Dave Eddon paid Christian Williams more than £56,000 to build a two-storey extension. After a busy first two weeks, barely anything happened in the next four months.
Mr Eddon, 42, and his wife Claire in Higher Kinnerton, Flintshire, were raising a one-year-old and two other children aged two and four. Williams had said the job would take about four months and cost £100,000, starting in September 2022. Excuses followed: he was on holiday, tradespeople were unavailable, supplies had not come. He abandoned the job the following February. Other contractors would not take it on, so the family finished it with individual tradespeople and Mr Eddon’s own labour. That cost a further £60,000 and left them £16,000 out of pocket.
“The project management [was] a significant drain… at a time in my life where I wanted to be spending as much time as possible with my young family,” he said. His wife suffered “significant mental and physical symptoms”, he added, including insomnia, heart palpitations, panic attacks and many episodes of crying.
Three of four families
Williams, 54, of Mynydd Isa, admitted one count of theft and three of fraud by false representation, involving four families. He was jailed for two years last December.
Mark Barber-Riley, 75, from Holywell, hired him in March 2022 to build a downstairs bedroom for his disabled grandson. It was meant to be done by August. By January 2023 it was still unfinished, and Williams said he could not get workers to come. Mr Barber-Riley paid him £44,000 and then spent another £20,000 to have the job completed without him. “He agreed to pay him… but then he contacted me to say that he had no money. I felt that was shocking.”
In Buckley, Shelley Sawkins, 75, and her husband Barry, 63, gave Williams about £30,000 for an extension that was left unfinished, with rain pouring in. Ms Sawkins realised he was in Lanzarote when she phoned him. The couple spent £50,000 on repairs, almost £30,000 above the initial £21,000 quote.
Court and trade body
Mold Crown Court heard at a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing earlier this month that Williams had benefitted by £163,051.70. His assets meant he could repay only £1.
The victims have called for better regulation to protect people who employ contractors. The Federation of Master Builders removed Chris Williams Construction from its website in March 2023, after a monitoring process, a second complaint over delays and incomplete work, and a committee decision to expel the firm. A spokesperson said “only 2% of all jobs our members do resulting in a complaint”, despite checks that include onsite inspection and financial vetting.
