London contractor pleads guilty to defrauding homeowners out of thousands in unfinished renos

A contractor accused of taking thousands of dollars in deposits from clients and not completing their renovations, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud in a London, Ont., courtroom on Tuesday. 

Andrew Fraser, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud exceeding $5,000 and another count under $5,000 for two separate incidents which took place between February and August 2022. 

His lawyer, Nick Cake, told the judge oversee proceedings that more guilty pleas are expected to be entered between now and his pre-sentencing date in June.

CBC News first reported on the allegations in September 2022 when half-a-dozen homeowners who hired Fraser through his company AJF Construction, filed a police report saying they were out a total of nearly $70,000 after waiting months for work that never got done. 

Some families said they were stuck with additional damage to their homes due to jobs that Fraser started but left unfinished.

Fraser took a 50 per cent deposit for work that included installing new doors, windows or redoing their roof, among other things, but soon after, calls and messages to Fraser would go unanswered, the families said.  

In September 2023, Fraser told CBC News that he intended to complete work for clients but a challenging labour market and shortage of materials coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible for him to finish the renovation jobs. 

At the time, he said his company was in the process of declaring bankruptcy, adding that he had paid back $30,000 to about a half-dozen clients.

'I'm just relieved' says victim

Londoner Jeremy McCall is one of the clients Fraser pleaded guilty to defrauding on Tuesday.

McCall said he hired Fraser in January 2022 to replace the front doors of his house and the windows surrounding it, and paid him $4,000 as a 50 per cent deposit.

"He then spent the next six months avoiding myself and my wife. Anytime we were able to get a hold of him, he came up with a story as to why he hadn't been back, and then he would just stop replying," said McCall.

"After six months of not getting anywhere, I started realizing something was fishy, and I reached out to other folks and heard some of their stories, and realized we had been defrauded."

McCall said Fraser returned part of his deposit, but he is still owed about $1,650. Still, McCall said he's grateful complaints were thoroughly investigated. 

"We live in times where it's so easy to feel like you don't matter, and that people who choose to conduct illegal activity are going to get away with it because resources are so slim. Police are so overrun with all the myriad of issues that they have to deal with," he said. "I'm just relieved that my sense of fairness and justice has been restored."

Fraser is back in court on June 24.