'We were trapped in a house that could collapse at any moment'

When Ryan Ward hired builders for an extension to his family home in Leeds two years ago he never imagined the nightmare that would follow.

"We were just trapped in a house that could potentially collapse at any moment, with our children inside," the dad-of-two said.

Ward was eventually told after weeks of delays, no-shows and deadlines being moved that the builder was on the verge of going bankrupt.

Having already paid about £90,000 for the cellar excavation and extension project, the family were "left out of pocket with nobody to turn to".

During the works a wall was taken out, and the property in Meanwood was left held up by a small number of supports only designed to hold a fraction of the building's weight.

"Everybody that I spoke to said that it was unbelievably dangerous and that at any moment if one of those supports failed then it could cascade through the entire system and the house would come down," said Ward.

One of his children was just a baby at the time, making it difficult for the family to find somewhere else to stay while they tried to remedy the situation.

"It was structurally unsafe and a lot of other builders, completely understandably, didn't want to take on the liability if something went sideways," he explained.

Ward said the experience was "enormously stressful" for the family, who have since found new builders to finish the job.

Builder Graham Nash came in and initially made the house structurally sound, a process Ward said had lifted "a real weight off our shoulders".

Nash runs Pinnacle Builders, and has years of experience helping people who have been affected by cowboy builders and rogue traders.

He said: "What I've found is a lot of builders are quoting for projects without even visiting them.

"And then homeowners are giving large amounts of money as a deposit sometimes months before the project starts. That's a definite red flag."

To help protect families from rogue builders the government is bringing in new measures.

They include an approved code which traders can sign up for to demonstrate they meet high standards of customer service, transparency and dispute resolution.

The scheme will also include a new system to protect customers' money during building projects, with payments linked to key milestones.

"It must be horrible for a lot of people, you know, feeling like you've been taken advantage of," said Kate Dearden, the Halifax MP and minister responsible for consumer protection.

Dearden has worked with the prime ninister on the measures and hoped it would help families and builders alike.

"If people can trust that trader, spread the word about them, increase and grow their business, that can only be a good thing.

"This is that clear distinction and opportunity to sign up to the scheme, to really commit to that transparency and accountability, and to work with with consumers, so this will really set them apart."

Ward welcomed the plans, and while he did not believe the new measures would "fix everything" he said it was "a step in the right direction".

But Nash, who has recently set up his own vetting platform, was less confident.

"It's great that the government actually recognises that there is a major problem.

"Do I think it will work? No."

After being left with a structurally unsafe balcony on their home in 2020, Christine and Peter Hardman had to go through the civil courts to get money back from the builders who did the work.

The five-year process saw the Leeds couple pay for surveyors and structural engineers to put forward their case.

Christine said that aesthetically, the balcony looks "lovely", but the waterproofing has cracked and leaks through to live electrical wires underneath.

The glass panels that make up the walls of the balcony wobble and have been measured to have 15cm (6in) of movement.

"I have nieces and nephews and they've got children and there is no way I would allow them on that balcony as it is.

"There's quite a big sway on it," she said.

But trying to prove the work was defective took its toll.

"It was a time where you felt you were floating on a life raft and you didn't know when the ship was going to come past and rescue you. I think that was one of the hardest parts."

The couple were able to recover the cost of the project from the builders but they have not admitted being at fault.

The balcony has been condemned by both a structural engineer and Leeds City Council building control and they have been told that nobody must use it.

Now, with the help of Nash, they are looking to have the structure replaced.

New planning permission has been obtained and the existing balcony will be torn down because "there's nothing that's salvageable".

She said she and her husband had learned hard lessons from the experience, and would "like a system in place that says 'nobody else has to go through this.' "

But for Ward there is little hope of recovering his money.

"We've been stuck with this, and the memories of it we'll live with for a lifetime."

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