Thanks for sharing your experiences, very insightful.
I'm also in the beginning steps of hiring a GC and getting a construction loan.

Would you please share what you're going to do different with the next GC?

I have old friends/neighbors helping me out this time. This relationship can bring it's own challenges, but the reality is they are good, honest people.

I would avoid fixed contracts. I foolishly believed I would benefit from this last year. Obviously it was a major backfire. Cost+ contracts make more sense in today's environment with inflation and supply issues. I would go with a builder that can front all the costs of materials to get started. I would check all receipts and invoices prior to making a payment to the builder.

If a builder can't agree to this, I would wait until I could find another builder that could. So far, none of those requirements have been an issue with my new builder. They worked on my house from late September to late January without asking for a dime.

Congratulations but sorry to hear that you had to go through this process. Can you now disclose the contractor's name if the court case is closed?

Always the tricky part.

There is obviously still a lot of raw emotion going around. The DA also expects an appeal, though they are confident it won't get anywhere. I'm still going to wait a few days (possibly longer) before I go public with names.

There is an Aggie homebuilder up in Georgetown has left a lot of folks high and dry in Cimmaron Hills country club. Ashby Signature Homes. There are houses that haven't had any work on them in over a year.

I am the retired DA who suggested you sit down with a prosecutor and discuss a criminal case. What county is this in?

I sent you a PM. Thank you very much.

Glad for the good news.

Out of curiosity what was the PI cost?

We're rapidly heading down that hole and it's not going to be pretty. There's been lots of rumors about a very large lawsuit involving the builder but I haven't found any public info on it.

Oh no!

Yep. Averaging 2 days of work per week and different guys almost every time. I doubt anyone is getting paid.

EDIT: NM

What's the latest with this? Where are you located? I'm finding more and more people suing our builder. For the life of me, I do not know how the owner sleeps at night.

So was the smoking gun a video camera showing him moving material off your property? Or was it just a paper trail saying he bought the lumber, etc and it never showed up.

East of San Antonio.

We moved into the house after the first of the year. I don't think any of the parties are on speaking terms but there were no liens (or enforceable contracts).

docb said:

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There is an Aggie homebuilder up in Georgetown has left a lot of folks high and dry in Cimmaron Hills country club. Ashby Signature Homes. There are houses that haven't had any work on them in over a year.

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Interesting. Looked them up, legal action was taken.

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) A grand jury in Williamson County indicted Georgetown homebuilder Norman Ashby on the charges of witness tampering, theft of service greater than $300,000 and misapplication of fiduciary property greater than $300,000.
Court documents KXAN obtained Monday detail those charges further.

• Court records Ashby allegedly mishandled customer's money: A grand jury believed there was probable cause to believe Ashby "comingled" more than $300,000 he received from a man, who the OAG said was a customer, with Ashby's business account connected to Ashby Signature Homes, LLC. The indictments documents state this was done "in a manner that involved substantial risk of loss" of the customer's money.
• Witness tampering: The court records said that this month, Ashby reportedly addressed a man who was going to be called to testify to a grand jury in this case, "falsely" told that man he was "one of the targets of the investigation, with the intent to influence" the man to either lie, withhold information or abstain from the hearing.
• Theft of service: This charge, according to court documents, is related to a five-month period starting at the beginning of last year when Ashby allegedly didn't pay thousands of dollars he owed to an electrical company.

"I'm very surprised to hear it. I knew he'd had some financial trouble, but did not realize to this level," said Elbert Johnson, one of Ashby's former customers. "We built with him back during the pandemic, generally it was pretty good. Pleased with the property, pleased with the house."


WILLIAMSON COUNTY Norman Ashby, 46, of Georgetown, TX, has been indicted by a Williamson County Grand Jury and arrested on the felony charges of Misapplication of Fiduciary Property (greater than $300,000), Theft of Services (greater than $300,000) and Tampering with a Witness.

Ashby was the owner of Ashby Signature Homes, LLC, in Williamson County. Over several years, Ashby allegedly collected millions of dollars from customers to construct homes in Williamson County. Many of these homebuyers paid for nearly the entire project in cashoften amounts approaching or exceeding $1,000,000. Rather than putting the construction funds into a trust account (as required by law), Ashby is alleged to have comingled the customer funds. Those funds were then used for personal purchases by Ashby and for projects not related to a specific customer's deposit. The alleged fraud is in excess of $10,000,000.

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-secures-indictment-against-williamson-county-homebuilder-norman-ashby-0

It looks like a lot of the legal tangle is getting resolved on those essentially abandoned homes. I've seen activity on a few of them lately. I'm sure any new builders would have been wary of getting involved in a home that's sat vacant in various states of completion. I don't blame them.