This post is a warning to anyone trying to hire a licensed contractor in Arizona, a state with a myriad of corruption and loopholes which allow licensed con-men like John Scatterday to rake in hundreds of thousands in extortion money without leaving their office or picking up a hammer.
In my search for a GC for the a tiny-house project, I came across an ad on craigslist for GC services by JLS development. He texted me back saying that the way his service works is he would put his license on my project for $1000 and then I should “terminate” him the day after the permit is issued and do it myself, something he explained is completely legal.
He has me print and sign a cookie cutter contract saying that I would be putting $1,000 down on a supposedly $30,000 job and the rest would be due upon commencement of the work. This seemed fair in all circumstances so I signed it.
I engaged with this among other options as i’ve tried 28 contractors so far, but ultimately decided against it because I need a licensed guy who knows what he is doing to actually do the work, particularly the electrical so we don’t have a fatal fire risk to the future occupants.
The next day, I decided not to pull the permit and he demanded money anyway, first he wanted the $1,000. Then he said well what about $500? I sensed scam behavior and told him I wasn’t interested in going forward with it.
He cursed me out and demanded $3000 for his time texting me thus far “consulting” as he claims to have spent 3 hours texting me about the job and charges $1000/hour for consults although this was never mentioned in a contract or verbally. I replied that he should actually be the one reimbursing me for the business license application I paid for on his behalf.
He then threatened to lien my property so I told him I would report him to the contractors board (ROC) for selling his license illegally but he retorted that they “won’t take action” because the supervisor of investigations, Alex Figueroa, “is my buddy i’ve known for years”
I called Alex Figueroa and asked him if selling your contractor license is legal and he told me that “a contractor license is like a drivers license.. the driver has to be in the car but not be the one driving” (which is ironically just as false as the lie he was trying to sell me)
But John was right… the ROC was in his pocket because as of three weeks later, they have tossed my complaint.
In retaliation for me reporting him, he began the lien process on my property, mocked me in harassing messages, and called the city to tell lies about me saying that I was scamming them (I cannot imagine how) in the hopes that they would not allow me to build my house there with any other GC.
In a few months, my property which I spent $57,000 on improving will belong to this con-man who as far as I can tell never used anything but his cell phone sending crude messages to “earn” it from me.
In Arizona, anyone with a contractor license can abuse the lien system to take your property and without spending tens of thousands in legal fees, there is not much you can do.
He is generously offering to remove the frivolous lien if I pay him by zelle.
Unfortunately, at this point it seems that the Registrar of Contractors only condones or ignores this behavior but I am hopeful they will put a stop to it to protect first time homebuilders like me.
Stay tuned.
