Families who paid for work from a roofer who they claim has left projects unfinished and homes damaged said they have been “caused nothing but stress”.
Michael Conroy, from Wythenshawe in Greater Manchester, said he paid Mike Moane £4,700 in July 2023 to fix drainage in his roof, but once the work was done, water began to pour into his house.
He is among several people who say they have had shoddy work done by the roofer, and said the experience had been “awful, horrible”.
Mr Moane, who is under investigation by Greater Manchester Police, has been approached by the for comment.
“We’d not long had the house decorated. It [water] had gone onto the dining table, onto the sofa,” said Mr Conroy.
The 37-year-old told Radio Manchester he had to pay another roofer £8,500 to repair the work.
Mr Conroy said he had tried to recover the money from his bank.
Because he had approved the payment, though, he said the bank had been unable to help.
‘Special rates’
Gary and Alison Eden, from Walkden, claimed they paid Mr Moane about £500 to fix their leaking roof in March.
The couple, who are in their 70s, said their daughter Laura Moss, who lives with them, found a post online by Mr Moane advertising ’20 years’ experience’ and offering ‘special rates for the elderly’.
Mr and Mrs Eden said Mr Moane told them he was called Jaymie Bell, and once he received their money, told them he was going to get materials and never returned.
“The alarm bells did ring when he was horrified that my daughter lived here and also the fact I had to put the bank transfer in a different name [Mike Moane],” said Mrs Eden.
She said: “I’d like to see him get caught and put away.”
As well as using a different name, Mr and Mrs Eden’s daughter also discovered Mr Moane had been using the logo of a legitimate roofing company, based in Surrey, to advertise his business without permission.
Peter Gibson, from Levenshulme, has made a claim via the civil courts to recover the £770 he paid for work on his kitchen that he alleges Mr Moane did not start.
“He was evasive and he lied,” said the 63-year-old.
“Sometimes he just wouldn’t answer the phone, but there was always some reason, either he was ill or… there was one where he said his phone had been damaged and stopped working.”
Mr Gibson applied for an order forcing Mr Moane to attend court and answer questions under oath about his finances.
There is now a warrant for Mr Moane’s arrest after he failed to attend court on two occasions.
Carolyn Frank, of the Federation of Master Builders, said her organisation wanted to see tougher regulations for builders, with the introduction of a mandatory licensing scheme.
“There’s no licensing of the building trade. You could literally be a taxi driver one day and call yourself a builder and do work on people’s homes the next,” she explained.