with the project way behind schedule, his architect came to evaluate the work and gave scher some distressing news. most of this house has to be torn down that he s built over here because of the floors. you know, it just drops down from there. how it just drops down all the way. you can see it drops down more than like 2.5 inches. that s why this whole thing has to be torn down and redone. and how did richard martinez deal with scher s increasing concerns over the quality of his work? one day i came back in the evening to have a look. i see all the tools are gone, all his equipment is gone. and i phoned him up and i said what s happened? he says he s not coming back, he s going broke. i said you re going broke? i ve paid you just about the whole contract, you haven t even done less than a third of it. brian scher was about to lose more than just the $85,000 he had paid for shoddy work. just days after that phone call scher received this $27,000 bill from the local lumber compa
pickering doesn t seem all that upset. you want to see tears on that camera, or what? investigators confiscated $1,500 in cash from pickering to use as evidence. because, they say, being an illegal contractor is his main source of income. 13, 14, 15. msnbc wondered if the arrest, his third in five years, would scare pickering straight. so we went to his house the day he was supposed to show up in court. instead we found pickering loading up his tools and heading off to a job. this doesn t surprise ernestine bibbs, who, like the morgans, paid pickering for a faulty heating system. it was intentional, and that s what bothers me. he was intentionally going out trying to take advantage of people. bibbs won a judgment against pickering in small claims court, but he never paid her a dime. he s still running around out there, and i m really surprised that the state can t catch him. so why can t contractors like pickering be stopped? states view homeowner complaints as strictly
and i phoned him up and i said what s happened? he says he s not coming back, he s going broke. i said you re going broke? i ve paid you just about the whole contract, you haven t even done less than a third of it. brian scher was about to lose more than just the $85,000 he had paid for shoddy work. just days after that phone call scher received this $27,000 bill from the local lumber company, lumber that scher had already paid martinez for. the company immediately put a lien on scher s house. what brian scher didn t appreciate at the time is the financial power of that contractor s license. the same license that is supposed to protect the consumer. because in california, like many states, homeowners are on the hook if their contractors buy materials or hire subcontractors and don t pay them. that s right. even if you can prove that you ve paid your contractor, angry vendors can hold the homeowner responsible. in one last ditch effort to try
is this really your contractor s license number? can you just can you loosen that one a little? loosen both of them. thank you. does tim know you re using his license number? yes, he does. you know he could lose his license for that? can he? yes, he can. even with cameras rolling pickering doesn t seem all that upset. you want to see tears on that camera, or what? investigators confiscated $1,500 in cash from pickering to use as evidence. because, they say, being an illegal contractor is his main source of income. 13, 14, 15. msnbc wondered if the arrest, his third in five years, would scare pickering straight. so we went to his house the day he was supposed to show up in court. instead we found pickering loading up his tools and heading off to a job. this doesn t surprise ernestine bibbs, who, like the morgans, paid pickering for a faulty heating system. it was intentional, and that s what bothers me. he was intentionally going out