This is part one of a two-part investigative series on home renovations in Canada.
CTV News’ investigative unit W5 has heard from several Canadian homeowners who claim to have paid for renovations that were never finished.
They share a common contractor, David Wolf, whom W5 confronted as part of a months-long investigation into his business.
Tina Sharma of Brampton, Ont. wanted a basement apartment to earn some extra income. According to Sharma, the basement was already partially finished with a completed bathroom, two storage rooms, and approximately half of the framing already in place.
Two-and-a-half years ago, she hired a contractor to finish the basement so it would be ready to generate rental income. Sharma said she gave the contractor $33,000, which was about 90 per cent of the funds she signed the contract for. The contractor started the work, but she said many things were not completed including a laundry room and kitchen.
“It hurts. It’s a lot of money,” said Sharma.
Sharma said when the contractor didn’t return, she had to hire another company to install her kitchen cabinets. She still needs to finish her electrical work and the laundry room.
“He got paid for all this and I had to pay out of my pocket again to get the work done, because it’s been over two years,” said Sharma.
“He just disappeared. he just ignored my calls and he ghosted me completely.”
Sharma paid the money to David Wolf, who owns Yours Construction, from Innisfil, Ont. On social media she found others who used his services and said they paid for projects that were not finished.
Tony Chang of Richmond Hill, Ont. told W5 he paid Wolf $55,000 for renovations in his home. Chang said while he felt Wolf completed about 80 per cent of the work, he claims it took six months to do so instead of the promised six weeks. Chang said he had to hire other contractors to finish the project.
“At the time, it was very frustrating to move into an unfinished home and have all that hanging over our heads,” said Chang.
Imran Ghafoor from Brampton, Ont. also wanted a basement apartment to generate income after a brain tumor rendered him unable to work.
Ghafoor said he took almost $15,000 from his child’s bank account that they had been saving for his education to finance the basement renovation. He hoped the rental income would replace the funds.
But according to the family, after they handed over $14,900 to Wolf, they allege he never came back and never performed any work on their home.
“He ended up doing nothing. He hasn’t started anything and he completely disappeared,” said Saman Imran, Ghafoor’s wife.
Professionals laid off, says contractor
W5 spoke with other homeowners who allege Wolf took money for projects without completing them. The unit also spoke with tradespeople who say they were hired by Wolf but were not paid for their services.
Marc Basile of Brampton owns an electrical business and was hired by Wolf. While he says the first two jobs he was hired for went well, he claims Wolf refused to pay him for six separate, additional jobs costing his company $30,000.
Basile said there was a human cost as well.
“It hurts,” said Basile. “I had employees, and with everything that happened, I had to let those guys go.”
Confronting Wolf
W5 checked with the Ontario Business Registry and records show that David Wolf closed Yours Construction in May of 2023 and then opened David Wolf Construction Group Inc in April 2025.
W5 made several calls to David Wolf Construction Group Inc. and left messages. Our calls were not returned.
W5 was able to track down David Wolf to a massive new home in Innisfil, Ont. After knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell for several minutes, Wolf appeared from his garage, but he quickly slipped inside and closed the garage door, leaving only the bottom slightly open.
I told Wolf, “Hello, David. It’s Pat Foran of CTV News. We have had some complaints about you doing renovations, taking money and not finishing the work.”
Wolf replied from under the garage door that he was no longer in the home renovation business, but he said he wasn’t ready to speak about allegations against him.
“I’m more than happy to discuss this,” said Wolf.
I replied, “Well we are here. Why don’t you come out and discuss it?”
Wolf said, “You can talk to me about it, but not here, not right now.”
Wolf took my CTV News business card, and I advised him to call me to address the allegations against him.
He never did.
W5 followed up with an additional phone message to Wolf’s company after speaking with him at his home. But again, our call was not returned.
For Tina Sharma who gave Wolf $33,000 it’s been a long difficult process in trying to get her basement finished and she is frustrated there is not more help for consumers when renovations go wrong.
“A lot of us victims are left stranded,” said Sharma.
1 in 4 know of unfinished work
A CTV News/Nanos poll found that 26.7 per cent of Canadians said they, a family member or someone they know experienced a home renovation where payment was taken but work was not completed.
The poll found that while nationally 71 per cent said they had not experienced problems with unfinished home renovations, 12.3 per cent said they knew someone who had. Nine per cent said they had personally experienced it, and 5.4 per cent said a family member had a case where payment was taken for home renos and work was not completed.
With files from Farah Chandani
