Grandma claims builder left £36,000 extension too small to fit bed inside

Mary Nelson, 90, was looking forward to having a ground-floor bedroom built on her home which she said would drastically "improve" her standard of living.

The retired midwife suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and because she doesn't have a stair lift it can be "painfully difficult" for her to climb up the stairs to bed.

The pensioner from Leeds used part of her life savings to have the 5 x 3 metre extension built which would also come with a functioning wet room.

Instead, the builder made it too narrow, leaving her a 5 x 2.7 metre room.

Mary claims he "walked off the job" in October and says she has since been left "out of pocket" and is facing another similar bill to have it knocked down and replaced.

The builder has denied all claims made by Mary branding them "inaccurate" and and said it was a "great shame" he had to leave a client "dissatisfied".

He claims that the drawings he was given by Mary "didn't measure 3m wide" and that the build "in fact was built to the correct width" adding he walked off the job after his staff faced abuse.

Mary said: "I feel like I have been taken advantage of because of my age - it has happened before.

"The stress has been unbelievable, I was kept in hospital for 11 days due to my blood pressure being really high.

"I'm angered by what has happened."

Mary said she first heard from the builder in July 2024, when she submitted plans for planning permission, though she turned him down at the time.

In March 2025 Mary took him on after contacting several builders and agreed £36,150 for the four-week job to start on June 8 before paying a £4,000 deposit.

She said: "He was very charming, polite, and kind.

"He seemed very positive and was great at explaining the project to my family and me, letting them know I was in safe hands."

Mary said she paid him £16,000 in total in June when the work began.

The pensioner said it started well after they successfully knocked down her conservatory but after they had finished the footing process, Mary said she had a "gut feeling" it was too small.

Mary said: "I have a similarly sized bedroom upstairs in my house, and from just looking at the size of the space, it just looked smaller."

The builder denies the claim.

She also claims the brickwork is "shoddy" with some having one-inch (25mm) mortar gaps 15 mm bigger than industry standard and the roof has started leaking after a number of the tiles became loose.

The builder denies both the claims adding that the roof was "water tight" whilst he was on site.

He then got started on the wet room, which Mary says he also "disregarded" instead installing a shower cubicle.

The builder says his quotations did not include a wet room" and that it wasn't mentioned in their meetings and it would have "significantly" increased the cost of the job.

He also said there wasn't enough space to fit a disabled toilet, and that "no grab handles were priced during the quoting process".

Mary said: "The whole thing has been a disaster.

"I had the option of a stair lift or the new room, and now I wish I had gone with the lift."

Mary had only paid him £33,490 before the builder left the job in October after the project ran two months over schedule, allowing her to keep the remaining money so another builder could do work on it.

The builder claimed the delays were caused by "weather, materials delays, and late payments".

According to Good Samaritan builder Graham Nash - who was not involved in the initial work - the safest option for Mary is to do it "knock it down and have it rebuilt" which he said he would complete for £30,000, which is just for materials and no labour.

Graham - who runs his own business called Pinnacle Builders - calls out cowboys on his social media pages and helps homeowners who have been affected.

Mary said she is currently trying to get the work signed off with the builder inspector, but Mary says he is refusing to sign papers to allow this to happen saying the inspector has "already passed it".

She says her own inspector has noted several other things wrong though the builder said he left it "finished" up to the point he left the site.

The builder said he had a building inspector "attend to inspect the works at key points of the build", and they "wouldn't have been able to proceed if work was not up to standard".