A ROW between a builder and his clients led to them being accused of having ‘champagne taste with a beer budget’ when he appeared in court.

Jonathan Richard Harrison admitted three charges of breaching fair trading regulations when the row over a new-build house on the Wynyard estate ended up at Teesside Magistrates Court.

The businessman, who runs Sight Construction Limited, used the quality mark of the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS), Constructionline and the Member of the Chartered Institute of Building, on paperwork connected to the £175,000 housing contract without being accredited.

Jonathan Nertney, prosecuting on behalf of Stockton Borough Council's trading standards department, told the court that Mr Harrison has used the trademarks and logos on invoices and letters sent to the couple between October 2016 and March 17.

He said the builder and the couple were also engaged in a civil court battle over the project.

"There are other matters before the civil courts about the quality of the work, however, the sole matter before this court is about the use of the logos," he said. "These are schemes where an application has to be made to get the relevant authorisation to those logos and documentation."

Mr Nertney said the defendant had been accredited to CHAS but his membership had expired in July 2016 and had been registered with Constructionline during 2013, however, hewas not a member of the the MCIOB.

In mitigation Andrew Teate said the 37-year-old ‘absolutely apologised’ for his error but said there was a long-running back story to the dispute.

He accused the builder's clients – the Halliman’s – of having ‘champagne taste with a beer budget’ as they wanted their home building for £175,000 to look like a property valued at £1.5m.

"We all hear the term 'cowboy builder' but this is not one of those cases – not by any stretch of the imagination," he said. "These charges don't come about due to the quality of the work, they are for the misuse of logos and accreditations, which my client fully accepts.

"He was asked to build a relatively large new-build property on Wynyard in the 'Ramside' finish – the Halliman's it could be said, have Champagne taste with a beer budget. They wanted a £1.5m house on a £175,000 budget."

The solicitor added: "He has a health and safety card and has been accredited to two of these organisations, the real culpability is that when his membership lapsed, he should have removed the logos."

The businessman, from the Village Gate, Howden Le Wear, near Crook, was fined a total of £784 and ordered to pay £500 in court costs and a £39 victim surcharge.