Daniel Neagu. Photo / Hertfordshire Police
A British builder shouted "whoop whoop" as he filmed himself with a GoPro and iPhone destroying five new retirement homes with a digger.
Daniel Neagu, 31, has now been jailed for four years, UK news reports say.
The houses were worth up to £475,000 each in Buntingford, Hertfordshire, when Neagu went on a 40-minute ramage last August over unpaid wages.
ITV reports that footage was also captured by people living in a neighbouring street.
He says in one clip that he is owed £16,000.
"I decided even if get in trouble I did it for a reason, because I didn't get paid, you know what I mean?"
Judge Stephen Warner at St Albans Crown Court said it was a "wholesale destruction" and a "pure act of revenge".
He said the footage was "truly shocking", adding: "It's quite clear from your demeanour that you were perfectly relaxed and quite unashamed."
Neagu told police that his company, Danny Boy Limited, was owed money in unpaid wages by a subcontractor firm, Fentons.
The BBC reported that Fentons had withheld the money because one of its vehicles was found to be in Neagu's native Romania. He said he would return it when he was paid.
The houses had to be completely rebuilt by McCarthy and Stone Retirement Living.
The cost of the destruction, in excess of £850,000, did not include rebuilding the houses, as insurers covered the cost.
Neagu's lawyer, Andrew Campbell said his client was "provoked" and called a "midget and a gypsy" by people he confronted about payment, ITV reported.
He added: "He had carried out these actions as a public demonstration that he had not been paid. There's a strange sort of logic in it, but there's a logic in it."
Six people have now died in a suspected mass methanol poisoning event.