Our Family’s Experience on a Home Renovation TV Show Turned into a Nightmare – We’re Still Dealing with the Aftermath Half a Decade Later

A family who went on DIY SOS said they are still paying for repairs left by the ‘horror show’ makeover five years later. 

Peter Chapman asked Nick Knowles’ team to improve his detached home and garden so his wife, Sarah, who has myotonic dystrophy, could move around more easily.

Unfortunately, the TV crew did such a poor job that Peter has been trying to fix their substandard work for the past five years, spending £40k in the process.

The BBC, which broadcasted the show in 2020, initially proposed £15k as compensation. The Chapmans turned it down, and the BBC never got back to them, despite the Chapmans sending over 50 emails and making many phone calls.

Mr Chapman, 66, who is his 61-year-old wife’s full-time carer, said: ‘I thought we were going on a home renovation reality show, but it turned out to be a horror show.

‘Nick Knowles absolutely wrecked our beautiful home and neither he nor the BBC have had the balls to contact me with an apology, let alone a sensible offer for the damage they did.

‘I’ve been repairing the mess they made of my house for five years now and the work is still not finished.’

Mr Chapman, who also cares for his 41-year-old daughter Suzie, said he has now given up on hearing from Knowles or the BBC again.

‘They did an absolute cowboy job on this house. I dread to think how many other houses they wrecked. None of them should be allowed anywhere near a tool kit, let alone someone’s home.’

The retired motor mechanic, has done much of the repair work himself, but replacing a driveway put in by Knowles and his team required a specialist company at a cost of £3,750.

He also had to call in a roofing firm to fix damage caused by incorrect laying of felt beneath the wooden batons and tiles. The blunder caused water to flood the family home and cost £2,200 to fix.

The litany of mistakes also includes the installation of a mock wooden floor which was so slippy that Sarah regularly fell because her dining chair slid from beneath her.

Mr Chapman said: ‘The crew was told that because of Sarah’s condition, we needed a carpet floor, but for some reason they put in this hideous fake wooden flooring instead.

‘It cost me £3000 to buy a new carpet, which I laid myself.’

At the rear of the house, the Chapmans wanted a gently sloping ramp to enable Sarah to be wheeled by her husband into their beautiful garden.

But the ramp is so steep, Mr Chapman would be unable to wheel her back into the house. As a result, Mrs Chapman has never been into the garden.

He said: ‘It is heartbreaking for her to see our lovely garden but not be able to go outside and enjoy it. 

‘I could get her down there, but I’d never be able to push her wheelchair up it again because the angle is just so steep.

‘The crew also installed composite decking on an outdoor patio at the back of the house, but they made some very basic mistakes and as a result the decking is splitting, making it unsafe, so I am now in the middle of pulling it all up and replacing it.

‘One of the main problems has been that it is very difficult to unpack the shoddy work they did until it reveals itself, by which time it’s too late and you have to start again which is expensive.’

‘All these jobs take up an incredible amount of my time. I am Sarah’s full-time carer so my days and nights are busy. I have to nibble away at the repair work whenever I can, but I reckon I do at least an hour or two every day and it has been like that for the past five years.’

The family are not in a position to hire a lawyer to try and sue the BBC for damages, he said.

‘To be honest, I’m at the stage now where I’ve given up getting back the money that repairing this house has cost me.

‘I’ve never had a penny off them and it is difficult because the bills keep racking up. Just last week I spent £2000 on cement, sand, blocking and materials for drainage.

‘Every month it costs us more and more, but I am confident that one day we will get there and we will be living in a beautiful, functional house – no thanks to the BBC or Nick Knowles.’

A BBC spokesman said: ‘DIY SOS is a heart-warming programme that brings communities together and helps improve the lives of those in need thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who give up their time to participate. 

‘As with all of our previous projects, the Charlton Kings build was planned and completed in accordance with the necessary required regulatory approvals and signed off onsite by building control.’