The GOOD the BAD and the UGLY

During this project we have been incredibly lucky in most of our dealings with suppliers and professional services. The critical kit supplier, the SIP Construction Company has just failed us so completely we can only put up the small 9m diameter roundhouse until and if we can get the funds sorted out. Our consequential losses alone look like being over £25,000.

We really have had great service from a number of suppliers..Annie Washbrook and Mrs Stone Store come highly recommended. As do Rooflight Architectural who took real pride in the quality of their workmanship. These are GOOD people to do business with.

Then we have had the very dodgy business methods of  Anyappliance.co.uk. Our reviews of our experience with this trader has been very interesting. It looks like Trading Standards have been involved. BAD for them and they deserve it.

Now we have the UGLY - the businessman who has ripped us off, and gone bust taking a big chunk of our life savings with him but who is still working in the same trade. You would have thought he was untouchable but the SIP panels industry has some very odd business relationships. The panel supplier SBS had three 'partner' businesses. All are still sitting there on their website, including Tim Allan's previous company SIPit Scotland, now compulsorily liquidated by HMRC and which ceased trading in 2008. (Except it didn't - up to 2010, two years later all our dealings with TIm Allan were through this business - SIPit Scotland. Business premises, email addresses, everything still badged with a company name that was in liquidation - you can still Google the name and pick up the website.) The SBS finance director told me all three of their 'partner' companies had ceased trading. So what does that make the panel supply company SBS ? What are the business ethics of a business which still promotes three folded companies on its website ?

And Mr Allan himself should be avoided at all costs. He has lied to us, he has abused our trust, he has cheated us. He is the truly UGLY face of the building industry in general and SIPs in particular.

Please don't be deterred from using SIPS as a building system. They are the future. They are the only way to comply with upcoming amendments to the Buidling Regs. for airtightness and insulation. But whatever you do ask some very serious questions of your intended supplier and contractor. It would be tragic if the cowboy SIP kit builder ruined the entire industry.

And our blog comments on Mr Allan's business methods are beginning to pick up the level of web traffic that will certainly cost him and his associates very considerably indeed.....

We're on the way

We are well on the way to getting the missing bits from our house kit made up. Quite a few of the fillets supplied are well out in terms of kit fabrication drawing dimensions - especially the critical ones which hold the roof up. These are not even identical. The drawings ask for 1mm accuracy - we have something nearer 10mm variation. All these have to be checked for fit. It looks as if the wrong specification has been used for this most important fillet. The rebate in the roof panels is also substantially out from the fillet dimensions. There are some serious quality control problems with Mr Allan's kit fabrication - we just have to have everything that looks a bit dodgy checked by the structural engineer for fitness for purpose. Future potential customers of SIP PMC take note....Don't let Mr Allan make up your kit.

TIM ALLAN - SIP Construction Company Part 2

Why do the business regulatory authorities allow someone to go bust and then start up a new company the next day, having written off all their losses ?
Why does Companies House not disqualify directors automatically for trading recklessly or whilst insolvent.
Legally, they are not liable personally and can just walk away. In practice there are ways of suing the incompetent or corrupt director and getting access to their own properties to cover losses, though it takes time and money.

Tim Allan certainly has a few properties in his name. On paper he's probably worth over £800,000.

Tim Allan folded SIPit Scotland and set up SIP Construction Company leaving massive debts. He was put into compulsory liquidation by HMRC (wonder why) and was advised that he had been trading whilst insolvent for a considerable time by accountants. Why was he not investigated and disqualified by the regulators ?

He is now trying to fold SIP Construction leaving massive debts again. He is walking away again from his responsibilities and his creditors. Who gets hurt ? Who takes his losses ?
Surprise, surprise, less than four weeks later he is back in the business of SIP kit manufacture working with SIP PMC.

TIM ALLAN - SIP Construction Company

The latest entry in the list of "DO NOT DEAL WITH UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES" is MR TIM ALLAN.

Under no circumstances should you do business with him directly or indirectly.
He is currently with SIP PMC whose credibility must plummet with his involvement.

I cannot outline his business practices in detail as these are currently subject to police investigation.

If any debt collectors read this - leave a message and I will provide details of his current address, car registration numbers etc. to help you track him down.

curiouser and curiouser

Every day we find out more and more of the nefarious business dealings of Mr Tim Allan. Two companies folded, a stack of outstanding County Court Judgements and Sheriff's warrants. No company accounts filed for years yet still allowed to trade. The protection offered to victims of company collapses is worse than poor. It's lamentable. In the UK the businessman is worshipped to the point of not even being held responsible let alone liable for the consequences of his or her actions and mismanagement - or even corruption. The Serious Fraud Unit also has the justifiable epithet 'Serious Farce Unit'. Companies House Investigation Unit works straight out of the Franz Kafka book of bureaucracy. They will take your complaint but won't tell you whether they will investigate let alone the results of any investigation. There are huge incentives for dodgy businessmen - divert a load of funds into your own personal account as 'drawings' as you're on your way down and then go bust. Creditors never get a chance. Trade whilst insolvent and then cease trading, apply to have your company struck from the register and abracadabra ! No liabilities and no comebacks. Set up a new company and off we go again. Watch this space as we have a number of tricks up our sleeves and are nothing if not tenacious.