A customer of a Wisbech-based building company says his garden has been left in a mess after builders started work on a summerhouse – and haven't returned to finish the job.

Peter Carmichael, from Glasgow, says he paid ENB Garden Buildings a 60 per cent deposit of £2,000 from his savings in April for the work.

After chasing the company for a start date, he said two workers arrived with spades and dug up part of the garden where the structure was going to be built.

He was given dates for the rest of the project to be completed and booked the time off work – but says nobody ever turned up.

Mr Carmichael said: “They gave me one excuse after another, and eventually the owner stopped answering my calls and wouldn’t call me back.

“I asked for my money back, but he told me that wasn’t possible because it has already gone towards materials for his jobs.

“I’m tired of being fobbed off. This has been such a stressful experience and it has really affected my health.

“We can’t sit in our garden because it’s in such a mess, and we can’t even risk letting the dogs go outside. This is causing a lot of problems at home.”

But Edwin Breine, the owner of ENB Garden Buildings, based in Mount Pleasant, explained they had intended to finish the work and a refund on the deposit should arrive in Mr Carmichael's account by June 30 (Wednesday).

Mr Breine put the delays down to the current shortages of wood and being unwell with Covid, which meant he was unable to work for three weeks over the spring when Mr Carmichael first placed his order.

Two of his staff were also off work with the illness.

He said: “There is a serious problem with the shortage of wood at the moment and the prices are going up all the time.

“In February, the price was £220 per cubic metre and it's now £500. They reckon very soon it will be £1,000 per cubic metre.

“Getting hold of the materials for the work we do is very difficult, and we’re trying to complete jobs based on the prices we originally quoted.”

Mr Carmichael said: “I just want our deposit to be refunded, and the garden back to how it was.

“I just hope nobody else is going through what we have recently gone through.”