Aussie tradie takes ultimate revenge on the customer who he believes has not paid

A frustrated trader, embroiled in a bitter dispute with a homeowner, has had her concrete driveway smashed into pieces after claiming she ‘refused’ to pay his team for their work.

The drastic action was taken by concrete worker Jesse Crowe, who runs a small business in Logan, Queensland, just days after he and his team began constructing the new driveway.

Crowe had spoken with the homeowner, Viola, and negotiated the price of $6,000 for the job, which involved creating a new surface for the large driveway on the side of the house.

However, he claims Viola only paid $2,500 and refused to pay the remaining amount after the couple argued over the quality of work and the price of waste removal.

A video showing Crowe and his crew vandalizing the driveway was shared on social media several days ago, despite the incident taking place late last year.

In the video, Crowe and a colleague can be seen lifting a pickaxe above his head and swinging it into the concrete, creating a large hole in the newly constructed driveway.

The two workers then repeated this motion all the way to the driveway, leaving it patchy, uneven, and full of large holes.

“This is what happens when you don’t want to pay for work on your house,” Crowe says before smashing up the driveway.

Crowe’s colleague, who filmed the destruction, says: ‘You should have paid. And it will cost more to dig everything up, remove it and recast it.’

‘Didn’t you want to pay? This is what’s happening.’

The frustrated tradie said he takes pride in his work and was angry when he destroyed something he had just built.

“It gets to a point where you’ve been in the business a long time and you’re doing the right thing for the people, and at the end of the day they don’t want to pay, so what are you going to do? Crowe shared 7News.

‘I don’t like destroying something I’ve just built. I am proud of my work. I love concreting and I enjoy doing it. I just wanted to get paid.”

He added that Viola should have paid him the full amount for their work because it would cost her even more to repair the damaged driveway.

Jesse Crowe (pictured) explained that he negotiated with the homeowner that the job would cost $6,000. However, he was only paid $2,500

However, Viola fired back at the tradie, claiming she wasn’t happy with the work and accused Crowe of threatening her when she complained about the quality.

‘[They said] “You pay now or we’ll smash the concrete,” Viola said.

When asked if she would have paid Crowe and the team, she replied, “of course,” but added that the tradies did “what they wanted” and not what she asked for.

Viola claims the incident caused her so much stress that she was taken to hospital when she collapsed in a shopping center two days after the driveway was destroyed.

She added that Crowe and his team treated her like a “thief” and a “crook” because she complained about the work.

Viola and her family have lived with the damaged driveway since it was vandalized and plan to repair the concrete themselves.

Homeowner Viola (pictured) said she was treated like a ‘thief and criminal’ and ‘threatened’ by Crowe because she complained about the quality of work and the price of rubbish removal

Social media users were divided, with many claiming there were noticeable flaws in the work.

“The lady did the right thing,” one wrote, while another added: “I wouldn’t pay either.”

A third chimed in: “There wasn’t one control connection in there.”

Others claimed Crowe and his team demanded payment for the job too quickly because the concrete was “still fresh.”

“I won’t pay until the cement has hardened and is no longer cracked,” someone commented.

‘How quickly do you expect to be paid? Seven days, fourteen days after completion?,” wrote another.

“You have to see the concrete go off before you know if it’s worth paying for,” a third added.