A couple have been living in a caravan for over a year after claiming a building company left their £100,000 home renovation half-finished – before going bust. Loraine and Rob Deering, both former Royal Air Force personnel, poured 10 years of savings into the project.
The pair have resided in their Dundee property since 1994 and decided to renovate it, aiming to make the house more suitable as they grow older. Loraine, 66, and Rob, 74, entered into a contract with RPM Group, who pledged to transform their bungalow and install an additional bathroom within just 12 weeks, for £126,000.
However, work ground to a halt, and RPM Group are now undergoing dissolution – while Rob and Loraine have been compelled to spend a year living in their caravan, as their house remains unliveable. Loraine said: “My husband and I had both decided that we wanted to future-proof the property for our old age.
“I started drawing up plans in 2024, and took them to an architect. He recommended the firm we eventually went with – RPM Group Scotland – and they were chosen primarily on the fact that they were recommended and they were a Trusted Trader.
“We handed the keys over on March 31, 2025. From there, they said it was only going to take 12 weeks, and we were slightly sceptical. But as things progressed, they weren’t turning up – we were finding no workers on the premises,” reports the Daily Record.
View 5 ImagesLoraine and Rob Deering who have been left living in caravan after a failed £100,000 home renovation(Image: SWNS)
The couple had been informed that work would be completed by 6th June 2025 — a deadline that was subsequently pushed back to mid-September. Following Rob’s major operation in September, the pair were assured once more they could return home — but work ceased entirely.
“We had to tell them my husband was going in for this major surgery – they promised we’d be back in the house,” Loraine said. “We ordered our furniture, and we didn’t get in. Our furniture is in storage, or sitting here in the damp.
“Then they just walked off the job, after I had said about getting somebody in to have a look and see how much has been done. They tried to say it was our fault and we obviously don’t want them on the job – nothing could be further from the truth. They just walked off the job and refused point-blank to even respond to us.”
As winter arrived, the couple were compelled to spend additional money on Airbnbs, depleting their savings. The pair have tried to file a fraud report with Police Scotland, but were informed that the evidential threshold would be so demanding that prosecution would be virtually impossible.
They engaged DBLaw Chartered Surveyors, who inspected the property and determined the house is presently uninhabitable, with the kitchen, bathroom, heating and electrical installations all absent. They calculate that slightly less than 50% of the agreed works had been finished. Yet Loraine and Rob have already paid 90% of their invoice to RPM Group.
View 5 ImagesLoraine and Rob insisde their home(Image: SWNS)
Rob and Loraine have now lost a decade’s worth of savings, and are battling to remain in their caravan given their mobility and health difficulties. They are currently receiving support from Veterans First in Dundee, who are helping to contact legal organisations.
“We’ve been living in Airbnbs and our touring caravan – which is not ideal for our health and mobility, but it was only supposed to be 12 weeks and we felt we could cope with that,” said Loraine. Now all our income is going on paying for accommodation and trying to save again.
View 5 ImagesLoraine and Rob Deering, who both served in the Royal Air Force, invested 10 years of savings into the project(Image: SWNS)
“It took us 10 years to save the money to get this done, and there’s even more needing done now because of what they’ve damaged and not done right. We don’t know where to go. We don’t know what to do anymore. We’re just surviving and going from one day to the next. We don’t know when we’ll ever be back in our home.”
RPM Group have maintained that the couple requested numerous alterations while the work was underway, resulting in additional costs and staff – though the couple dispute these assertions.
Solicitor Ritchie McNeil, representing RPM Group, told The Courier: “There has been no intentional, or reckless, wrongdoing by my client. At the beginning of the job, they went the extra mile to help Mrs Deering and even weeded her garden and plotted plants for her.
View 5 ImagesLoraine, 66, and Rob, 74, signed an agreement with RPM Group, who promised to rework their bungalow and add another bathroom in just 12 weeks, at a cost of £126,000(Image: SWNS)
“After the work commenced, Mrs Deering instructed significant additional work and the knock-on effect of that was additional costs being incurred which were not foreseen or accounted for.
“RPM prepared a scope of works for the job to be carried out and provided that to Mrs Deering. This ultimately led to cash flow issues which meant RPM had to cease trading and could no longer finish the job.
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“They have since taken the difficult decision to dissolve the company. This is truly an unfortunate set of circumstances.”