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William McPhee, 34, was told that he would have been sent to prison for longer if he had not agreed to pay £60,500 compensation to his victims.
The building trades union, Ucatt Scotland, welcomed the sentence. Regional secretary, Alan Ritchie, said: "This is one of the 'cowboys' that has been caught.
"Unfortunately, there are still many more out there."
But for the fact that arrangements have been made to recompense those who have been defrauded, the sentence would have been yet higher  |
Lord Cameron
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But his downfall began when a roofer, who is related to a neighbour of a victim, spotted the shoddy workmanship he had carried out.
A major police investigation was launched and other people who had been fleeced were tracked down.
McPhee's nephew and "apprentice fraudster", 19-year-old Thomas McPhee junior, was placed on probation for 18 months and ordered to carry out 300 hours unpaid work in the community for his involvement.
He was already on probation when he committed two of the four fraud charges on which he was convicted.
Victims 'intimidated'
His uncle was earlier convicted of defrauding 16 separate victims, mainly involving roofing work carried out on private homes.
Lord Cameron told William McPhee at the High Court in Edinburgh that he had carried out "disreputable" operations which led to his conviction on 24 charges.
"It is quite clear that these frauds included ones which were practised upon the elderly and the infirm, four of whom were not able to come to court to give evidence," said the judge.
 William McPhee: "King of the Cowboys"
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He pointed out that McPhee had falsely claimed his firm was a member of a reputable builders' federation.
Lord Cameron said:"There was a clear sophistication in the manner for a period of over two years in which you imposed your fraudulent scheme on unsuspecting members of the public.
"But for the fact that arrangements have been made to recompense those who have been defrauded the sentence would have been yet higher," said the judge.
Sent to higher court
McPhee, from Castlecary, in Stirlingshire, was originally convicted after a six-week trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court and was sent to the High Court so a higher sentence could be imposed.
He cheated victims by carrying out building work for grossly inflated sums on jobs which he messed up and failed to finish.
His oldest victim was a 91-year-old woman in Newton Mearns, Glasgow, who was charged more than £20,000 for roofing work which should have cost £800.
He was due to renovate a roof but coated it with green masonry paint to make it appear as if it had been re-roofed with new tiles.
McPhee was snared in a major police project called operation Hamelin, named after the city where the pied piper got rid of the rats.The operation, throughout Scotland and the North of England, targetted bogus workmen.
The court heard that in an attempt to recompense the victims, a trust fund has been set up into which £43,000 had been paid.
A member of his family plans to make the sum up to £60,500.
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