Children sleeping among rats after builder sacked mid-reno

Mum Amanda Burman told A Current Affair all she wanted was some extra bedrooms for her children.

The reno was supposed to be finished three months ago, but there are no walls, no roof, and some unwanted guests in the form of rats.

Builder Lee Gould said none of it was his fault, and in fact blamed Amanda for the rats.

"No way was (the house) clean," he said.

"Nobody wanted to go inside the house, but then you are under reno, and everyone lives in s---, but not that kind of s---."

Ms Burman said the family had hoped the job would be done by Christmas.

Instead, three of her children now have to sleep in the living room, while she, her husband and her baby sleep in another.

"It's just tragic that it's come to this," she said.

Mr Gould said he was also saddened by how events had turned out.

"I'm gutted for the children living in that s---hole," he said.

Ms Burman said the family found Mr Gould's company 313 Projects online.

The plan was for the Burmans to pay $175,000 for four extra bedrooms and a lock-up garage.

But Ms Burman said after work started, she decided to increase the height of the garage roof, which required council approval.

Mr Gould abandoned that part of the job, and started on the bedroom extension.

"She told me the electrics were going to be removed that week, she wanted to push so I pushed," he said.

"Then I took all the roof off, and then she changed it from tiles, to corrugated iron, to Colourbond."

Ms Burman admitted it was her decision to make the change which caused the delay.

With the roof off, the house was exposed to the elements and rain, damaging what work had been done below.

"(Mr Gould) didn't show any concern when we were concerned about water damage, he just didn't seem to care what we were going through," Ms Burman said.

She said things went really sour when another tradesman working on the property claimed Mr Gould's company was not properly licenced.

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission investigated and found that although all the paperwork is signed off as Mr Gould's company, it accepted the contract was with him, so there was no problem with his licence.

And because Ms Burnam didn't give Mr Gould an opportunity to finish the work before she sacked him, she can't claim compensation under the home warranty scheme.

Mr Gould said both he and his company were properly licenced.

The QBCC told Ms Burnam if any of the work was found to be faulty, she could be entitled to compensation.

Mr Gould said he'd be happy to talk to Amanda if she was willing to pay the remaining $78,000 from their initial agreement.