More residents are speaking out against a local home remodeling business they say is scamming families out of thousands of dollars and leaving their homes unfinished.
Maggie Contreras-Husen says her Levelland home was once a place for gatherings with family and friends. Now, it’s only a “skeleton,” full of memories, rubble and dust.
“If you were to walk around this house, you would be shocked,” said Mrs. Husen.
“We’ve always enjoyed this house, it’s always been considered one of the prettiest houses on the block,” said her husband, Mr. Richard Husen.
In July, the couple made the decision to make some renovations to their home. They searched for local contractors online, and found Castle Rock Finishing, LLC. They were impressed by the online reviews posted about the business on HomeAdvisor. After speaking with and meeting the business owner, they say they were “sold,” and ready to begin work.
The renovations to their home were expected to be completed by late December, and because of the harsh winter, were then extended to January 15th. Several months and $92,000 later, the couple says there’s not much to show for what all was spent.
The couple has been living with Mrs. Husen’s brother in town. They have been paying $328/month for the two storage pods outside of the house where they moved most of their belongings into after the business owner said it would make work go by much faster if they temporarily moved out.
“I want to know where our money went, their [other families’] money went because we – obviously none of us have anything to show for it yet,” said Mrs. Husen.
A few weeks ago, the Husens decided to go with another local contractor and have already seen vast improvements in a short amount of time. Their house is expected to be finished by April 1st.
In Lubbock, another resident says she and her family also had a negative experience with Castle Rock Finishing.
On July 4th, 2013, the Gonzales family’s home caught on fire, completely destroying the second level of the house. After reading positive reviews online about Castle Rock, they decided to reach out to the business for help, a task the company seemed eager to take on at the time.
“He [owner of Castle Rock Finishing, LLC.] told us he was really excited about this job because he had never done one this big,” said Britney Gonzales. “So, he made us think that our house was just going to be his pride and joy. It was going to be a stepping stone for him and his business, so we’re like he wants to take all this time and do our job right because it’s also going to further his business. We were really excited to get started.”
What was supposed to be an eight-month job, turned into a 17-month ordeal for the young family who had already lost so much in their house fire.
“He would get the money, work for a week and then just disappear,” said Gonzales. “At the time, we were under insured so we knew we were going to have to use most of our personal property money to rebuild our house, and so he asked us for a cap. He asked ‘what is the maximum that you want to do?’ And by the end of it, he gave us a bill that was almost 30,000 dollars over what we told him.”
The Gonzales family wound up paying an estimated total of $160,000 over the course of the 17 months, only to end up cutting ties with Castle Rock and switching over to another contractor after they were left with cracks in the ceilings and floor, poor paint jobs in the bedrooms, improperly framed doors, unfinished fireplace and more.
“It’s just unfortunate that he feels like can treat people this way,” said Gonzales. “And to use people, and that he claims that he’s a ‘family man,’ and that it’s a ‘family business,’ and he just shuts one company name down and starts another and just continues to do this to people and it’s just not right. It’s frustrating.”
The two families say that although they would like their money back from Castle Rock, their main hope is that no more families fall “victim” to what they believe has become a local scam.
“This is not going to go on anymore, this stops now,” said Mr. Husen.
Everythinglubbock.com attempted to reach out to Castle Rock Finishing over the phone on Friday. Calls made to the business owner and the company numbers listed for Castle Rock Finishing and JD & Sons (owned by the same individual), went unanswered.
Management of South Plains Industrial Park says the owner has been locked out of the two facilities he rents out for his business, due to unpaid rent for the past three months. At six months, they may begin to auction whatever materials are left inside.
If you ever have any questions or concerns regarding a local business, you are encouraged to contact the Better Business Bureau of the South Plains. You may contact them at their main number: (806) 763-0459