A woman has described the devastating impact of hiring a rogue builder, saying his work left her home in danger of collapsing and cast a shadow over the preparations for her wedding.
Joanne Dagostina and her husband, Anthony, 42, hired builder Patrick Hartley to construct an extension and install a new kitchen. But once the £64,216 project was supposedly complete, a structural engineer warned Joanne that the property was unsafe.
Hartley, 51, was later branded by Lancashire County Council as one of the “most prolific and heartless” fraudsters it had encountered. He cheated 13 households across the North West out of almost £700,000, leaving many victims facing thousands of pounds in additional costs to complete or repair the unfinished work.
Last month, Hartley was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison after the case resulted in around £1 million in costs and losses.
Joanne, 42, said the punishment did not reflect the seriousness of what happened. “I think the sentence is far too light. He put me and my family in danger. I was told the house next door could also have collapsed. The fact that my children and I are still alive feels like sheer luck.”
She added: “He lied to us throughout the entire build, constantly inventing increasingly unbelievable reasons for not showing up, while continuing to take our money.”
Joanne Dagostina’s kitchen after it was stripped out. The replacement installation took seven months
Joanne Dagostina and her husband, Anthony, 42, pictured on their wedding day. She said the building ordeal nearly stopped the couple from getting married
The property had to be stripped back and reinforced with steel beams before it was considered structurally safe
“It took seven months to get the work finished, and then seeing everything ripped out again because it was unsafe broke my heart. It felt as though the entire project had been put back to the beginning. We were organising our wedding at the same time, and the stress and upset became so overwhelming that we nearly called it off,” Joanne said.
Joanne, from Failsworth in Greater Manchester, first came across Hartley on Facebook around Christmas 2021.
“He had glowing reviews, invited us to his home and introduced us to his family. At the time, he appeared genuine and completely trustworthy,” she said.
Hartley quoted £34,000 for the kitchen and extension and started the project in February 2022, promising to complete it within 12 weeks.
Joanne said the builder soon began identifying additional problems. He claimed the electrics needed replacing, the damp-proofing required work and that their shower and taps were faulty, before telling them they also needed a new bathroom.
“When I look back, I question whether all of that work was really necessary. My father died during that period, and I believe Hartley took advantage of the situation,” she said.
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The couple paid Hartley every month while their home remained in disarray. Joanne said the bathroom was left gutted for eight weeks, while a hole was opened in the landing. With children in the house, the family was left without a usable shower or bath.
Hartley repeatedly failed to turn up, Joanne said, sometimes sending photographs of relatives he claimed were ill. On another occasion, he allegedly said the electrician had taken time off after being reunited with a long-lost daughter. “It felt as though he simply said whatever came into his head, without caring that we were living in chaos,” she said.
“It was incredibly stressful and led to arguments as well as extra costs. We were trying to plan our wedding, but it became an awful time for both of us.”
The finished kitchen, which Hartley took seven months to install
Patrick Hartley, 51, was jailed for three years and nine months after the case generated around £1 million in costs and losses
The couple paid Hartley over £70,000, £5,000 of which he refunded when he admitted he could not find anyone to fit their new doors.
Joanne says: ‘Nobody would work with him because he didn’t pay his bills.’
By August, the project was finally finished.
Joanne says: ‘We were not happy with it but just so relieved it was over. We contacted Building Control to sign the work off and they said they hadn’t seen photos of the steel beams in the extension. I said there were no steel beams, and they sent an engineer who informed us our home was a 200 per cent failure risk and it was not safe downstairs. Our neighbours were also at risk.
‘We had to get builders in urgently, and we had to live upstairs whilst the whole thing was ripped out, the flooring, the kitchen units, the wiring, the new walls, so that beams could be fitted. I cried so much. It was awful.’
The extra work set the couple back £14,000 and Hartley refused to pay for any of it.
Joanne says: ‘I went to his home, but he fobbed me off. I contacted the police and trading standards and then we got together with other families who had also been ripped off, to start a prosecution.’
Hartley initially pleaded not guilty to 26 offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. In May 2025, he pleaded guilty to six Fraud Act offences and three offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. He was jailed at Preston crown Court last month and also given a seven-year criminal behaviour order preventing him from owning a business which takes part in private building work.
Hartley’s sentencing came as the Government announced new measures aimed at tackling cowboy builders.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said too many homeowners were being left out of pocket after paying large deposits for work that was never completed, announcing plans for customers’ money to be held securely and released in stages as building work progresses.
