Victims of landscaper John Limone have spoken out, debt of more than $400,000 revealed

Clients of a landscaper who has been ordered to pay about $100,000 over faulty and incomplete work have revealed just how bad it was.

Dodgy landscaper John Limone has lost his licence. Picture: Facebook.

An unlicensed landscaper found guilty over dodgy and incomplete work owes more than $400,000, documents reveal.

Victims of landscaper John Limone said the 54-year-old was taking cash upfront for jobs quoted for, but they wouldn’t hear back from him for weeks on end – if at all.

One victim, Dess Pearson, hired Limone in 2018 to help him finish his investment property in Mount Barker.

According to the original quote sent to Mr Pearson via email, the work – some of which Limone was unlicensed to perform – would cost $20,000 to complete with a $12,000 cash deposit to be paid.

“After that it was very hard to get him to come and do the job,” Mr Pearson said.

“He wouldn’t come for weeks on end … he had my money and I kept calling and pleading with him and he said he’ll do it, he’ll do it, he’ll do it.

Brickwork fell off one of the walls.

A fence was painted with a different shade.

Dodgy builder John Limone has lost his licence and been ordered to pay almost $100,000 in penalties for his poor workmanship, if he started the projects at all. Picture: Facebook.

“Eventually he got some work done but six months later nothing had happened and he needed more money for supplies.”

Mr Pearson said that any work completed by Limone was done to a very poor standard and after paying nearly $30,000 for the job, took him to civil court and won.

Mr Pearson revealed in documents from his lawyer the awarded amount of $26,676 was not paid following the proceedings in November 2022.

In November 2023, Limone was prosecuted by the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs on behalf of seven clients over the period of one year, and he has since had his licences revoked and filed for bankruptcy.

Limone ran and hid from one of his victims. Picture: Facebook.

Examples of unlicensed landscaper John Limone's work, showing dodgy paint jobs and fallen brickwork.,

Documents filed by Limone show a debt of $406,000 to unsecured creditors – while his only assets amount to less than $10,000 (excluding superannuation).

One man, referred to as Frank, was an acquaintance of Limone’s and saw first-hand how he treated customers.

Frank had asked Limone for some small work around his unit, and thought he was safe from being “ripped off” due to their relationship.

“The day before I had texted him about doing my job,” Frank said.

“ (Limone) said I’ve hurt my knee, I’ve been to the doctor, the doctor says I can’t do anything for at least a fortnight.

“The very next day, and I see his car and trailer heading off in the direction of Port Elliot.”

Frank said he knew of a job Limone was doing in Middleton, and headed over to the house to confront him about avoiding him for several weeks.

Poor workmanship that ended with John Limone losing his licence.

“I rang Consumer Affairs, I had already had lodged a complaint with the Commissioner, I rang them and I said ‘look, I know where he is today, were do I stand about going to talk to him?’

“They said ‘go talk to him, but don’t go on the property, don’t antagonise him, just ask him why he’s not doing your job today’.

“I drive over the park at the end of the driveway, and he’s merrily working down the far end of the driveway … so I ring him and he looks at his phone, then looks down the end of the driveway and he saw me standing there and he dashes off around the back of the house and hides behind the fence.”

Another client, Eric Soti, said despite paying approximately $23,000 to Limone, most of his work was given away on the Facebook marketplace due to its poor quality.

“We wanted a feature wall and we wanted tiny little bricks, and I sent him an example and he rocks up with these big bricks, they were probably too big, and they actually fell off the wall,” Mr Soti said.

“We had a wooden gate that (Limone) had put together himself, that was so heavy it didn’t close properly.

“It buckled so we had to push on the post to be able to open the gate … it was a real shock.”

Mr Soti was also quoted for a new fence made with materials from Stratco, but the inferior materials used on the fence came from elsewhere.

“I got that confirmed from Stratco, that our fence is not material from them … that was shocking.”

Mr Soti also said while working on the fence, if the sheets became scratched Limone would spray over them and the resulting finish “didn’t look professional”.