The board that polices California’s construction contractors has moved to hold troubled ADU builder Anchored Tiny Homes accountable for myriad consumer complaints.
“Our initial accusation here is just filed against the contractor's license in order to seek revocation of that license,” said Supervising Special Investigator Jerry Hassan, with the Contractors State License Board. Hassan said the board referred a case to the California Attorney General’s Office. The AG did not respond to a request for comment.
The CSLB said it is making various allegations, including “violating home improvement contract requirements” and “receiving / requesting more money than work completed.”
“That’s the least of my concerns,” said Anchored Tiny Homes' CEO Colton Paulhus, by text message, late Friday. “I just feel horrible for everyone.”
Over the past week, NBC Bay Area has been in contact with 20 frustrated Anchored Tiny Homes customers who have little or nothing to show for the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars they paid the Sacramento-area builder. Many Bay Area ADU buyers say work is unfinished and subcontractors are unpaid.
“I want to know where my money went,” said Maria Djapounova of Walnut Creek.
The families’ worksites and dollar amounts varied, but their call has been the same.
Several customers called the company’s conduct criminal.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
“At least investigate them,” said Girija Subramanya of Cupertino.
Hassan, the contractor board investigator, said his team is still looking into Anchored Tiny Homes practices and at least 9 additional complaints where a violation was "probable."
“We may make separate referrals to local DA’s and prosecuting agencies to go ahead and handle criminal referrals,” Hassan said.
Paulhus is outspoken about his ambition to become a billionaire. Well, his company has joined the 1%.
Of the 285,000 licensed contractors in California, Anchored Tiny Homes is now among the roughly 1% that the state ever takes legal action against.
Sometimes, the contractor board gets people their money back. It said it got contractors to return $40M in 2023. So, is restitution a possibility here? In a text message Friday night, Paulhus said, “the business has no money and is bankrupt unfortunately.”
Recently, Paulhus said “I’m broke.” He said he drove a luxury Bentley, but the bank repossessed it. “Couldn’t make payments,” he said by text message.
So where did the customers money go?
“It was a shell game,” said Anchored Tiny Homes’ former chief operating officer Chris Pace. “This is the way I look at it: if you take $5 from one pocket and put it in the next pocket, you don’t have $10. But that’s how they were actually presenting it.”
Paulhus has denied Pace’s allegations.
The contractor board is encouraging other Anchored Tiny Homes customers to file an official complaint. You can do that at cslb.ca.gov. Investigator Hassan said it’s key to share your contract and payment history.
You can also share your story with the NBC Bay Area Responds team.
