Mmmm…
I do wish everyone happy new year, but there is a problem and that is our builder. That company known as Mumbles Construction or “mumblesconstruction” (sic) Number 12990688 at Companies House, that has left us with a back bedroom that is uninhabitable and a kitchen with it’s own rainfall…
I have been trying to make the writing less shouty about this but the problem is that we are now looking at an extension that has leaked since it began and there is now a fair amount of damage. The problems in the back bedroom is going to mean we have to strip back and replaster some of the walls. If we are lucky then we may get away with the kitchen ceiling being able to dry. If we are lucky.
So, Simon Landry, sometimes using middle name James, born 6th February 1985 just in case anyone wants to search for him, has fitted the roofing panels but they have been done badly. Somehow he has made the transition between the panels and the tiles leak, and the tiles themselves. Which is quite a feat considering they are interlocking concrete tiles. We have one skylight leaking… Two skylights not fitted properly and the rubber on what is meant to be a green roof, damaged. The barge boards are delaminating, and some of the cladding has come off the side of the house. We have holes to the outside which are only covered with plaster board and basically, it is a draughty, leaky mess.
I’m going to list them, not to get pity but as a warning. Do not use this company or any other that he opens. Do not trust his man.
We have no skirting boards, no ceiling to the bathroom, the front and back door do not fit properly, there are problems with finishing the front and back door as there is no clearance for the plasterboard, even the thinnest stuff. There is no fall for the wet room shower so we can flood the kitchen. The kitchen walls are not straight despite them being new. The round window has not been fitted and neither of the two exterior windows are finished, let alone the sills.
Don’t get me wrong. The architect designed a beautiful extension and the house has wonderful potential, now that we are getting there but the snag list is huge.
And the builder has disappeared.
Now this might be a good thing but it is causing us an incredible amount of stress. The three of four month build was started in the first week of February 2021 and as we are going to 2023, it shows no sign of being complete anytime soon. We are looking for people to finish it now – although I find that there is a huge issue with me trusting trades. How do I? Can I believe anything anyone says?
Don’t get me wrong. We will get it finished and the house will be lovely once it is complete but right at the minute I wish I did not jump at every drip and gust of wind. I wish…
I wish that my Christmas guests hadn’t seen the state of the ceiling with the brown stains from water ingress and I wish that they hadn’t heard the wind crack the plastic on the roof.
I wish that it was finished.
I wish that I could step out the back onto decking instead of circling round via the back door, because the hight of the bi-folds is too much for me to get down onto the garden.
I guess I am ranting.
I am feeling a little sorry for myself, ourselves. We are worried and stressed. We will get there and it will be beautiful and fixed, but for the moment, even if it just today, I wish we were completed and that there were no problems.
At the moment the main concern is the back bedroom. It is damaging the plaster and I guess we will completely strip it out and sort it, but it is more work and most of our ready cash is already in the extension. Still, there will be a way.
I do wonder how that builder sleeps. Is it soundly or does he have insomnia? Probably not the latter, as he strikes us as a narcissist.
I wish it were only us as well, but it isn’t. There are others. Some of them rectified already and some not so. Some have lost huge sums of money and are reputedly looking at no building except a hole in the ground. Some have more than a leak through their roof. Some have walls that wobble.
The strangest thing is that our walls to the bathroom would be wobbling as well if it hadn’t been for R taking matters into his own hands and using large bolts to fix them to the ground. Mind you I could point to the wall that R and I took down and rebuilt because it was so warped. Or the internal doors that R fitted after looking at how to do it online. We have self-built a lot of this house, including the kitchen, much of the bathroom, levelling the extension floor and patching lots of the plasterwork. What is complete is lovely. The living room is looking good…
I can see it all in my head. We will have to finish soon, otherwise another year will be gone and the house will be in a worse state. At the moment it is salvageable; fixable, we hope,
– and we will complete it despite Mumbles Construction and Simon James Landry.
Kate Murray - Cleaver 
I hope that you’ve involved Trading Standards in this and that you have a supportive insurance company…. it sounds like a really horrible experience. In future, I guess you will have to use only trades people who are personally recommended. Good luck!
Thanks. Trading standards are only interested if there is a group problem… We will get something sorted though.
I’m sorry it’s all such a mess for you both. 2023 has to get better. Xx
It will. I have a good feeling about this year.
Please put a review on google as he has done this to others! It might stop just one other being in your situation.
Difficult one. Now the name “Mumbles Construction”, this should not be confused with a dissolved company from Port Talbot. Landry’s entity is actually “mumblesconstruction”, (one word) and this Limited Company has been on two-month notice of “Compulsory Strikeoff” since the 4th of October 2022, having submitted neither a Confirmation Statement nor accounts, and is set to be dissolved on the 17th of January 2023
As far as we know, Mumbles Construction has never actually had a physical presence in the old Principality on Newton Road, (which is the company address on Google Maps). We’ve talked to past tenants and nobody had heard of him. We’re going to have to be careful what we say, in any case, because the Law of Karma is potentially heading Mr. Landry’s way, courtesy of some other angry customers, and we don’t want to prejudice the outcome so we’ll stick to incontrovertible facts.
I’ll leave you to draw you own conclusions over a number of possibilities:
1) Simon Landry was quite innocently lax in doing his paperwork, in which case his capability in managing building projects is open to question. Because all assets of a company become “bona vacantia” and property of The UK Crown on dissolution, this was a big risk to take.
2) Simon was quite happy to risk the loss of all assets because there weren’t any of significance, in which case he was reliant on other money to fund builds and any contingencies. Essentially, his company might have been regarded in these circumstances as a disposable shell, (and shelter), formed for the princely sum of £1.
3) Simon was unable to submit accounts because they were not in order, perhaps because he had received and paid sums outside of the limited entity, – essentially as a sole trader.
As you can see, there is little point in going after “mumblesconstruction” because it will not exist for much longer. Simon Landry has had companies in the past: the insolvent “SJL Builders Limited”, (09157324), and “Coastal Construction Limited”, (11307195), which have ceased to exist, so I doubt that Mr. Landry will lose too much sleep over another going to the wall. After all, he does have another company: “Ricko Properties Limited”, (14134215), for which his registered address is Flat 1, York Chambers, York Street, Swansea, United Kingdom, SA1 3LZ, which appears to me to be a serviced apartment at the bottom of Little Wind Street.
There was another company, Coastal Construction Swansea Ltd., which was formed by a Simon John Lewis, coincidentally also born in February 1985 but we shouldn’t draw too many conclusions despite the short 2018 crossover in dates with Simon’s similarly-named company or the owner’s same initials and similar February 1985 date of birth. It would be wrong to speculate that this was to do with periods of disqualification.
Correction: Company number 11307195 was “Coast Construction Limited”
PS: According to the Federation of Master Builders, a company called “SJL Builders Limited” was expelled in 2015 “due to complaints”.
I had to double check this. Simon John Lewis, (D.O.B. Feb 1985), opened Coastal from 338a Neath Road, the same address Simon James Landry, (D.O.B. Feb 1985), was using when SJL Builders went bust three months before. 🤔 I’m sure this is just coincidence but those flatmates could almost be twins!😂