Very interested to see this. Mark Cashin of Cashin Construction did the same to us early last year (2012). Foolishly, we gave him the money to pay for a new conservatory ((13K) and he disappeared, leaving our garden and shed like a tip. It cost another 2K to get the heaps of earth and rubbish removed, and to get his preperation work (for which he had been paid generously) put right - because it was all wrong. So we lost £15,000.00 not including his pay for poor work. We then found that we needed planning permission (he'd insisted we didn't) so thank God he went. We were in a mess with his going but would have been in a worse one if he'd stayed. I discovered he has previous. I do hope someone can learn from our bitter experience. Also his web site claims to be a Limited Company. It isn't. I would never again pay anyone any money upfront.