There are fresh warnings today from the Department of Consumer Protection and the Building and Energy Department to budding home renovators not to engage Perth-based concreting company Antique Asset Concrete, run by Sergio Demali (above).

Building and Energy building compliance director Sandy Randall told Liam Bartlett on 6PR Mornings more than 50 clients had issued complaints, including deposits being paid without work being carried out on their homes, and urged anyone who had builders or tradies at their home undertaking work to record their details.

“Know who you’re dealing with: first name, last name and a physical address. Because if you need to take action against them, you have got to get paperwork served, you need a physical address for people,” she told Bartlett on Tuesday.

“Once you know who you’re dealing with, just pop that name into Google to see if there’s been any previous warnings about that provider.”

Victim Rick Rhodes paid a 50 per cent deposit on work that was not performed. He commenced action in the Perth Magistrate’s Court but has not been able to locate Mr Demali to serve paperwork.

Mr Rhodes told Mornings he had established a Facebook group for other victims, of which a further 22 had currently emerged.

“I kept asking and asking them for a start date … when it never came I asked them to stop the contract and they wrote me back a big thing with a whole lot of smallprint from their side of it, legal mumbo jumbo.”

Press PLAY below to hear more on the concreter’s methods and how to avoid such providers.