Dozens 'ripped off' in £500,000 building 'scam'

More than 30 customers claim they were scammed after paying deposits totalling nearly £500,000 for building work that was not delivered, the BBC has learned.

The BBC has heard from 13 of those customers who say they paid tens of thousands of pounds to South Coast Construction (Sussex) Ltd (SCC), which operated in Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey.

Sussex Police said it was investigating "a number of reports of alleged fraud" in connection with the company.

SCC's director strongly denied he had deliberately scammed customers, saying he did not take customers' money without intending to carry out the work and he was "deeply sorry" to all those affected.

Sian and Simon Romsey from Southampton were planning a double-storey extension with two extra bedrooms, a new kitchen-diner and shower room.

They said SCC had appealed to them because the company claimed to offer a full design and build package and appeared to have a number of endorsements on its website.

"They had all of their accreditations... even talking to them on the phone very, very reassuring... even down to the contract, I looked through it with a fine-tooth comb and everything was just so slick, so professional," Simon said.

The couple said they paid a deposit of nearly £16,000 in March which they were told would cover architectural drawings and secure the last available start date in June.

But Simon said "alarm bells started blowing up in our heads" when the architect contacted them to say she had not been paid and would not release the drawings a week before work was due to start.

"We tried getting in contact with South Coast - they'd disconnected the phone, couldn't get through... my whole world just crumbled and it's a feeling that I never, ever want to experience again," said Simon.

Sian added: "Having no control over that was really scary... the fact it can happen in an instant is really frightening."

The couple have since joined an action group made up of 36 other customers who also claim to have paid SCC thousands of pounds for work that was not done.

Simon said he had called his bank multiple times over two months before he finally got his money back in August.

While 29 customers said they had managed to get their money refunded through their bank, eight have been told it is a civil matter and are having to go to the financial ombudsman service.

Jo Amas from Burgess Hill in West Sussex said she was still fighting to get nearly £12,000 refunded from her bank that had been paid in March towards the cost of a loft conversion for her step-mother who had dementia.

She had intended to move in to be a full-time carer after her step-mum, Fran, suffered a serious fall in February.

"I checked out everything... and looked at their reviews. I thought I'd done due diligence in checking them out that they were legit," said Jo.

She said the contract she had with SCC stated the deposit would be fully refunded if work was not started, so she had been expecting to get the money back when she cancelled the project in April after Fran's condition deteriorated and she moved into a care home.

Jo told the BBC that SCC had stopped all communication with her, which had taken a huge toll on her mental health.

"I didn't want to tell the rest of my family what I'd done because I felt very responsible... you just feel like a failure and this was someone else's money, it wasn't my money," she said.

"Because she [Fran] was in a home and homes are very expensive, we needed that money back to pay for the home and it was heartbreaking.,

She added: "These people have managed to rip us all off and just got so much money out of us. It's just unbelievable."

On its website and social media pages, SCC claimed to be a leader in high-end construction, with customers telling the BBC they felt reassured by the number of accreditations it displayed online.

But the BBC can reveal SCC was falsely claiming to be insured by Home Improvement Protection (HIP) and certified by Certass. In addition, it had only been a member of TrustATrader for six weeks in 2024.

A spokesperson for HIP said members must pay a premium to insure each customer contract. They said it had been brought to their attention that SCC had been advertising its membership certificate as proof of insurance, which was a "serious breach" of its terms of agreement.

The company was expelled from the scheme in May.

Several other accreditation memberships have been terminated, including Checkatrade in March and Which? Trusted Trader scheme in April.

Accreditations from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and the government-backed TrustMark were ended in June following customer complaints.

A spokesperson for FMB said: "This company joined the FMB in May 2025 after passing our rigorous vetting checks. When complaints started coming in and the company failed to respond to them, they were expelled in June 2026."

The accreditation scheme providers all said checks had been carried out and SSC had passed the vetting process before receiving membership.

A BBC investigation also found five outstanding county court judgments (CCJs) against SCC worth more than £37,000.

CCJs indicate a company has not paid its debts and are red flags to customers and banks that a company could be in financial difficulty and might be at risk of collapse.

The BBC understands 35 customers in the action group paid deposits for work that was not done between February 2025 and May 2026. The group said two customers had work started but not completed.

According to Companies House, the sole director of SCC, Brandon Harris-Lee, 23, was appointed in July 2024.

In a statement, he strongly denied scamming customers, highlighting what he described had been a successful trading history.

He said: "We experienced significant problems on several projects including issues involving subcontractors, delays and substantial cost overruns.

"We were trying to generate income from ongoing and future work while simultaneously funding and completing projects that had significantly exceeded their budgets.

"Regarding the company's accreditations and insurance arrangements, certain bills and fees were not paid when they should have been as the company's financial position deteriorated."

His cousin, Robert Lee, 28, had been a director at SCC between November 2024 and October 2025.

He said in a statement that he "did not accept he deliberately took customers' money without intending for work to be carried out. We carried out a considerable amount of building work and, to my knowledge, had many satisfied customers during the period I was involved".

A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: "We are investigating, alongside our partners, a number of reports of alleged fraud in connection with the company South Coast Construction (Sussex).

"Anyone impacted or who has any information is asked to report to Sussex Police online, by calling 101 or using textphone 18001."

Citizens Advice said it received nearly 37,000 complaints about home improvements and maintenance last year.

It said homeowners were being left to fend for themselves in a home repairs market with little consumer protections for when things go wrong.

In August, the government announced it was launching a new database of trusted traders and a payment system offering more safeguards to protect homeowners from "cowboy builders".

The FMB wants the government to go further and introduce a licensing scheme.

The trade body said it would give homeowners "clear routes to tackle shoddy work or fraudulent activity and could lead to a builder losing their ability to trade legally, which is the only way homeowners can truly be protected".

In a statement, a government spokesperson said: "We are taking robust action against rogue operators to protect consumers and support reputable traders, so people can spend their money with greater confidence and security."

• Have you been affected by this story? You can contact Katharine via katharine.dacosta@bbc.co.uk