A Weymouth construction company which owes creditors nearly £300,000 is in liquidation amid a flurry of complaints alleging unfinished work and “months of frustration”.

Nova Building and Developments Ltd said it had been forced to fold as a result of a “coordinated hate campaign” that saw them lose business and owed money for completed work.

In a statement of affairs, liquidators revealed the firm owed 18 creditors a total of £292,257.00 - including more than £120,000 to HMRC.

A number of customers have taken to social media in recent weeks to voice their frustration about the quality of work but a spokesperson for Nova Building said they had faced “repeated challenges in sourcing materials and labourers” as a result of the pandemic and Brexit and that many projects were completed without issues.

Jayne Eagles told the Echo her house had been left “unlivable for months” after paying over thousands in advance payments for an extension and ‘watertight shell’.

She said: “We have been displaced for 11 months, it’s been unlivable, fortunately we had somewhere to move into but we’ve had to put things on hold. Going onto the site on a daily basis was a horrifying thought at what we might see.”

Ms Eagles said she had experienced “sleepless nights” and that ultimately she ‘pulled the plug’ in December after “months of shoddy work and false promises”.

Steve Taylor, who had made payments for a single storey flat roof extension, said new contractors had to “completely start again” following Nova’s original work.

He said: “I’m no builder but I’m also not an idiot: things clearly weren’t being done as we were told they would be and it was pretty obvious we weren’t going to get the quality expected.

“Things started off okay but quickly deteriorated.”

Another customer - Emma - said her “life had been put on hold” and said, whilst 95 per cent of the work had been completed, she brought in new builders after a leak emerged from the chimney.

She said: “Our whole life has been put on hold, we’ve had to live with our mum for the past five months and we’ve got three children so it has affected us all.

“We were patient for too long but it was months and months of frustration.”

A spokesperson for Nova Building and Developments said: “Like many businesses we started to struggle with rising costs over the past year but we were coping. Deadlines weren’t always able to be met because of these issues but this was communicated with our clients at all times.

“A lot of the work was subcontracted and we had people on site that we thought we could trust and we did trust them but, in some cases, things could have gone better. We were paying workers for a full day of work and quite often they would be clocking off early: these are issues that we didn’t always know about.

“We are confident that if we were allowed to finish the work in the cases highlighted then there would have been no issues.

“A lot of claims have been made on social media about the company - some have been completely outlandish - and that has contributed to us having to liquidate. We have lost business as a result of a hate campaign and it left us with nothing.

“We have received an awful lot of support from clients, friends and family that know we would not rip anyone off and we would always complete a job to the best of our ability.

“We have been harassed, and in some cases threatened, which crosses the line.”

Trading Standards confirmed they were aware of one outstanding complaint regarding the company and were “looking into” the circumstances.