Gareth Farr T/A HCBS or Home Counties Building Services - AVOID
Bedfordshire based builder who trades under the business names of HCBS or Home Counties Building Services.
Why to avoid - Gareth Farr HCBS/Shire Solutions
Why a website?
*As of Mid 2024, he is trading under the name ‘Shire Solutions’. Please be vigilant.
I have created this website to share the awful experiences we’ve had having employed Gareth Farr of Home Counties Building Services/HCBS/Shire to complete a £70,000.00 project on our home.
Gareth works with his step Father Ron Thomas.
This cost included a false charge for VAT, when he isn’t VAT registered.
If you’re looking to employ Gareth Farr, Home Counties Building Services or HCBS as he is now trading, I hope you take time to read my story. I wouldn’t wish for another family to experience what he has put us through.
Works began in May 2022. Gareth provided a quote to us that wasn’t the cheapest and he came recommended locally, by people we thought we could trust.
I thought I’d done enough research and due diligence, but I was wrong.
Issues we’ve had with Gareth Farr include dangerous works that don’t comply with building regulations, plans or structural calculations, as evidenced in documents shared.
We received threats, repeated failures to attend site, continual excuses for nonattendance that ranged from difficulties obtaining materials, to illness, bereavements and injuries (on one occasion turning up on a mobility scooter).
We experienced continual demands for money when no work was completed.
As a result of the incorrect installation of steel beams to the rear of our property, our house was left structurally damaged and close to being deemed uninhabitable. Live electrics were left exposed to the elements. Our house was left insecure and not watertight, that resulted in large amounts of water ingress and further damage.
It transpires that we aren’t alone in having experienced such issues having employed him.
I received information and was approached by several other persons who had and were going through the same devastating experience.
Other people felt threatened and intimidated by his behaviour towards them when they employed him. And a number are owed significant sums of money by him, as highlighted in the CCJ’s found online and evidenced on this website.
As a result of our issues, Gareth had agreed to repay us a substantial sum of money. We are owed tens of thousands and have been awarded a CCJ against him. To avoid repaying his debt, Gareth Farr has recently filed for bankruptcy, despite still trading.
We still find ourselves, as a family, some 18 months later, still living in an incomplete home.
Please don’t make the mistake we did.
CCJ’s and Bankruptcy
Below, I have shared copies of the CCJ’s found online that Gareth Farr currently has outstanding. You will see from these, he uses multiple addresses and owes varying sums of money to a number of creditors.
We aren’t alone.
The link to his recent bankruptcy application is below;
The Fight for change
When hiring a tradesperson, to improve your home, its often a stressful, disruptive and expensive experience anyway. When you add to that, unscrupulous behaviour and dangerous, non-compliant works it becomes a devastating experience.
The cost of rectification works, added to the legal fees paid trying to seek redress and the money already paid to him, has resulted in us being in excess of £55,000.00 out of pocket. It’s life changing.
But it also bought me on to a bigger issue. On social media groups, I’ve discovered that daily, up and down the country, people are having their homes and financial security put in jeopardy by other rogue traders. It’s a pandemic. And one that apparently costs the UK billions each year.
The process that follows if you have issues with a trader, are lengthy and often costly. Legal costs for solicitors are often extortionate, prompting many victims to not bother. Seeking justice or prosecution via trading standards or the Police, is difficult. And if, the tradesperson you have employed operates as an LTD business, they have the option to cease trading, close the business and absolve themselves of the responsibility for the damage they cause.
As a consumer, this doesn’t seem fair.
So, alongside Sara Louise Griffiths, who I met through our shared experiences as victims of rogue traders, we’re fighting for real change, by calling on the government to regulate the industry.
We launched a petition that received close to 11,000 signatures. MP Mark Garnier who is actively supporting our campaign has held discussions in the Westminster Chambers.
Parliamentlive.tv - Westminster Hall (1 hour 31 mins into the footage)
We have the support of Brian Berry from The Federation of Master Builders and our plights and campaign have caught the attention of national media.
We have filmed for BBC One’s RIP OFF BRITAIN, with an episode due to air in January 2024.
So whilst spreading awareness of the issues we’ve experienced to prevent others becoming victims of Gareth Farr, we’re fighting for lasting change. To make the RMI (Repair, Maintenance and Improvement) sector, fairer for all involved.
“We invite these people into our home, we don’t ask them to burgle it.”
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636359
When hiring a trader…..
This advice is based on nothing more than my own experience and conversations I’ve had with other victims of Rogue Traders. It’s by no means a definitive list, but hopefully, if you’re looking to hire someone to conduct works at your home, taking some of these steps may offer you greater protection;
• DO YOUR RESEARCH and due diligence. Ask the trader to see previous projects. Ask to speak to previous clients. Don’t always believe reviews on websites. Google them. Be thorough.
• Don’t make large payments up front for materials. Reputable traders will have credit accounts at merchants in most cases. If requested in advance, you’re within your rights to ask for invoices and explanations as to what the money is for. Consider paying suppliers direct if the trader requests materials.
• Speak with your home insurance, inform them of works being conducted and confirm that you’ll be covered in the event of issues. *There is a huge amount they don’t cover*
• Consider taking out a property renovation insurance policy
• Ensure there is a written contractual agreement. Make sure it includes exactly what you’re paying for, start and end dates for the project and materials required. A structured payment schedule.
• Ensure you have spoken with building control and are aware of the processes.
• Ensure you ask for copies of the traders liability insurance. This can be checked to ensure it is still valid.
• VAT; it’s likely you’ll be being charged it. So make sure a VAT number is provided. It should be present on all invoices. This can be checked on the Gov.uk website.
• Never pay cash. If issues arise, providing a payment trail will be important to any legal case.
• Where possible, make payments on credit cards. This offers you a greater level of protection, thanks to Section 75.
• Ensure a contract has a detailed payment schedule - this will typically be weekly or monthly in arrears or when elements of the project are completed.
• A good contract will incorporate any preferred dispute resolution procedures and can go so far as to name a preferred professional body or individual to turn to should a dispute need to be resolved
Social Media
Prior to launching this website, I created a Facebook group – sharing my issues and offering others a public platform to do the same.
But I wanted something that would out last a Facebook group that will inevitably stagnate.
I wanted to create something that could be located if people were looking to hire Gareth Farr, something that they could see. I’ve tried to provide as much evidence as I can to show how our home was left and what we’ve experienced. It’s been done with the single aim of preventing further victims. It isn’t a hate campaign. And it certainly isn’t slanderous, libellous or defamatory. Everything I have written, everything I have shared is true to me.
Caddington’s Cowboy Builder - Gareth Farr T/A HCBS | Facebook
The issues we had…… (please see the photographs also)
• He was employed by us in April 2022 to complete a remodel of the rear of our house, a single storey front extension, installation of a new bathroom and a new patio. Estimated cost £70,000.00.
• We paid a large deposit in excess of £12,000 for materials he stated he was ordering, steel beams etc but didn’t do so until Mid August. The steel beams he did order and attempt to install didn’t match plans.
• For the first 6 weeks, he wanted a weekly payment of £2500 each Friday. He demanded this payment threatening to walk off site, even during a week when he was on holiday and didn’t attend at all.
• Attendance was sporadic and when on site was rarely here for an entire working day.
• He became aggressive when payment was challenged as works weren’t completed to plans - rear footings are an example of this. They didn’t match the plans provided by our structural engineer either. He was given copies of all architect and structural engineers drawings prior to beginning.
• When he installed these beams, they were not installed correctly. They were neither the correct length (minimum baring could not be met) installed in the correct position or coated in the required anti oxidising paints.
• The steel beams were not offering any structural support to the rear of the house. He requested payment saying that they had been installed, despite not being welded, bolted and with huge gaps above. Building control would have deemed our house uninhabitable as a result had our new builder not stepped in when he did.
• We were left with large structural cracking both internally and externally
• Left our house non watertight, with live electrics exposed. We returned from a family holiday to discover water actually pouring out of live electrical sockets within our kitchen.
• He constantly demanded large sums of money for little amounts of work. Knowing we were financially invested, his behaviour left us feeling trapped.
• We were given multiple excuses for non attendance that included; illness (multiple times), family bereavements, passing of pets, a wrist injury, a knee injury (he attended on a mobility scooter following this, only to later be seen carrying furniture into his pub, completely unaided), wisdom tooth needing removing amongst others.
• He was actually working on other projects whilst giving us excuses for non attendance and still demanding money from us.
• Installed roof tiles (cheapest on the market to the front extension) that didn’t match plans and have subsequently had to be replaced to be signed off.
• We were charged VAT - when he is not VAT registered
• He represented he had the correct insurances. Information I have received since suggests this was a false representation and he was not insured.
• I received threats regarding him complaining to my employer, falsely accusing me of slander when challenging his work. And was made aware of threats to send people to my address because he wasn’t getting his own way.
• He was paid £52,500 for works valued by an independent quantitative surveyor at £26,000. This was without factoring in the cost to rectify works he had completed. Which has since cost us double this. We still have not completed the project we initially had planned and a large part of our house is a building site
• Building control stated that a number of elements of his work did not meet the required regulations.
• Malicious complaints to my employer since asking him to leave site.
In addition to this, others have shared stories that include;
• Threatening to take an elderly lady to the bank to withdraw money, despite the driveway he was working on having not been completed properly
• Threatening an elderly Male for withholding money for an incomplete job
• Garden works and patios that have since resulted in multiple issues.
• Withholding money from an employee at his public house, threatening them as one shift was missed
• Thousands of pounds of damage to a property he rented
• Roofing works that ended up leaking and once inspected a number of issues identified.
• A poorly installed extension that was left in a dangerous state.
• Repeatedly giving customers false excuses for non attendance and for issues with his work.
• Lying about serious health conditions and family bereavements.
• Continually threatening customers with court action and similar.
• Refusing to pay tradespeople he employed and then becoming threatening and abusive to them when they sought monies owed.
