Several North Texas residents have been left frustrated after paying thousands of dollars for a contractor company to build pools and driveways on their properties.
According to a report by NBC 5 News, Billy and Anny Nguyen hired JDM Contracting & Development to build a pool house, driveway, a pool, and a half basketball court in February 2021.
The Nguyens had been working from home all through the pandemic and decided to embark on the project.
“We’re all working from home now, let’s have a pool, let’s hang out with the family and create new memories with our little ones,” Billy Nguyen told NBC 5 News in an interview.
The Nguyens signed with the contractor, also known as JDM Pool & Patio, and paid $110,000 in three installments. Anny said JDM was able to get most of its payment for the project after digging the hole.
The Nguyens revealed that the last of the three payments went to JDM in November 2021. However, JDM stopped work on the family’s property and ceased all communications, according to the Nguyens.
According to NBC 5 News, court records showed that the contractor company, JDM Contracting & Development, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in February 2022.Â
An attorney involved with JDM’s bankruptcy case said the company had experienced difficult times and had to turn to bankruptcy law.
“It does complicate things because you can’t do anything,” explained Mark Ticer, an attorney not involved in this case, told NBC News. “You can’t sue them, you can’t make demands on them.”
Ticer stated that, in general, consumers have a difficult time obtaining money back when a contractor abandons a project.
“We’re still making those payments to the lender,” Billy said about the payment made to JDM, “and all we have to show for it is a hole and an unfinished driveway.”Â
Kerri Heidkamp told NBC 5 News that she hired and paid JDM a $3,892 deposit in December 2021 to extend a patio. However, according to Kerri, no one from the company came to complete the work since one of its workers dug a little trench.
Kerri eventually hired someone else to finish the work.
“I’m not really sure what I could have done other than doing a personal background check on the man himself,” Kerri said. “What do you do?”
Mia McKenzie said her family has to start all over again after paying JDM a $10,000 deposit to build a pool and a patio that the company never worked on.
“We were supposed to have a pool and our patio and everything done,” Mia said.
Like Mia, Miguel Garcia said he paid JDM $7,000 in July 2021 for a project that was never started.
Miguel said he never heard from JDM Contracting & Development after paying the deposit.
