Couple says builder was supposed to finish house in two years, still wasn’t done in three

DENVER, N.C. — A Denver couple says they hired a company to build them a house, but three years later it still wasn’t done.

Candace Bishop says she and her husband signed a contract for new home construction in February 2021. It says the house was supposed to be ready in two years, so February 2023.

Bishop says they paid the builder, Nest Homes, almost all of the $553,000 price.

“All our money is tied up in this. It’s not like we can just go buy another house,” she said.

She says Nest did a lot of work but didn’t make that February 2023 deadline. She says the company texted them, promising to wrap up by September.

“Well, that came and went and we’re still waiting,” she said.

Bishop says porches weren’t finished, along with grading, electrical fixtures and outlets, molding, gas hookups, and more.

“We’ve been told time and time again they’re going to get done and they’re not getting done,” she said.

She says because it was taking so long, they lost their shot at a 3% interest rate and some of the subcontractors got liens on the property.

“A lot of crying, not sleeping at night. Just feeling lost, feel like I’m stuck in quicksand,” she said. “We just don’t know what to do. We just feel stressed and stuck. We’re just not really sure what to do, to be honest. There’s got to be a way out of this.”

There was: Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke.

In January, Stoogenke messaged the company through its website. He didn’t hear back, but Bishop says the next day the builder emailed them with a game plan and followed through.

Then the liens went away and, finally, it happened — they emailed Stoogenke last month to tell him they had moved into their new house.

Stoogenke tried to get in touch with Nest multiple times in different ways since the end of January, including again Monday, but did not hear back in time for this report.

The Bishops say the company still has to fix some items on their punch list, like some shutters, electrical issues, and a leak in one of the bathrooms. Action 9′s reaching out to the builder to try to help with that as well.

If you have problems with any major home project:

- You may want to talk to a lawyer.

- You can report the company to the state licensing board.

- If you exhaust all your other options, there’s always the North Carolina Homeowners Recovery Fund.

The N.C. Homeowners Recovery Fund:

- The project has to involve your home, not a commercial building.

- It can be your primary residence or a second home, as long as you don’t rent that home out.

- The project has to be attached to your home, so not a pool or detached garage, for example.

- The contractor has to be a licensed one or one pretending to be licensed.

- You have to exhaust all your other legal remedies first. That means you have to sue the contractor and win a judgment, and the contractor still doesn’t pay.

- Where does the fund get its money? $9 of every permit pulled in the state goes into the fund.

- The maximum you can get is 10% of the total. But the Board has to maintain $250,000 in the pot at all times.

- The Board has hearings twice each year.

VIDEO: ‘Such a blow’: Some homeowners say builder left them in bad shape

‘Such a blow’: Some homeowners say builder left them in bad shape

©2024 Cox Media Group