If there is a cowboy builder within a hundred miles, he'll find me. I know if someone knocks on the door and says he's working in the neighborhood and noticed my windows/roof/brickwork need work I should politely say no.

What's the American for 'cowboy builder'? A 'cowboy' is someone that does repairs that are badly done and over priced. He is not simply incompetent. A cowboy does shoddy work using poor quality materials and overcharges to such an extend that the action lies somewhere between 'fraud' and 'con'.

One of my favorite repairman is only borderline competent - but he doesn't intend to be. He wants to do a good job. His repairs - well, they are better than I myself can do. He's a very nice man and gets on with the dogs. His work is not quite right, but it's almost right. He is not a cowboy. He's just not very good.

Back to my latest cowboy. I'd seen men working on a house in the neighborhood for a week or so when  I walked the little dogs.  One of the men came to the door. He said he noticed the brick work on the bay window needed pointing and  the mortar around the window frames needed redoing. I needed to have it done or rain would get in and cause problems.  He'd do the pointing and sealing around the windows for £220.

These things were true; I'd noticed them and knew they needed to be dealt with. There's a problem in getting small jobs done. Major jobs are a different matter.

The Federation of Master Builders is an organization here that offers some guarantees to the quality of work done. They give a selection of people who do the work in your area, you choose, they come by and give a written quote. The general rule: get three quotes, choose the one you like. Very straightforward and business-like and I've always been satisfied with the work and the price. But they don't do small jobs.

So, despite knowing I should not hire the man for the job, I did it. It was stupid.

The workman came back the next day with his tall ladder. After about thirty minutes, he needed to see me. The job was much bigger than he had thought. They needed to bring in a scaffold and take down the whole area and rebuild the whole thing - he'd do it for £6000.

"£6,000???"

This is what cowboys do.

I said, "That's a lot of money. I'm going to need to get quotes and written estimates before I even consider something like that."

"£4,500 if you do it today..."

I refused, went in and beat my head on the wall. Then I went to the MBA website and called two companies and asked them for a quote.

I'd told the cowboy I had to go by my savings account and take the cash out. I was meeting a friend for lunch and to come back after 2 for his money. I reminded him of this. So he left.

I went to meet Friend Janet. Her husband Nick does all home stuff; not just repairs, major structural work as well. I asked them what to do.

"What should I say to the man? He didn't do the job he contracted to do... what would you do?"

Janet, not very helpfully, pointed out they would never be in this position.

"But what if you were? What if Nick had gone to some Conference in Italy and you'd hired such a person to something that wouldn't wait until he got back?"

"Nick would break my neck."

I said, "How does this sound? He didn't do the pointing he said he would do. He did slop cement around the windows. Could I point out the lack of pointing and suggest a re-negotiation of the price?"

Nick said that might work. Try it, at least.

"I'm going to pay him," I said, "because he's the sort that might key the car or break a window..." (Another thing you don't need to worry about with FMB recommendations. I once argued with a Polish carpenter about work contracted when he demanded a lot more money than agreed and he was threatening... I refused to give way, but it was fairly traumatic.)

So when the cowboy came back I very politely suggested re-negotiation. He rejected this. I handed him £220. in cash and watched him drive away.

Two people have come by from the FMB list. The first was brisk and businesslike. He said the problem probably came from having the Sky satellite disk put up - the jack hammer dislodged the mortar. He also said the ornamental thing at the top of the bay window had been underpinned earlier, much earlier, with steel pins and was probably stable. He's mail a quote.

The second lot were less business like. A father and son, and I liked them both. They said the work the cowboy had done would have to be redone. Bad job in general.

I mentioned the problem with small jobs - people on the FMB list don't do small jobs.

"What would be nice," I said, "would be some sort of list of retired carpenters and plumbers and plasterers. People to hang a gate or repoint a patio...Men that want to work a couple of mornings, earn enough to take the grandkids to Disneyland..."

The father said, 'That sounds like a good idea."

The son said, "I've still got a mortgage. You want a gate hung? Bit of plastering? Anything that can be done in a Saturday morning, give me a call."

So here I am. The £220. gone - wasted. Not good. (I'm an old age pensioner; pounds are in limited supply.) I feel stupid, to have hired the man. I feel cowardly, to let him get away with it. So insult was added to injury.

It wasn't even a learning experience since I knew before it happened I should just say no.

"