“We don’t need to bother with any contracts, you’ve know me for years so you can trust me and you’re not going to get ripped off by someone you know”

Jason Brand, Sept 2019

This website will document the issues we had working with Jason Brand and THE SANDS GROUP U.K LTD and SANDS RENEWABLES LIMITED, https://sandsgroupuk.com, from Rothbury Northumberland over the past four years, using correspondence, photographs, video and audio recordings.

Due to Jason Brand breaking a range of building regulations (electrics, floors, insulation), ignoring over 2 years of written complaints, deleting online complaints and, subsequently the THE SANDS GROUP U.K LTD social accounts and website, and doing a runner/disappearing act.

I think it’s fair to say publicly I want a full refund for all work that does not meet building regulations (floors and underfloor heating system) Nov 18th 2024. .The building inspector said by breaking building regulations Jason Brand and Gary Scott have reduced the resale value of our property and permanently affected the R rating of the property and efficiency of our heating system, I want you to compensate me as the customer for doing this.

Jason Brand and Gary Scott now working under the name DAMS RENEWABLES LIMITED lied to us and mislead us about breaking building regulations (using 60mm insulation for flooring) and claimed as a RECC heating engineer that it’s ok as “anything above 50mm insulation make no difference to the R rating as heat rises”. We requested a commissioning certificate on the advice of the building inspector for the underfloor heating system, but were told “I can’t help you out with that as I don’t know what one is and have never heard of one in my entire career.”

Jason Brand has disappeared and when we spoke to Gary Scott and told him the building inspectors findings and that he had committed fraud in charging us for work that does no match the specification we paid for he told us “my phone battery is going flat” and ended the call.

As we appear to have been scammed out of our life savings by a pair of thieving/con-artist who’ve done a runner, we felt we should tell our story online to warn other members of the public.

Electrical rewire

Having paid Jason Brand upfront in cash for the electrical rewire, we were never provided with any paper work (Safety/Installation certificates) or even an electricians signature on the consumer unit?

We spent 2 years requesting this in writing over 20 times directly to Jason Brand. We occasionally got a reply saying it was his top priority and someone would be over the next day, but this never happened. After just over 2 years we got a reply to our written complaint telling us “Its no longer my legal responsibility”.

We immediately organised for the building inspector from Northumberland Council to check the work.

We were told by the building inspector the electrical work does not meet building regulations, he went on to point out a list of other serious building regulations Jason Brand had broken doing the house renovation, and referred to Jason Brand as “a cross between a conman and a cowboy builder”.

In spite of Jason Brand’s complete disregard for health and safety and building regulations, we obviously have not burnt to death in a house fire in the past 2 years!

On the building inspectors advice and concern for our safety, we immediately organised for a certified electrician to put right the work we paid Jason Brand for and provide us and Northumberland Council with the legal safety/installation certificates he had ignored our 2 years of written requests to do.

We’ve never had a reply from Jason Brand regarding the dodgy electrics or risk to our lives, it was pretty obvious at this point he’d already done a runner, taken down the companies social media pages and website and was not replying to our written complaints.

We have since spoken to a number of people that worked on our house with Jason Brand. His ex business partner heating engineer Gary Scott now working as DAMS RENEWABLES LIMITED, and his joiner Chris have separately told us he was completely aware of the outstanding work and we weren’t the only people he’d ripped off, both citing the same customers in Thropton and Darras Hall, the same names were also told to us by 3 sub contractors we have managed to contact.

We were rather horrified to have recently been told Jason Brand next business venture is called FIRE PROTECT AND COMPLIANCE GROUP LTD

Floors / Underfloor Heating System

Either through incompetence or not understanding building regulations, when putting the insulation down Jason Brand and Gary Scott realised they had built the concrete floor to the wrong height.

Their solution was to take out the specified insulation and replace it with 60mm insulation, which I helped him carry out with his business partner Gary Scott and stored in the garden. When asked if this still met building regulations we were lied to and told 50mm insulation meets building regulations so its fine, I also asked does this not effect the R rating and underfloor heating system, we were repeatedly told by Jason Brand and Gary Scott RECC registered + MCS Certified heating engineer that any insulation over 50mm makes zero difference to the R rating and thermal efficiency as heat rises.

I repeatedly pointed out that using half the thickness of insulation must effect the thermal efficiency as that’s GCSE level physics. However Jason Brand and his heating engineer Gary Scott insisted I’m wrong and told us because thay are RECC registered they use special software to plan the underfloor heating system and do this all the time so know what their talking about, and every time they run the numbers it says the same thing “using 50mm insulation or above makes zero difference because heat rises.”

I did repeatedly ask for this in writing but as was becoming normal Jason Brand and Gary Scott completely ignored my 5-6 request for this.

The screed flooring was poured to such a poor standard most rooms had gaps of around 10-20 CM where the floor does not meat the walls in areas. In one room around a fireplace the insulation was still exposed as is had not been screeded over.

The building inspector was able to check the depth of the insulation easily and we also showed him the footage of Jason Brand and Gary Scott replacing the insulation. We have been told the floors do not meet building regulations and we had been lied to about building regulation, and R ratings. That Jason Brand and Gary Scott’s work has permanently affected the R rating of our property and the efficiency of the underfloor heating system.

We did put a complaint to Jason Brand directly in writing about more of his work breaking building regulations but have never received a reply, by now he had already done a runner over the electrics and taken down his LinkedIn page, Facebook page and website for Sands construction group.

We were also told by the building inspector we should have been given a commissioning certificate for the underfloor heating system from SANDS RENEWABLES LIMITED now renamed DAMS RENEWABLES LIMITED. We have requested this from Gary Scott, but were told he can’t do that on the grounds “I don’t know what one is and has never heard of one in my entire career so can’t help you out with that”