He’s known as ‘half job Jono’ because he’ll take your money and barely do any work.
Customers have dipped into their super, and taken out loans to pay Jonothan Wood for trades work, only for him to do a runner. But he faced us.
“Half job Jono, it’s Zarisha Bradley from A Current Affair. It seems the only thing you’ve built is a bad reputation,” A Current Affair told Jono, approaching him in a hardware store car park.
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He’s known as ‘half job Jono’ because he’ll take your money and barely do any work. (A Current Affair)
“I’m aware of that,” he replied.
A group of his victims came together over their mutual bond of being ripped off by Jonothan Wood.
“Right your wrongs half job Jono!” they chanted.
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“We paid him all up just under $30,000,” Sonia told A Current Affair.
“$49,869 – the only thing that I’ve got to show for it is some holes in my front yard,” James added.
“$10,000, and in the end, I got six posts and a hell of a lot of excuses,” Paul said.
“We paid Jono $8000 to be left with no tiles, no waterproofing and just a huge mess,” Taylah explained.
“I told you we’d come for you mate,” Sam asserted.
Jono has done a runner on his customers in the small town of Cooroy on the Sunshine Coast but we stopped him in his tracks.
“You’re known as half job Jono. Can you understand why?” A Current Affair questioned.
“Yes, because I half did the job,” he responded.
And it turns out he’s not even a builder.
“I don’t even think you should be on the tools because you’re not even a licenced builder,” A Current Affair said.
Customers have dipped into their super, and taken out loans to pay Jonothan Wood for trades work, only for him to do a runner. But he faced us. (Nine)
“Well, yeah,” he agreed.
And when you don’t finish the job, your unfinished business will come back to bite you.
“I think we’ve got a visitor here,” A Current Affair told Jono as his customer James appeared.
“Where’s my money you piece of s—-? I told you, you weren’t going to get away with this. I’ve had to get a loan out for this champ. I’m paying interest for f— all,” James declared.
James is angry and for good reason.
A pile of posts and holes in his and wife Briony’s front yard cost them almost $50,000.
That money was supposed to get them a new shed, fence and a few other odd jobs, about a year ago.
“We’ve had to extend our mortgage on our home to engage with Jono to do this. And he knew that. He knew all about it,” James and Briony told A Current Affair.
“It’s just frustrating knowing that we probably won’t get our money back. So it’s just paying off the bank and interest for a hole basically.”
James is an army veteran who has been medically discharged.
“And now I’m on a disability pension. I can’t legally, I can’t go out and get a job, so we’re screwed. And, as my wife keeps saying, Briony, she’s going to have to work to 96 to get this paid off,” James said.
Jono only lives a few minutes down the road and James has confronted him time and time again.
Katie and Paul paid Jono almost $10,000 for a new carport thinking they could trust a local to get the job done.
“Now we have to employ someone else to finish the job that we paid him to do,” Kate said.
But Jono still went on to carry out his disappearing act on Brett.
“How much are you out of pocket?” A Current Affair questioned.
“Close to 24 grand,” Brett said.
That money was supposed to build Brett a new shed.
“I’ve had every excuse. His daughter had a hernia operation, he’s always in hospital, his car’s broken down, the delivery truck’s broken down, my stuff got damaged on the truck, weather, everything you can think of,” Brett explained.
Sonia and Stephen also fell for Jono paying $30,000 for a deck to join the main house to their son Keegan’s granny flat.
“We’ve had to take money out of our super in order to pay for this deck,” Sonia explained.
“He came and put two footings in and then we never saw him again. Phone calls every day, excuses after excuses.”
And they’ve had to fork out more to get the job done.
“For eight months, this entire area was mud due to Jono not fulfilling his obligations. So after eight months, we got sick and tired of it and forked down another 30 grand just so we could have a deck built,” Sonia added.
They managed to get some cash back from Jono but are still out of pocket more than $15,000.
“It’s just unbelievable. He keeps getting away with it and all that. It’s just not right,” Keegan said.
Jono even did it to his own mates.
“Known him probably over 10 years as well, and just threw it away like that,” Sam explained.
“I was like, well, if he’s doing this to us, and he can do it to his friends, he’s out there doing it to other people,” Taylah added.
Taylah and Sam paid Jono around $8000 to renovate their laundry and bathroom. He ripped it up and left it like this.
“Pretty disappointing when he just never showed up and took all my money for the job,” Sam told A Current Affair.
“We’ve had to essentially spent, well to finish our bathroom, another $20,000,” Taylah said.
We tracked down Jono for an explanation to all this.
“Definitely it’s out of character for me to have ever gone down this track and done it. Unfortunately I’ve put myself in that position and I’ve got to try and make it right,” Jono told A Current Affair.
“It’s not good. They’ve taken money out of their super, they’ve taken out loans, it’s a lot of money. Do you have a conscience?” A Current Affair asked.
“Yes I do. I’ve just done some very unprofessional things,” he replied.
“What are you doing with everyone’s money?” A Current Affair questioned.
“I’m getting it back to them as soon as I can,” he said.
“Do you have any money?” A Current Affair asked.
“At the moment, I have nothing. I’m trying to make it right. I’m trying to get everyone sorted because they deserve it,” Jono claimed.
“Well it seems all you’ve been hammering out is excuses. What’s your next project? Crying poor?” A Current Affair queried.
“Well, yeah,” he responded.
And his customer James had a lot to say to him.
“You got no credibility, no licence, no nothing, you’re a fraud and you’re a father, mate. You should be ashamed of yourself,” James told Jono.
“I don’t understand where the money has gone,” A Current Affair explained to Jono.
“It’s in projects, I wasn’t able to finish them. I wasn’t wanted back at a lot of them,” Jono replied.
But A Current Affair has seen text messages where Jono is the one cancelling the job.
And, it turns out Jono also owes $16,000 in child support.
“How many other victims are out there, Jono?” Paul asked.
“I’ve spoken to the police once, yeah,” Jono told A Current Affair.
“Do you think they’re going to act on this,” A Current Affair asked.
“Absolutely, yeah,” he replied.
“So you reckon you will get charged?” A Current Affair questioned.
“Yeah, absolutely, yep and I deserve it,” Jono stated.
“What are you doing now?” A Current Affair queried.
“Um, looking for work to be honest,” he answered.