Disgruntled builder demolishes street over "unpaid wages" 

Police arrest the bloke but won't do anything about the company that didn't pay him

If he rang police to tell them he's not been paid he would be ignored and told to go to court. Bills don't wait for court procedures.

I fully support that man. To hell with these companies treating us like slaves

He took one for the team for tradesmen across the globe. As someone in the trades my entire life I want to thank you for standing up for us

They should have paid the man , they left him no choice , I would do the same , sick of these scumbags ripping off the working man

Nothing but praise for the man standing up against the rats that don't pay up.

Kudos to the disgruntled worker. "You don't pay me- you don't move in"

It's so wack that employers can not pay their employees and generally get away with it. But if that worker tears down the work he did but was not paid for, then he goes to jail.

Everyone should act this against those "companies" who take them for granted. Nice job sir.

Two and a half million pounds for these cardboard houses ? 500 thousand pounds sterling for EACH house ??? It is absolute idiocy and robbery of buyers !

I am a builder and I fully support this always put a clause in contract that states if wages aren't paid In full on time then you reserve the right to take down the work you have done.

So basically company’s don’t have to pay you but when you undo what you’ve done it’s criminal damage

Good. He did t get paid so he undid his work . Fair is fair

I'm sure this guy would of never gone this far without reaching the end of his tether! Pay people what you owe them...not paying peoples wages is as good as theft in my eyes!

It's not uncommon for wealthy people to NOT pay people. A man from the richest family in my town hired all kinds of people to build a giant store. He never paid them. Several people declared bankruptcy.

I’ve been taken for 5k in the past. Went to my lawyer he said it would probably cost me 5k to fight it. I even had contacts in place. Couldn’t afford to fight it and had to walk away. Still eats me up inside.

Ffs just pay your workers! They work so you pay them, fair and square! - I don't blame him.

My father has come close to that many times in his life as a machine operator. He said that was the worst thing about being self employed.Some people are nice until its time to pay, then they are like totally different people, there's excuses and waiting for weeks or months and still no pay, terrible, especially when you know they have the money to pay you. Its amazing the change of heart people have when you put the arm of the machine against the wall and threaten to smash all your work up, bad it has to come to that. Personally I think they need a good kicking...

It's not criminal damage when the things are still technically his. He owns everything until the work is signed off as completed. This is why builders rip down their fences and pull up slabs if the job hasn't been payed.

As a construction working I'm 100% behind this guy if someone doesn't pay me I take my work back

they never learn, someone did similar to a travel lodge in December. PAY YOUR CONTRACTORS OR GET THIS

Everyone whos worked in the building trades knows the score here, well played sir

Good on him. I love it when I hear stories like this. In my local area recently, I heard that a carpenter who installed a brand new kitchen who wasnt paid. While the owners weren't home, he broke in and ripped out the kitchen. I would love to have seen the look on their faces. Builders have families, trade accounts and bills to pay ... don't treat them like they've afforded you an IOU.

I respect him for setting a precedent of worker respect in his profession, I am not familiar with the building trade but I imagine it’s very intense and it must be excruciating to not receive what you are owed. I hope more people who are disrespected take matters into their own hands like this gentleman.

Oh well don't know how people can sleep at night that build their business on the little guy carrying the costs.Hire someone-pay someone.

Good for him. Best carpenter I ever worked with lost his business after getting screwed 2 jobs in row by big businesses not paying him, just because they knew they didn't have to. They have the lawyers, time and money to drag these poor guys through the courts and know people like my friend don't. He does top end work faster than anyone I ever seen and his rep was what scored him these big jobs with the biggest contractors, just when he thought he was going to make it big too his whole life crashed down thanks to those scumbags. Im glad some people can strike back.

Everyone who has worked in construction can sympathise with this guy, I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t been done over by unscrupulous sub contractor’s, if I’d been there I would have got the kettle to make him a nice strong mug of tea

I've always said to myself if someone didn't pay me for my work, I would take time out of my day to go demo it all for free.

Good job fella people tried to take advantage that’s what u get!!!!

Guy's such a professional even while "destroying 5 houses" he left all the debris piled neatly in front of each house the same way! And he was nice and did not break any structural beams...they were just gables!

😂😂 that's THE most considerate demolition I've ever seen -tidiest piles ever stacked. I would hire a real professional like him but technically he owns all the material since he's paid from his own pocket.. there is no ownership of anything at present. he's within his rights to do what he pleases with HIS product..

My dad did a lot of handyman and remodeling work for years and only had someone not pay him one time. It was for a deck the customer’s wife wanted added on top of the work already paid for and the couple agreed to settle everything up at the end for any extra costs occurred during the work. When everything was finished, the couple refused to pay claiming they already paid and the extra work building the deck was something my dad never got in writing. Dad tried the legal way for a few months, but eventually he just showed one day while they were out of town and disassembled the deck. When the couple got back in town, they called the cops and said dad stole their deck. I was there when the cops came to my dad’s house. They asked about the deck. Dad told them he built the deck as an additional side job to the house remodeling, but when it came time to pay, the couple denied ever talking about the cost. That’s when dad produced a receipt from the store with the total spent on the materials and the husband’s initials with date verifying he knew how much dad spent. Since they refused to pay for the materials, dad said he just went to their house and removed everything he purchased because he no longer wanted to store the materials there. The cops just laughed and said the couple could try to sue in small claims, but that dad could too. In the end the couple attempted to sue in small claims court. The judge denied the claim entirely because, according to the judge, since there wasn’t a contract for the deck signed by either party, the couple had no right to claim the deck was theirs, and dad couldn’t claim he didn’t get paid for work completed (he wasn’t). He ended up using the materials on another job, but that was the last time he conducted business by word of mouth and a handshake.

A DAYS WORK FOR A DAYS WAGES! He took payment in undoing his work. I have been a victim of crooked company owners myself. I fully understand this man's dilemma.

Never underestimate the working man. We are expected to work hard with integrity. If we don't get the same back, the work can be easily undone and we call it even.

My friend’s father once told him to always pay your employees on time. No wonder I took that advice to heart.

And the media just slaps the "disgruntled worker" label on these workers for standing up for themselves

They got what they deserve, I'd also invoice them for the part demo job

Thats the third clip ive seen recently of buildings being demolished by workers due to non payment of wages. You would think the bosses would learn. Cheat a worker out of a couple of hundred pounds and suffer damages running into thousands

I am going trough this exact same crap right now from an ex-employer here in the states and who also cheated me out of money. I'm taking legal action against them, but I fully understand and I fully appreciate and respect this bloke's way of handling a work related dispute. Often times war is the answer. Cheers, to my mates on the other side of the pond. 🍻

I’m not sure what the laws are regarding this in the UK but had this happened in the US and I was on the jury I 100% would find him not guilty regardless of what the law said.

This was a Romanian bloke...which wasn't paid for at least 4 months...clearly he has had enough. that took balls

Unfortunately where I live this needed to be done to a few customers who did the cowardly email that they weren't honoring the payment. They know the system and use it to their advantage because the authority that supports trades is as useful as a handbrake on a boat.

People are sick and tired of getting ripped off, especially by their own employers.

Good for that guy. This is what you "didn't pay for."

I once had to blackmail a boss in order to get my pay. I said "So what? I can have this place shut down with one phone call and you know it!" I never actually had anything on him; I was bluffing but it worked. He must have been up to other bad things.

Undoing your work is only fair if you havent been paid your wages. Now let them use his unpaid wages to pull the houses down and build them up again. Sweat.

I am not a Tradesman/Tradie. I have however heard about Tradesman being screwed over buy builders for years and years. In fact I work with an electrician that will no longer do work for contractors because of this problem. I have seen many RU-vid videos from Tradesman complaining of this issue than will no longer do work for Home Builders because of this issue. The Home builders are rich while the Tradesman are just trying to make a decent living. The Builders will just bankrupt them in court with Lawyer fees. Good for this Tradie for taking matters into his own hands and standing up for his rights. Somebody set up a Go Fund me for this guy. Every Tradesman on the planet send in $10 or 10£ or 10€ for this guys Lawer fees to help fight theses builders who cycle through Tradesman by leaving a trail of unpaid Tradies in their wake.

"You remove my wage, I remove their house privileges"

Guys not being paid for work they have completed happens way to often and the police don't get involved then. Hopefully this will make the money men think twice before ripping someone else off. 👍🏻👍🏻

If he didn't get paid then he has the right to knock them down

just pay crook!! mad respect for this guy; been there, done that .

Guaranteed the employer NEVER fails to pay again.

When will they learn that simple hardworking men just need to be paid properly for their hard work

Don't pay will crush it away

No matter what happens chap ....Your a bloody HERO. !

My husband is a contractor and has had only two people try to not pay. I gave him my blessing to tear everything down.

Can't say I blame him. Too many owners and developers fail to pay crews once the work has been completed. I had an uncle that built a guy a brick wall and then refused to pay. My uncle went back to the job site some months later and ripped it down under the cover of night.

If this was done because this guy did not get paid for the work he done I support him well done

Well done, to him, God bless him, I would like to know where is he from.........??????? Well done.

I own a lawncare business and have it buried in my contract that if you don't pay within 90 days I can legally come back and scalp your lawn down to 1.5 inches. I've exercised my right to do so about half a dozen times too.

Don't pay this is what you get, Try it on the mafia you'll be getting a funeral

A bloke owed me 8 grand for a concrete driveway, after 2 months of not paying and avoiding my calls, I hired a friend's 20 tonne digger and pulled up at 6:30am to rip it up...told him he had 30 minutes to produce the money or hed have a pile of rubble in front of his house...and miraculously, out of thin air, his wife payed me in full....something tells me I should have done it sooner. People, if you have a working class contractor come to your house to do work...pay them.

Yup I have heard of these builders not paying before. So don't blame him for being mad.

The judge in this case makes me so angry. Yes, slave labour is reason for wholesale destruction of property. Slave labour is very much against the law in the UK. You fail to pay your employees, that’s slave labour. Nah, Tentons business ID number should be revoked at the bare minimum, and buddy had really good grounds for appeal as the judge was lecturing him about ‘good work ethic’ the whole time.

Pay the man

People not paid him thy should go in jail!

This needs to happen more often as far as I’m concerned 👌

Why not ? They expected him to build it for FREE , so why can't he unbuilt for FREE ! Makes prefect sense to me !!

This is why i enjoy living in Egypt. We have debtors prisons. Debt is very real here if you dont pay! i just won a dispute for 22,000 British pounds, but another 3 grand in damages. He has 4 weeks to pay the cash, or get 3 years in Cairo prison!

Good on him, as Sam says, the person who owes him the money gets away with it.

I get upset when people don't pay me for checking their gutters and not finding anything. Can't imagine what not getting paid for building houses would do.

Am in total agreement with this man!!! More ppl would stop mistreating workers

Pass the costs onto the employer who never paid the worker.... This happens all to often when the fat cats make so much profit and the workers get peanuts

Love your work mate.CORRECT ACTION TAKEN.😈👍👍👍

I love it when workers stand up for themselves. If he built it, he can tear it down. the cost to rebuild needs to fall to the individual who thought it was a good idea not to pay.

As a plumber myself who does mostly new construction, I've had to go in and cut all my work with a sawzall because the millionaire builder refused to pay me. Had to do this a lot more than once. Unfortunately it's part of it. Just like any other job, you still get taken advantage of and screwed over by the people higher up the ladder than you. You do all the hard work, make them all their money and then when it comes time to collect your payment you're owed you can't find them and then they call the cops on you because you sabotaged their house like you're the criminal. These guys are the real criminals and they get away with it because they can afford to. This is why I'm getting out of construction.

Oh dear, should have paid him

... he was last seen working on a Travelodge in Liverpool 😂😂😂😂

Agree with his actions, the real criminals are those who don’t pay !

Court only protects the property owners contractors get screwed all the time. You can't get out of the GROCERY STORE without paying

People should realise this is our living you don't pay we can't pay our bills. I have worked for people & the work is completed to there satisfaction I have splashed out on materials. When job is done they say ok we will pay later some of them made me wait for up too 2weeks. That may not seem long but why should I fund there project's. You don't go to asda & get £100.00 of shopping and say send me a bill I will pay it later. These people have no clue I got a house & kids if there was a problem with my work I can sort it but there never is. These people must stop doing this or there will be more tradesmen doing this

Pay up or pay dearly.

We all work for paycheck ! I imagined he was owed thousands ! 🤔 So good for him ! 💥👈🤠

This guy did what so many of us have wanted to do in the same circumstance.

Notice how this happens in the uk pay the man!

Wish the tractor was way bigger

We need to start a gofundme for this guy

The only criminal damage done was not paying a man for his labour.

Can we do this figuratively with politicians who renege on their promises?

What a jerk. Now your never gonna get paid and noe nobody can use the home. Is this worth it?

I’m a construction contractor and I must say this contractor is doing the right thing. To often in the construction business we are screwed out of our money. Glad to see someone is doing something about it. Perhaps the person who owes him money will get the message. Pay your bills or a foot is going up your …..l

Well don't have work done if you cant afford it, simples.

"And let that be a lesson to you all"!!!

Pay your workers

I'm so glad he did this..this is happening all over the world... builders must be respected they are hard-working people

Update: The unpaid worker had gone to the police and was sent away being told it was a civil matter. St Albans Crown Court sentenced him to four years imprisonment. The unpaid worker still has not been paid (as per available news reports).

One of the quotes of the prophet Muhammad was " pay the person on whom has worked for you before his sweat drys" So you can see that it's a very important part of a healthy society, majority of people live on a day to day basis nd to withhold nd delay money that is needed by the one who it's owed to is physiological torture nd physical

Workers NEED to be PAID for their work .... NO excuses .......................

Why isn't wage theft illegal in the UK? Take money from the company you'd be arrested and charged but the company deliberate doesn't pay you it's civil? What's the moral difference? Zero

Good on him! Don’t pay your staff.....reap the consequences! 👏 👏