Jeff Nelson wakes up every morning to a big green Dumpster in his driveway. He never knows what might have been thrown in overnight by someone driving past. He has found furniture and steel poles. Even a stolen wallet.
Nelson's contractor brought the Dumpster to his client's Monticello house this year to collect debris from a construction project. Nelson was supposed to get a new roof, siding and windows after a storm blew through in May 2008. What he ended up with is a bungled repair, a Dumpster he can't get rid of and a lien for almost $6,000 on his house.
Nelson thought he did his homework by hiring a licensed contractor. He paid almost half of the job's $46,000 cost, but the timetable stretched from three weeks to six months. Then he discovered that Todd Gratrix, of Gratrix Construction Inc., hadn't paid a $5,896 bill for supplies or the bill for the Dumpster.
Gratrix admits he didn't pay all his bills, partly because he needed to cover other business expenses with Nelson's down payment. His plan was to pay the supplier once Nelson got more of his insurance money. He said the work on Nelson's house was delayed because the payments came more slowly than expected.
Charlie Durenberger, head of contractor enforcement for the state Department of Labor and Industry, said he sees many once-successful contractors struggling in the down economy.
"Some of these guys get into a situation where they're operating almost as a Ponzi scheme," Durenberger said. "They're robbing Peter to pay Paul, and customers at the end of the line get stuck holding the bag because now there's no more money left to pay all the bills."
The perfect storm
The storm that swept through the north metro in May 2008 broke most of the windows on Nelson's house and left dents in his roof and siding. Right after the storm, contractors descended on the neighborhood. He hired one, but the guy never did any work, so Nelson fired him.