Working with Jerry Brooks has been a NIGHTMARE that has lasted over 1 year. Just so we are talking about the same person, this is Jerry Brooks with JB remodeling that does business in Leander and Austin.
I hired JB Remodeling to renovate two investment houses for $65,000. He came with his girlfriend to both properties to give me quotes and gave always gave me a really good feeling that he was a very honest and trustworthy person. Nothing could be further from the truth. The projects consisted of completing two remodels including paint, drywall, tile, cabinets, carpet, etc.
After several months, through several draws, I had paid him nearly the entire agreed upon $65,000 because he was always telling me that all of the work was about to be completed and he needed the money to put on the finishing touches. When giving him one of the final checks, I went to inspect the houses. To my dismay, he had only completed approximately 50% of the work on one house and less than 10% of the work on the second house.
Out of the blue, he told me that he needed another $19,000 to finish the projects and sent several un-itemized texts and emails explaining why he needed the additional money. The emails didn't make any sense whatsoever. He couldn't account for the money that I had paid him and he couldn't account for what the additional $19,000 was for. He couldn't show me any accounting of what he had spent on the remodels. It was clear that I was getting completely screwed over.
Over the next several days his behavior became erratic, he stopped work on the houses and left a series of emails, phone messages, and texts demanding that I pay him an additional $19,000 immediately. Keep in mind, at this point, I had paid him over $60,000 and there was MAYBE $20,000 in work that had completed. There was at a minimum $50,000 in work that still needed to be completed.
After he refused to do any additional work, I locked the properties and began pursuing options for other contractors to complete the work. After telling him that I was going to sue him for the unfinished work, he threatened all kinds of things against me including bringing the Sheriffs office to the houses if I did any work on the properties without a permit. He threatened to put mechanics liens on the properties, he accused my wife and I of not having a legitimate marriage, he said that he had a document in his possession that could get my family in a lot of trouble, he accused me of drinking, and all other sorts of ridiculous claims.
So, I sued Jerry Brooks, dba JB Remodeling in Williamson county.
In retaliation, he filed four separate mechanics liens totaling $28,000 on my two properties! This was clearly a criminal act, but the District Attorney referred me back to the judge in my civil case. To take it even a step further, he hired a collection agency to try and foreclose on my properties. Imagine that! I sue this guy for essentially stealing money from me, and he somehow tried to claim that I owed him.
It cost me over $50,000 to complete the remodels that I had already paid him for. Both properties had failed inspections, materials that were not up to city code, and work that had to be redone.in addition, it cost me $5,000 in attorneys fees to get my claim to court.in the end, the judge ordered the liens removed and I got a judgment, which I will never see.
After researching this guy, I came across a family that he had duped out of nearly $30,000 and two other clients whom had to get attorneys to deal with him.
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