contractor. it was learning that this man, their trusted real estate agent, paul stickney, was a corporate officer in contractor dick birgh s company, hih. we found out that paul stickney is actually the vice president of home improvement help, as well as being a real estate agent. in fact, birgh wasn t even licensed at the time he started work on the decourseys house. we ve found other people who have also been through this, and it s we can understand that it s a pattern. that he shows houses that need work, brings in his contractor, the contractor gives a favorable number on the repairs, the house is sold, he makes his commission, the contractor gets work for something he would probably not be given personal recommendation for. we decided to try to get some answers. we found the agent still selling homes like this one, a million-dollar estate just
tropical storm irene s flood waters. one official says it could be years before the state s roads are back to their prefloodwitt. more news in one hour. see you then. if homeowners think that all one has to do to avoid disaster is hire a contractor with a license, think again. consumers are not out of danger, not when there are questionable contractors like the one that brian scher hired. if i wanted to make money, if i was a criminal, i would do this and i guarantee you, i could make millions of dollars. and i mean, this is what these people get away with because there s nothing to protect consumers like us. scher says his home remodeling nightmare began after hiring this man, contractor richard martinez. he said he caught you posting $300,000. no. before hiring contractor martinez to build his dream home in orange county, california, scher says he did everything right. he checked martinez s license on the state website and called all his references.
was helping out a friend. dumb? yes. unintentional disclosure? no way. i disclose everything to everybody. in fact, i m one of the best disclosures of the stuff i know of anybody in the business. ask around. stickney does admit he didn t disclose to the decourseys that he and contractor birgh had a land investment deal. he insists there was no conflict of interest saying one had nothing to do with the other, and what about those assurances he gave the decourseys about the superior quality of dick birgh s contracting work? i said for the type of work which i was, you know, recommending, which was cosmetic upgrades, maintenance items, that i felt he provided more value for the finished product than other contractors i had dealt with. even though he wasn t licensed? i didn t pay attention to licensing for any of my subs, and dick told me that he disclosed that to carol and martin well before they ever
he says his company didn t exist before their remodel. there was no company. the company was formed for the benefit of them. that s how it happened. they were told up front long before this happened, because it was their choice. if you want me to help you, i need to have a company license. they said, yes. that s how it happened. they knew that you were not licensed? definitely. i d say he s a flippin liar. we would have never agreed to use an unlicensed person or an unregistered person. why would somebody do that? we had just come to this state. we didn t know any of the rules. we relied on paul stickney to keep us holy and straight. despite his claims, this state document shows that birgh founded his company in 2001,
have turned their lives upside down. we are on the verge of financial ruin. we could be looking at homelessness. instead of dreaming about their golden years, software engineer mark decoursey and his wife, carol, spend sleepless nights worrying about their future. it has been an absolute nightmare. the person that we blame for it is the real estate agent who swore to us repeatedly that this contracting company was the best that he s seen. that agent is this man, paul stickney, who they blame for what has become a three-year nightmare. i wanted to talk to you about a story we re doing about the decourseys. yes. and about the fact that you were financially involved with the contractor that they hired. the decourseys say their problems began in october 2004. like millions of americans who relocate each year, they placed their trust in a real estate agent, who helped them find this house in redmond, washington.