Penalties against dodgy tradies have been hiked after a spike in complaints over the past year, with authorities warning consumers to watch for “red flags” when hiring someone for work.
Fines have increased by up to $150,000 for individuals and $550,000 for businesses engaging in repeat offences.
New offences for unlicensed work are now subject to on-the-spot fines of $5000, including hiring unlicensed subcontractors, using another contractor’s licence number and falsely claiming to be licensed or registered.
Consumer and Business Services Minister Michael Brown said 11 individuals had been successfully prosecuted by CBS since 2025 for a variety of conduct.
“In the first four months of this year, traders have committed to repaying consumers a total of more than $550,000,” Mr Brown said. “In addition, in nearly 40 matters, traders have also committed to rectification work.”
Penalties issued over the past 18 months have ranged from 250 hours in community service to fines of up to $8400, Mr Brown told The Advertiser, and some tradies were ordered to repay more than $180,000 to clients.
A key trend is with solar panel or solar battery providers not fulfilling contracts prior to changes in solar rebate incentives, he said.
He urged consumers to get quotes from at least three different tradies before hiring one.
“It is very concerning to have received so many complaints from South Australians feeling ripped off by rogue tradies and we are cracking down with much harsher penalties,” Mr Brown said.
“Most builders and tradies do the right thing, however, there is no excuse for operating without a licence (or) performing substandard work and then leaving people in the lurch.
“Make sure everyone who provides a quote is licensed. If they are not, report them to CBS.”
By law, every builder and tradesperson must display their licence number on any advertising including social media, website and business card.
Anyone working without a licence – or outside of what their licence allows them to do – is breaking that law.
Mr Brown said people could identify legitimate tradies by asking to see their digital licence on their phone, checking their plastic licence card or looking up their licence details on the CBS licensing register.
Any tradie going door-to-door, Mr Brown said, was an immediate red flag.
The CBS has also been cracking down on other conduct, such as failing to finish work within a reasonable time.
From builders to plumbers, The Advertiser has compiled a list of dodgy tradies from whom everyday South Australians should stay well away.
Andrew Tony Pappas – builder
Andrew Pappas tops the list of court-ordered repayments, with a magistrate last year sentencing him to pay compensation in the amount of $50,000 and a $8400 fine.
Clients of Pappas, an unlicensed builder, remortgaged their home in order to pay for a renovation he had started.
Mr Pappas had admitted to breaching the Building Work Contractors Act after enforcement action was taken by SA’s consumer watchdog.
The court heard a couple hired the Surrey Downs man to renovate their home, unaware the work was outside the scope of his builder’s licence.
After investigation, they cancelled their dealings with him.
The clients were forced to remortgage their home to pay for the renovation and had to remortgage again to pay for the work to be completed by another builder.
In a second case, Pappas was hired for building work on a Surrey Downs home, including the construction of a new granny flat – seeking a cash deposit of $35,000 before he would begin work.
No work was ever undertaken, the court heard.
Pappas pleaded guilty to carrying on business as building work contractor without a licence, failing to comply with domestic building work contract, and demanding or requiring payment under a domestic building work contract other than a genuine progress payment and was convicted.
Daniel Janyckyj – landscaper
Former Olympic reservist taekwondo champion Daniel Dimitri Janyckyj, of West Lakes, was sentenced for more than $34,000 worth of shoddy building works in 2024.
The court heard Janyckyj had advertised his company OnPoint Landscaping online in relation to multiple services for which he was unlicensed.
The court heard a consumer in North Haven paid Janyckyj more than $11,000 for landscaping work and to relay their driveway.
While tearing up the driveway, Janyckyj caused significant damage to the property, and then failed to carry out any further work.
Another builder advised the consumer that work to rectify the damage caused by Janyckyj would cost nearly $30,000.
In a second instance, he was paid more than $10,000 for landscaping work and a driveway extension on a Salisbury property.
The court heard his work was of poor quality and incomplete, and that he had engaged in similar conduct on work on properties at Northfield and Semaphore.
Janyckyj was convicted and sentenced to a two-year, $1000 good behaviour bond, and ordered to repay clients $34,423.
He had pleaded guilty to carrying on business as a building work contractor unlicensed, failing to provide goods and services within reasonable time and holding self out to be builder without licence.
Samuel Uhlworm – window installer
Samuel Uhlworm accepted thousands of dollars from multiple clients to install windows – including a family who later needed to remortgage their home – but failed to do the job.
Court documents show the Brighton man accepted more than $30,000 to supply and install windows from three clients across Adelaide in June and November in 2022 while running a small business called Haus Windows and Doors.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, one woman said her family remortgaged their home and paid Uhlworm a 50 per cent deposit – around $7000 – to replace the windows in her 1970s house.
In April, Uhlworm, who held a licence, was convicted and fined $3000 and ordered to repay a total of $33,622 to the three consumers. He pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to supply goods or services in a reasonable time.
NO CONVICTIONS RECORDEDNikola Necic – tiler
Nikola Necic avoided jail time after he scammed more than $35,000 from vulnerable clients and used the money to “chase” his gambling losses.
Necic was sentenced in Adelaide Magistrates Court in 2024 after pleading guilty to two counts each of failing to provide goods and services within a reasonable time, and deceiving another to benefit himself.
The court heard Necic told one of his victims – a 65-year-old widow – he didn’t have enough money to finish work on her bathroom and asked for a $10,000 loan, promising to repay it with interest.
He used the money paid by the victims to gamble and pay other debts and expenses, the court heard.
He was sentenced to 15 months’ jail with a non-parole period of seven months – suspended for a two-year good behaviour bond, plus community service.
Bitumen Bandits – paving
2Coat Pty Ltd was sentenced in February last year after leaving a self-funded retiree – whose wife was in a nursing home – $7000 out of pocket for incomplete work.
The business, known as the “Bitumen Bandits”, also knocked on the door of a second couple and offered to bitumise their driveway using material “left over” from another job.
The couple accepted the offer and agreed on a quote for $20,000 to cover the cost of the work. They then paid a deposit of $5000.
The work, a court heard, was never completed.
The matter became one of the first prosecutions of its kind in South Australia. The business pleaded guilty to conducting building work without a licence. No charges were laid against individuals.
Counsel for Consumer and Business Services told the court bank records revealed the business had a total balance of minus $30 – and conceded it wouldn’t be able to provide any compensation to victims.
2Coat was ordered to pay $1890 in victims of crime levies.
Joshua Jones – construction
For more than 16 months, Joshua Jones accepted over $30,000 in payments from 12 different clients for a range of jobs across Adelaide.
Despite agreeing to work on retaining walls, fencing and concreting the 111 Eathworks and Landscapes owner was never licensed to do so.
He also rarely even performed the work and, if he did, it was left defective.
In 2025, Magistrate Elizabeth Ferris noted Jones’ 12 victims experienced emotional and financial trauma as a result of his dishonest conduct.
Ms Ferris fined Jones $50,000 in addition to compensation orders requiring him to repay more than $136,000 to his victims.
He pleaded guilty charges including 11 counts of aiding and abetting failing to provide goods and services within reasonable time and 10 counts of aiding and abetting carry on business as building work contractor with no licence.