Multiple families have come forward to allege contractor fraud against Ajax-based Trusted Remodelling after giving owner Janarthanan Sathianathan (aka Jay Nathan) nearly $40,000 collectively for work they claim Sathianathan later abandoned.
The allegations stretch back to January 2021, with a family who alleges placing a $1,500 deposit for uncompleted work. The following summer, Aamir Amla, a healthcare project manager, hired Sathianathan to renovate his basement and install a charging station in the garage for his new Tesla.
Amla and Sathianathan signed a contract on June 28 which stipulated the work would begin on July 8 and be completed within 37 days.
The project would cost $36,900 total, to be paid in three installments of 50 per cent up front, 30 per cent at stage two of the project, and 20 per cent on completion of the work. This would become a theme.
Throughout July, Amla began to send Sathianathan cash for materials and as a deposit. He then sent two installments of $3,000 on July 5 and 8, followed by a draft $12,450 on July 10, according to banking receipts provided by Amla.
On July 13, a week after work was meant to begin, Sathianathan opened a WhatsApp group chat with Amla and his wife Jaituni Desai. A pile of wooden studs arrived that day, and Sathianathan requested half of Amla’s garage to store them, according to the WhatsApp transcripts.