’ve watched once - it’s early - so my initial thoughts - hope I can shed a bit of light….. Firstly - well done Matt. Welcome to Architecture/Engineering/Contracting & no doubt a host of other trades & experience gained along the way. I hope you’ve enjoyed -are enjoying the journey! So were you at fault for all this? I say this with s touch of sarcasm - as I don’t know you - but let’s just say “Client” When you decided to do this work where was your first enquiry? An Architect? Or an outfit that said we can do “Drawings/surveys/planning permission” etc ? That’s where some if not most go wrong. A few hundred quid to get plans done & through planning great - but those outfits aren’t generally Architects or Engineers. But they can save a few quid for enquiries etc as fees would dictate. If this is so where did you go next? If you used a proper Architect - he would have recommended a surveyor to do the plans / a Structural Engineer - who they would have used before & confident that they’d be experienced to deal with refurbishment works like yours. Engineer experienced in the design of basement structures too & hopefully knowing a confident basement contractor with a portfolio to demonstrate this. There are companies that can satisfy this brief. Problem is they might on the outset appear too expensive and so “Clients” go elsewhere pulling others into the fold separating the works. On the subject of which - how was your relationship with the Architect? Engineer? Did you pay for the contract to be managed 🤔 From my perspective - it’s a shame you didn’t have a good ole Architect / an old boy Structural Engineer to help you from the beginning. One who would’ve been happy to unearth all the problems you faced / exposing the structure fully / doing plans/drawings/sketches & being on site to oversee the works at all stages. To save money - some Clients do not want to entertain expenditure re site supervisory works / additional site visits / meetings unless a number agreed in the beginning. Unfortunately these “additional” become problematic when things go wrong. & then! You guessed it - some Clients get so fed up that they decide to run/build/manage the jobs themselves! By that stage Clients are fed up with the Architect / possibly but rarely the Engineer - & the outfit digging a big hole & filling with concrete - who are left to their own devices as the Client doesn’t wish to spend the money on others attending site prior to concrete pouring etc. A Structural Engineer would’ve seen this immediately & stopped work until all was in place. Oh, finding people who are interested in the project is also of importance - who make the project their own / like the chap you got in for the second stage concrete slab work….he sounds like a good old boy 👍 I’m an old boy Structural Engineer …… seen this too often from the smallest to the largest of projects.