A rogue builder has been jailed for a “campaign of dishonesty and shoddy building work” which left victims thousands of pounds of pocket and lumbered with half-finished or poorly done projects. Swansea council say they were inundated with complaints about the work of the builder which led to an investigation and to his eventual jailing.
Swansea Crown Court heard how between May 2023 and March 2024 builder David Davies agreed to carry out a wide variety of works at people’s homes across Swansea, although the jobs were almost never completed or were completed to a very poor standard. Some jobs simply were not started at all.
In one case a resident paid the defendant more than £10,000 for a garage removal and rebuild but only part of the job was ever carried out and the builder then disappeared and never returned to complete the job. In another case a householder paid more than £8,000 for a patio and improvements to a garage but the work was assessed of being of such poor quality it needed to removed and done again. When frustrated or worried customers tried to contact the builder he did not respond.
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The court heard that following a series of complaints about the standard of Davies’ work Swansea council’s trading standards department launched an investigation. A total of 20 victims were subsequently identified. Read about a man who targeted and exploited elderly people by taking thousands of pounds for work on their properties which he never intended to do
David James Davies, aged 29, of Gower View Road, Gorseinon, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to engaging in fraudulent business activity when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. With a discount for his guilty plea Davies was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison. The defendant will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
Speaking after the sentencing Rhys Harries, Swansea Council’s trading standards team leader, said: “Over a fairly short period of time my team was inundated with complaints – all of which were associated with David Davies. Our investigations highlighted a very common link in terms of the very poor standards of work carried out. In some cases, works were never actually started. We also found when residents tried to contact Mr Davies, he failed to respond.”
David Hopkins, deputy leader of Swansea council and cabinet member for corporate service and performance, said “rogue builders” such as Davies bring “a huge amount of distress” to victims and leave them out of pocket. He said the local authority’s trading standards team would to all it could to bring them to book.
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