Hi I am a Canadian and I bought a house in Algarve for my retirement later. The house need some renovation and I hired *** who is a British living in Albuferia. You can Google him by searching “***a”. His Facebook page will come up. But don't be fooled by his FB contents like I did. Trust me. He is anything but a honest family man like he tried to portray on FB. My nightmare started after he got my second payment, which is the biggest amount according to the contract. He came up with all sorts of excuses for not doing much work on the house. I had to hire a local project manager to monitor his progress. After the project manager reported back to me that **l only did a few painting patches in three weeks, I totally gave up on him. A 3 month job he promised, but only got 35% completed with poor quality after 6 months. He kept ignoring the letter my lawyer sent and eventually I had to terminate the contract as I was 100% sure by then he is a crook. I asked him nicely to return my money but he refused. Not only that, he even had the audacity to send me the invoice 8 month later with VAT excluded, which is the opposite of our contract. This proves what a greedy person he is. He not only cheats on me, but also cheats on the Portugal government. According to my lawyer, I am not his first victim and there are others out there. So Please Please DO NOT deal with this person for any kind of business. He is a liar. Except a big ego, he has nothing. This is a hard lesson I learned and I hope you or your family or friends will never repeat my mistake. Feel free to spread this message to anyone who may be interested in hiring someone for home renovations. If you are his victim also, please contact me in private. Thanks.
Bad Builder in Albufeira You Should Know
Hi, your post is legally defamatory, I had to remove the name of the contractor
Hi I understand your concern. But I didn't defame him. The definition of defame is “ damage the good reputation of (someone); slander or libel.”. Every word I said about him is true and I have document to prove. I am going to sue him. In the meantime I just want to warn people about this crook and don't become his victims like me. This kind of warning will save lots of people. This world is full of bad people because they are not exposed soon and not punished enough. The rules are protecting them, not the honest hardworking people. In a way it encourages bad people to do more bad things.
Hi Hc,
I understand that you are looking for english painters to do the work, because of the language, but that is no guarantee of honesty.... usually for such jobs there is no signed contract. It's all on the basis of trust. Putting the case to a lawyer can cost even more.... to do these jobs, first ask the English speaking community for references of good professionals (portuguese or not)....
I saw his facebook page and it seems that he is well integrated in the English community in the Algarve, although it seems to me that his sense of humour always slips into a certain vulgarity... It's not english humour, it's of a different kind... 
Hi Johnny,
Thanks for your reply. I guess you found the crook online that I refer to in my post. He was referred by a local electrician. And he was the only one available after I contacted a few other builders recommended by people in forums. Now I know why. It's a home renovation project, not just a painting job. I thought he has a team to do this kind of project when we signed a contract. It's not just verbal. I used to think British people honour a contract and understand the consequences of breaking a contract. Guess I am wrong. This kind of crook has nothing to do with their nationality. They are just bad people and should be kicked out of Portugal for good. Anyway, please warn people you know about him. I do believe justice will be served one day.
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