A young family have been left homeless and a couple forced to use tarpaulin sheets for windows after a cowboy builder allegedly conned them out of £100,000.

Michael Bishop, who owns South Yorkshire-based RBB Refurbishments, has been accused of taking £64,500 and £45,000 from the two families before wrecking their houses and running away.

Despite boasting about ‘delivering top-notch services’ on his social media, the contractor’s botched refurbishment left three children, including a two-year-old and a disabled child, without a home after he took out their roof, windows and doors before claiming he couldn’t carry out any more work because he had ran out of money.   

One couple said they lived on a building site without windows for a year after he took their savings and demolished their house, later claiming he said he had no funds to continue work.

While another former customer said he took £15,000 before running off. 

Mr Bishop has denied the allegations. He said ‘every house has been done to the letter and communicated well’. 

Yasmin Taylor, from Selby, paid the builder £45,000 for a bungalow extension but said she returned home and there ‘was nothing left’.

She originally planned to stay in her house while the project was completed but was warned by Mr Bishop it was too dangerous.

A young family have been left homeless after a cowboy builder destroyed their home after they paid £45,000 for an extension

The house in Selby, North Yorkshire, was gutted by RBB Refurbishments and now sits without a roof or doors

Steph Morley, from Barnsley, and her husband Karl Younger paid Bishop £64,500 to renovate their house

Instead she moved in with family in Doncaster for what was supposed to be three weeks. 

But six months later she is still sharing a bedroom with her partner and three children with her house left in a pile of rubble

Her children, aged two, eight and 16, have been out of school for four months because they don’t have a fixed address.

Ms Taylor told the Daily Mail: ‘My kids can’t go to school, so they’ve had no education for six months. They’ll never get that back and they were behind as it was. 

‘They have been building the house with us. I know that sounds awful, but they’ve just been dragged up for the last six months because I’ve been building the house on  my own.’

The builder, she says, also took out her electricity and plumbing systems meaning she is unable to use her toilet, wifi, or charge her electric car.

She added: ‘He left me with nothing. I’ve got no kitchen, bathroom, electricity or plumbing. You can see the sky through me house. 

‘It is a complete and utter nightmare.

‘My partner has his own business which he has to stop working on to focus on rebuilding the house and it has left it at rock bottom.’ 

The mother, who has launched a GoFundMe page to help rebuild her house, said Mr Bishop was found by her cousin and at first charmed her, taking her out for a meal, when he began the work.

It wasn’t until weeks after the project began, when he asked for more money, that she confronted him over his failed work.

Michael Bishop has been accused of taking £64,500 and £45,000 from the two families before wrecking their houses and running away

Yasmin Taylor’s house pictured before the extension work

The mother of three paid £45,000 for a bungalow extension but said when she returned home after four weeks and there ‘was nothing left’

Six months later she is still sharing a bedroom with her partner and three children with her house left in a pile of rubble

She claimed the refurbisher admitted his mistakes but said he could not afford to make improvements.

Another couple say they are unable to leave their house after he took out their windows before disappearing, leaving them vulnerable to theft and freezing in what feels like an ‘igloo’.

Steph Morley, from Barnsley, and her husband Karl Younger paid Mr Bishop £64,500 to renovate their house but she has been left with a floor dug to dirt level and without windows, a proper roof or a kitchen.

The primary school teacher was considering buying another house but instead opted for the refurbishment, taking out a second mortgage.

Mr Bishop began work in October 2024 but soon asked for extra money to complete the work, claiming he could not afford building materials or equipment, before abandoning the house.

The last the couple heard from Mr Bishop was when he promised their new windows would arrive in a day. 

Ms Younger, who has a GoFundMe page to help restore her house, told the Daily Mail: ‘We’re living in a building site. It’s been so stressful.

‘My husband works from home and he’s had to take a lot of time off meaning we’ve lost even more money. And it’s really tough because we can’t leave the property as people can just walk in.’

‘We’re having to get neighbours to watch the house when we go out. Or I’ll ask a friend to come and sit in but it makes it tricky to do anything.

‘We can’t go away because we don’t want to leave it unattended but at the same time we don’t want to ask anyone to stay overnight here because it’s not particularly safe.’

The builder repeatedly blamed an architect for his failed refurbishment.

Yasmin Taylor, from Selby, paid the builder £45,000 for a bungalow extension but said she returned home and there ‘was nothing left’

Ms Morley’s house has been left with a floor dug to dirt level and without windows, a proper roof or a kitchen

The couple have been forced to replace their windows with tarpaulin sheets and fear leaving the house 

Ms Younger added: ‘It makes me furious. I’d have far more respect for him if he just admitted his mistakes and said: “Look I’m sorry I couldn’t do it”.’ 

Both Ms Younger and Ms Taylor said they have been unable to reclaim money because their solicitors have warned Mr Bishop has no insurance or assets. 

Ms Taylor has since shared negative reviews on Facebook, which Mr Bishop claims have led to his house being attacked and his life being put at risk. 

He said his wife has been attacked and he has been forced to move across the country. 

He told the Mail: ‘Posts have been manufactured to show something not accurate. 

‘This industry is very hostile and our reviews speak for themselves. We haven’t got 100 per cent brilliant reviews. We had a couple reviews we had to work on, which we addressed.

‘Recently, me, my wife and my 10-year-old son were extorted. We were threatened with our lives, our vehicle destroyed, our names slandered all over Facebook.

‘We have been forced out of our home, we have had to relocate in the UK and and we are under protection at the moment.

‘Every house has been done to the letter and communicated well. I don’t leave houses in ruins. If we take on a project we are insured to do so.’