Builder’s unsafe work leaves families facing collapse, prison sentence follows

A rear extension that was meant to take 12 weeks left Rob and Lucy Davies’ home at risk of collapse, without a kitchen or running water, and forced them to spend £28,000 to make it safe again.

The couple, of Langdon Hills in Basildon, Essex, hired Steve Figg after seeing his work advertised on social media. They wanted a rear extension with a kitchen and open-plan living area. Instead, work that began in October 2023 was stopped by Basildon Council’s building control team two months later, after a surveyor found unstable foundations and ineffective insulation. By December 2023, the property was said to be at risk of collapse.

Figg, 35, who ran Figg Construction Ltd from Milton Road in Stanford-le-Hope, admitted 22 breaches of building regulations and was sentenced at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. District judge Christopher Williams described the work as unsafe, badly executed and repeatedly non-compliant with building regulations. The court heard that Figg had already received £44,000 from the Davieses before the project unravelled.

The damage went far beyond unfinished walls. The couple were left with no kitchen, no running water and no back doors, while rats were reported to have nested in the property. Lucy Davies said the ordeal caused “mental torture” for the family. Rob and Lucy Davies said they were forced to keep paying to secure the house again, even as their renovation plans collapsed around them.

The dispute also spiralled into police involvement. The couple were held in police custody for 22 hours after Figg reported them for allegedly harassing him, and Essex Police later apologised. Figg also told officers he wanted to kill the couple, but he was not arrested. In court, he said he regretted what happened, denied being a “cowboy builder” and said the project was running at a loss with no money left.

The case exposed a wider weakness in the system that homeowners rely on after a bad build: once money is paid and work turns dangerous, the burden often shifts to the victims. Basildon Borough Council operates a public building-control and contraventions search system covering issues recorded since 31 January 2001, a reminder that local oversight exists, but only after warning signs are visible. Companies House lists Steven John Figg, born in May 1990, as an active director of A1 Elite Construction Ltd, appointed on 31 January 2020.