Building frustration
Local builder takes $40,000, fails to perform work
Dr. Ed and Sue Ferrell are victims of a builder who accepted payment in advance to construct a small home addition for them, but never did any of the work. The couple successfully sued in civil court, but the man in question has never paid and they are left making monthly payments for the loan.
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Have a question for Watchdog?
To submit questions, e-mail watchdog@vicad.com or call Advocate Public Service Editor Gabe Semenza at 361-580-6519. No topic is off-limits.
Before you hire a builder or remodeler
Visit www.TexasRCC.org to research:
Whether they are licensed
...
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Have a question for Watchdog?
To submit questions, e-mail watchdog@vicad.com or call Advocate Public Service Editor Gabe Semenza at 361-580-6519. No topic is off-limits.
Before you hire a builder or remodeler
Visit www.TexasRCC.org to research:
Whether they are licensed
The number of projects they have registered with the commission
The status of a builder's remodeler's registration
Ask the builder to provide:
Examples of past work
References
Their detailed history
You can't see the anger on his face. You barely hear the hurt in his voice. But it's there, lingering.
His sickly 82-year-old mother is still in Baltimore, still 1,574 miles away.
Dr. Ed Ferrell planned to build her an 800-square-foot guest home. He and his wife, Sue, wanted the aging matriarch to live in their spacious Victoria County backyard.
But the local builder they hired took a $40,000 down payment, disconnected his phone and fled town.
He didn't build anything.
Now, the Ferrells fight to recover their losses and the law they say protects seedy builders better than it does those who hire them.
Building frustration
Ed Ferrell walked from a living room sofa to the nearby French doors. He stared, silent, to the outside. He talked about his mother.
Neighbors found the widow in early 2007 unconscious and on the floor. Doctors found internal bleeding.
"Being a physician, I could take care of that for her, but not from this far away," Ferrell said.
In May of that year, the Ferrells searched for a builder. Word of mouth led them James Del White, who operated under the name J.D. White Construction.
White was to build the mother's guest home, complete with ceramic tile and a patio.
The parties signed a $100,000 contract in July 2007.
Then, White asked for $40,000 up front to cover initial material and labor costs. The Ferrells, who borrowed money from the bank, gave him a cashier's check.
They never heard from him again.
"We had checked that his building license was in good standing, and asked to see examples of existing work," Sue Ferrell said. "He showed us a photo album. His record was OK with the Better Business Bureau."
Ed Ferrell said White's request for a down payment seemed reasonable, considering the initial costs the small-business owner would incur.
When White disconnected his phone, they hired a lawyer.
"Well, they got screwed, all right," said Douglass Anderson, their Victoria lawyer.
Even though a local county court-at-law judge enacted a $100,000 civil judgement against White, the family can't recoup their losses because the builder has no known loose assets.
This is especially frustrating because White admitted to spending the family's money, Sue Ferrell said.
"I was paying off bills we had gone into debt with," White said, according to May 21, 2008, deposition documents. "We had several jobs before the Ferrell job that we used the money for. So, as that deposit came in, it was covering some of the other jobs that we had already started."
White did not return phone calls seeking comment.
He can no longer be found at his last known address.
Legal Frustrations
Claiming White stole from them, the Ferrells met with Victoria County District Attorney Steve Tyler. The family wants to press criminal charges. Tyler explained criminal law is not on their side.
"The problem with filing it as a theft, I have to prove that at the time he entered the agreement his intent was to steal from them," Tyler said. "I have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. I do not believe I can make that case."
Frustrated further by Tyler's refusal to take their case, the Ferrells visited the Texas Residential Construction Commission, a state agency that regulates and licenses builders and remodelers.
The commission levied $260,000 in fines against White and declined to renew his builder's license.
Duane Waddill is the agency's executive director.
"Anything he tries to buy or sell will have a lien of $260,000 on it," Waddill said, adding that these cases are tough to prosecute in criminal courts. "It'll show up on his credit report. Our goal is to get him to the table to deal with the homeowners."
The commission will next pass its judgment to the Office of the Texas Attorney General, which will try to enforce the lien, Waddill said.
Anderson said the construction commission is ineffective.
"You'd rather stand naked in an ant bed and beat yourself with a cactus before dealing with the Texas Residential Construction Commission," Anderson said. "The commission, in my opinion, is a joke."
Within the last year, the commission cited 123 Texas builders - or less than one half of one percent of the more than 20,000 total - and fined them $143,000.
Anderson said the family's next move is to try and prove White worked with a partner, a man who he said is equally to blame.
White, during his deposition, said he teamed with Keith Bitterly of Victoria, and both decided to use the Ferrell's money for other projects.
"I wasn't a partner. I worked for him," Keith Bitterly said Friday night. "I wasn't involved with that. I wasn't even working with him when he got that money."
As the Ferrells jump through hoops, they can't help but sink at the feeling of being violated by a builder and left behind by the law, they said.
"What more proof does Mr. Tyler need? Why is this builder not in jail?" Sue Ferrell asked.
Ed Ferrell added, "It's like a growing pain in the stomach. I still have my mother, who is sickly, and I can't get her down here. This is more than just losing a financial situation."
Watchdog is a column by Advocate Public Service Editor Gabe Semenza. Contact him at 361-580-6519 or gsemenza@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.
Comments
We need to make it a felony to take money from a homeowner and not build a home. Seriously. You should take this to the DAs office and sit and talk with someone.
I have seen the DAs office in Harris county go after someone for a felony especially if the victims are over 65 or disabled.
May 23, 2009 at 3:19 p.m.Maybe Mom wants her privacy.
If I were 80, I surely wouldn't want to 1) feel like I was a burden on my family, 2) be put in a position where I felt like I was interfering with them living their lives normally, and 3) would want the peace and quite of my own place rather than stress induced by the the hub-bub helter skelter of a young family's household.
May 12, 2009 at 10:42 a.m.They have a 2 story house which is not a safe environment for an elderly lady with a history of falls. How is she to get up & down the stairs to her room? My in-laws are in the same situation, they have a 2 story home, master downstairs but the rooms upstairs are too small for them & the mother cannot handle the stairs.....what to do? Adding on is sometimes the only option, especially if the mother is otherwise an independant person.
May 11, 2009 at 9:25 p.m.momof2 and goliadchica....shame on you! They're upset that someone ran off with their money and that is what the story is about and quite justified. It's none of your business how he is moving his mother here with him and how big his house is...jealous heart! Dr. Ferrell and Sue are really gracious good and down to earth people and they don't deserve smart a$$ people like you judging. I hope you went out and did something good for someone today and spent your time in a more positive way. That's exactly what's wrong with this world......shame.
May 11, 2009 at 9:13 p.m.The Gov and his Home Builder Financial Supporters made this possible.
May 11, 2009 at 8:28 p.m.I can only say that this guy is a PUTZ !
I hope the ONLY THING he'll be able to build in the future consists of Lincoln Logs with pieces missing!
May 11, 2009 at 8:16 p.m.i would have been in front of the DA again, this time trying to get out of assault charges on that scum bag
May 11, 2009 at 8:02 p.m.Mader, in your usual banter of your opinion you once again show us that you do not consider all of the facts.
May 11, 2009 at 5:57 p.m.School time - Two parties enter into an agreement and one defaults. This is a contractual situation and, in most times civil in nature and not criminal in nature. The DA holds the office of CRIMINAL prosecution and does not handle CIVIL litigation, so I see where when he demonstrates his position by attempting criminal law to a civil law situation - it doesn't work.
So even though you have distaste for the man currenlt holding the position of DA, don't quickly discount his remarks before you consider the real position that he holds.
The Attorney General Office can litigate both criminal and civil law. School is over.
Read closer, people...
"The problem with filing it as a THEFT..." - as much as I hate to say it, Tyler is right. This may have been breach of contract, or fraud by deception, or (most probably) a failed business with outstanding debts and unfinished projects. To be THEFT, he had to plan on stealing the money all along - and YOU HAVE TO PROVE IT IN COURT.
File suit against him - just don't classify it as THEFT - you'll never make the case...
and the comparision to employees playing the horses with company money was entertaining - but TWW, you're smarter than that. Hope you were being sarcastic. But it still wasn't as bad as Twisted's straw man - waaah.
May 11, 2009 at 5:19 p.m.Poor guy.
May 11, 2009 at 4:38 p.m.I'm sure the homeless in Victoria, those who lost their homes due to layoffs and foreclosure, and those on disability and social security living in shacks in the south part of town can really sympathize with the poor doctor.
momof2 - that's what i thought when i read the article. looks like he has a big enough house to have mama come live with him, why wait until another house is built if he's so worried?
May 11, 2009 at 4:31 p.m.1) To prove fraud (criminal act), you have to prove an attempt to defraud. In most of these cases, the act may be malicious or not, there in lies the legal issue Tyler regards.
2) If a contractor is using money from one job to pay for another, it is only a matter of time before he ends up screwing someone else. If such a contractor does not have enough capital to run a contracting business, he needs to go to work for somebody else until he has enough reserves to run a business properly.
3) The 40% down payment is not unusual for a remodel job. But, if you ever find yourself in this position, offer to place the money in a regulated account in which both you and the contractor are co-signors (preferably the draw account your construction lender will deposit construction loan draws into). Then issue draws based on invoices from credit extended by the suppliers and based on weekly summaries of labor expenditures. If your builder cannot get credit from his suppliers, you SHOULD NOT do business with him. It is reasonable for your contractor to estimate the labor cost for the next stage of work and have that amount advanced to him.
4) In no case should you be releasing to your builder any more than cost + 10% profit until all work is done. 10% is ample for him to live off of until he has fully earned the remainder. If not, he is too undercapitalized to cover the risk you are taking by engaging him.
May 11, 2009 at 4:18 p.m.The DA says: "The problem with filing it as a theft, I have to prove that at the time he entered the agreement his intent was to steal from them," Tyler said. "I have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. I do not believe I can make that case."
Are you saying that if an employee takes to days cash to the bank and, on the way to the bank decides to take the money to the track and bet it on a nag that just couldn't lose but did that he's not guilty because he didn't intend to steal it when he put the money in the bank bag? All you should have to prove is that the money was paid and the work was not done. Give the jury system a chance to work.
May 11, 2009 at 8:04 a.m.It is not uncommon for contractors to use money from one job on another job to keep funds flowing. When they are paid off the money then goes into the next job & so on & so on....it is a shame this man did not fulfill his contractual obligation. Was he bonded & insured? When doing business of this sort it is best to hire people who are bonded & insured.
On the other hand there are many people who hire contractors & never pay them & yet nothing can be done except filing a lien. Maggies restaurant comes to mind as such an example.
May 10, 2009 at 11:21 p.m.I have to say if it was my mom, i would not have to build her an 800 foot house to stay in. I would take her in my home if she needed help. While I can understand Dr Farrell and the problem, why is it making it seem like he can't move his mom down now. Let her reside with you.
May 9, 2009 at 4:40 p.m.At least Dr. Ferrell has a civil judgment good luck collecting tho, especially since the state slapped another judgment on Mr. White, and, as I'm sure we all know the state will get there cut first.
"The commission levied $260,000 in fines against White and declined to renew his builder's license."
May 9, 2009 at 3:37 p.m.Having been ripped off myself I can understand the frustration. Please allow me to scream: HOW ABOUT THE ADVOCATE PUBLISHING A PHOTO OF MR. WHITE SO EVERYONE IN TOWN WILL KNOW NOT TO DO BUSINESS WITH HIM?
May 9, 2009 at 3:30 p.m.Sounds to me like the builder premeditated or planned to "fraud by deception" if I'm using the correct terms. As for Tyler-well-they didn't do anything to him,so, why should he get involved? (if you know what I mean). I, too, was ripped off several years ago, and I feel for this couple. It seems to me that if the state would pursue things like this with the zeal they do Child Support Evaders, they(the couple) would get their money back. Yes, I know it's a different topic all together, but I'm just using it as an example.
May 9, 2009 at 2:51 p.m.hey zorro maybe you should have a archie bunker attitude! you have to look at people from a different perspective! just assume that those types are either drunks or crackheads!
May 9, 2009 at 2:47 p.m.it's funny how the law works sometimes! it is never a clear issue!
May 9, 2009 at 2:44 p.m.I hate to hear when people are taken advantage of because of their good faith in other humans beings! what a big letdown! seems like there's a scam everywhere and anyplace!
May 9, 2009 at 2:42 p.m.the law is the law! I'm sure it's more technical than what we assume it to be! I sympathize for this couple and I know that it must be quite discouraging for them!
May 9, 2009 at 2:36 p.m.A long time ago, I had a day labor guy working for me for a few days, which I paid cash at the end of each work day. One morning I gave this person $150 cash and a list to go buy some building supplies. He never returned. I called Victoria Police Department to file a complaint. The cops told me that since I had technically "given" him the money they could not do anything about it. Despite giving the police the man's name and address, they refused to even investigate it. The cops told me that was the law, and unless the person had robbed me by force or stolen the money it was not a crime. I did not take it to the DA at the time. This is a true story, I am sad to say.
May 9, 2009 at 2:33 p.m.Taking the Ferrell's money, not doing the work and skipping town is NOT theft? Tyler claims he'd have to have proof that White planned to steal it is necessary before he can prosecute him?
"White, during his deposition, said he teamed with Keith Bitterly of Victoria, and both decided to use the Ferrell's money for other projects."
"I was paying off bills we had gone into debt with," White said, according to May 21, 2008, deposition documents. "We had several jobs before the Ferrell job that we used the money for. So, as that deposit came in, it was covering some of the other jobs that we had already started."
Well Mr. D.A., doesn't that mean he admitted that he planned before hand to misuse the Ferrell's? If you too busy dragging out your "conspiracytheory case", why not have one of the Asst. D.A.s handle the case or is it not high profile enough for the exalted D.A.s sense of importance. How about doing your job of protecting the PEOPLE of Victoria City and County for a change?
May 9, 2009 at 2:11 p.m.