Nottinghamshire rogue builder who left holes in homes is jailed

A rogue builder who left clients with holes in their homes and charged inflated prices has been jailed.

Barrie Parkin, 73, of no fixed address, told one victim a conservatory job would take six weeks to complete, but 10 months on they were left with a shell with hanging electrical wires.

Trading Standards officers in Nottinghamshire said in another case a surveyor stated an extension, which Parkin charged more than £20,000 for, was “one of the worst he had ever seen and should be condemned”.

At Nottingham Crown Court he was was found guilty of participating in a fraudulent business carried out by a sole trader and sentenced to three years in prison.

County council Trading Standards officers said between March 2014 and February 2019, Parkin carried out building works for a number of victims.

This included the construction of extensions, conservatories and an orangery, for which he vastly overquoted before delivering the works to a poor standard.

He would often request payments ahead of their due dates and then fail to turn up to complete the works.

Andrea and George Reeves, of Sutton-In-Ashfield, said the experience of employing Parkin had been “horrendous”.

“We trusted Barrie Parkin and used all our savings to pay for him to build a new kitchen and bathroom extension, but the work was so poor we were told by experts that it needed to be demolished and rebuilt.

“In the middle of this ordeal George was diagnosed with cancer.

“We had been left with cramped, temporary bathroom and kitchen facilities, which made it extremely difficult to care for George and the worry about repairing our home added to the stress of his treatment,” Mrs Reeves said.

Some victims reported he became angry when challenged, the council said.

Parkin would also lie about getting planning permission, leading to victims having works completed without planning approval.

The client who was left with a shell conservatory only discovered the lack of planning permission when they rang the council to complain about Parkin.

A chartered surveyor who assessed the project said it should have cost around £8,000 but Parkin quoted £14,000, then added extra charges on.

Officers said another victim was quoted £19,495 for an eight week job to build an orangery.

After 16 weeks, they called building inspectors who found a number of defects but a request to cancel the works was met with a demand from Parkin for an additional £4,000.

Other cases saw Parkin leaving a home partly open to the elements when building an extension and throwing stones from a driveway on to the walls of a conservatory to mimic the pebble dashed effect of the rest of the house.

Mark Walker, county council interim service director for place, said: “We would like to recognise the courage of the victims in coming forward and working with our Trading Standards team to support the investigation and court proceedings.

“I would also like to recognise the work of the Trading Standards team as their ongoing investigation of the defendant led to the emergence of three of the victims.”

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