Bogus builder’s sentence ‘weak’

A Christchurch man says he came close to suicide after falling victim to builder Rodney James Day’s fraudulent operations.

‘‘That guy cost me nearly $200,000. I lost my house, I lost my business, and I ended up going bankrupt,’’ Matt McFarlane said.

‘‘He gets ... basically just a slap on the wrist and the judge telling him: don’t again.’’

Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Keller yesterday sentenced Day, 56, to seven months of home detention and 150 hours of community service.

Day had earlier pleaded guilty to 15 charges relating to carrying out restricted building work without being a licensed building practitioner, and creating and using fake documents.

Day had forged a person’s signature to claim they had reviewed

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boy his work and signed off the paperwork for a job in Bryndwr, Christchurch, in 2016. The paperwork was used for the sale of the property. Day used the same person’s name for work he did in St Albans, also in 2016. The paperwork was lodged with the Christchurch City Council. The person said they had

Rodney James Day never met Day.

Nine of the 15 charges related to Day’s interactions with McFarlane, who met him on a building site about 2012.

Day told McFarlane he was a licensed builder and had been doing building work for 25 years.

McFarlane engaged Day as a subcontractor to repair and renovate homes. He said Day’s work was of poor quality and not compliant with the Building Code. Most of the work had to be redone. ‘‘I am appalled by Mr Day’s level of deceit. I feel cheated and angry that he wasted so much of my time and money.

‘‘Through trusting this man, I lost everything that my wife and I had worked our whole lives for.’’

Christchurch homeowner Peter Adolph, who hired Day to convert a garage into a bedroom and build a new garage, said Day’s work was not up to standard and the work was never finished. Adolf had to pay another builder to redo some of the work and finish the job.