Do Not Hire – Unsafe, Incomplete, and Misleading Building Work
A complete waste of time and money — do NOT hire this builder.
Mick Blaydes Building Services (Michael Blaydes), who mainly operates in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, and the wider West Midlands area in the UK, was hired to remove a load-bearing kitchen wall and install a ground-floor cloakroom.
The work started on 6 October and was declared complete on 27 November, taking nearly eight weeks and costing a total of £7,900.
Unfortunately, the workmanship was extremely poor. Numerous defects were identified across structural work, plumbing, electrics, ventilation, and finishing. Despite repeatedly promising to return and rectify these issues, he never came back to carry out the necessary repairs.
He failed to follow the approved structural engineer’s drawings for the load-bearing wall, which was flagged during a council inspection, and then demanded additional payment to correct his own errors. He claimed the ceiling might contain asbestos but never informed me in advance or took any appropriate precautions, leaving waste exposed. The newly installed toilet leaked, and although the work was incomplete, I was repeatedly pressured to release the final payment. Keys, certificates, skip removal, and completion paperwork were all outstanding.
Poor workmanship was evident throughout, including incorrect extractor fan installation and substandard ceiling repairs. Defects were concealed behind furniture without my consent or disclosure. There were significant delays, unauthorised dumping of items in my skip, and misleading statements regarding council inspections and his claimed 45 years of experience.
After allowing a 14-day period for remedial works, none of the issues were properly addressed. I ultimately spent a comparable amount of time inspecting defects, arranging a new handyman, and purchasing materials to fix the problems myself.
Avoid.