Lonn Mullins, M & M Construction of Longmont Colorado was recommended to us by a realtor to remodel and finish a basement for us in May. After purchasing our home in Berthoud Co. Lonn was hired as our general contractor to complete our remodel/construction.
The original amount of the contract was around $24,000 and I paid half that to Lonn to get started. It included a full 'move in ready' basement, central AC, finished sun porch and a new kitchen floor all to be completed by the middle of July.
Unfortunately, little did we know that he was already deep in debt and was trying to pay other people with our money. Contruction was started and things seemed to progress normally until Lonn asked for an addtional $5,500 for materials approximately one month into the remodel.
A HUGE red flag should have gone up but he is one of the smoothest talking people I've ever met and I believed him and his request. I gave him the additional money and construction kept going until I got word that he hadn't been paying his workers. That's when I finally realized that I was in trouble with this guy and ended up paying their salaries to keep the project going. So far, I had paid over $22,000 to M & M Construction and was promised that he would finish everything in a week!
Construction stopped completely the first week of August and our basement was not even close to being completed as well as the sun porch. The kitchen floor was installed, unfortunately he instructed his workers to lay roofing tar paper as an underlayment and now you can't walk on the new floor without it making all kinds of noise! The AC was also installed, however he never paid the sub-contractor and that company threatened to put a lien on my home!
I should have checked this guy our more carefully. He doesn't even own his own home so I can't put a lien on his property and since he's broke now, taking him to court would only cost me more money and I still wouldn't be able to collect!
It's too bad that people can't be honest with each other and do as they promise!!! I learned a very expensive lesson in dealing with general contractors.
Oh, by the way, the realtor who recommended Lonn Mullins was fired by the real estate agency for unethical dealings with other clients... Big surprise!
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