Consumer 6: How To Select A Competent Home Builder

The dream of building a new home is a dream many couples share. Darren and Leigha Bloss's dream began in Skiatook when they hired Ron Mayfield of Lifestyle Custom Homes to build their home. Mayfield

Friday, January 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The dream of building a new home is a dream many couples share. Darren and Leigha Bloss's dream began in Skiatook when they hired Ron Mayfield of Lifestyle Custom Homes to build their home. Mayfield began construction of the house in June 1999. The Blosses say that by October, only three and a half months later, it was evident their dream was fading fast. "When we got a lien for $26,000 from Pixley Lumber, obviously we knew something was wrong,â€ Bloss said. â€œWe started making phone calls to contact Ron at that time. He assured us that everything was going to be taken care of."

Instead of construction continuing smoothly, more suppliers and subcontractors began to file liens against the Blossesâ€™ home. The suppliers claimed they hadn't been paid by Mayfield. The liens added up to more than $50,000. This was when the couple decided to confront the builder in person. "He stormed out of his house towards us and was basically very verbally abusive towards me and my wife," Bloss remembered. Mrs. Bloss recalled Mayfield saying that they could forget about seeing their money again. The money he was referring to was $50,000 that the Blosses say they paid Mayfield.

The couple fired Mayfield and hired a lawyer. However, they are still stuck with an unfinished house. The staircase isn't completed. Neither are the floor finished, the light fixtures hung or the fireplace completed. They've spent more of their money to fix certain areas of the house, but they don't know if they can afford to finish it. "Every week, we're receiving liens,â€ Mrs. Bloss said. â€œWe know that we already paid for certain items. We know that people could try to foreclose on our home,â€ she continued. â€œ Weâ€™re trying to decide if we should use our savings to finish the house." Bloss says all the work on their new home may be for nothing. "They can come in and foreclose on your house,â€ he said. â€œAll the things that we've worked our whole lives for can be taken away from us within weeks."

The Blosses soon learned that there were others fighting the same battle. The Smiths live in a different town in a different county, but they had also hired Mayfield to build their house. They have also had the same problems. â€œWe could lose everything,â€ said Shawn Smith. â€œWe've been married for 26 years. Itâ€™s scary to think that we could lose it all.â€

The Smiths fears began in September when the couple says Mayfield stopped the construction on their house in Claremore. Suppliers and subcontractors began to contact the couple for payment. "Quite honestly, when I started getting the liens, I went into somewhat of a panic,â€ Mrs. Smith recalled. â€œI began to call some of the suppliers to find out if they had been paid."

The suppliers told her they hadnâ€™t received payment and wouldnâ€™t finish the job. The Smiths then decided to try to find Mayfield. "For a month, I tried to call him at every phone number he gave us including his office, pager, cell phone, and home phone,â€ Mrs. Smith explained. â€œHe would not return our phone calls."

Since Mayfield never returned their calls, the Smiths decided to finish the job themselves. This would mean spending even more money. "We'll have to borrow more money on top of the money we already borrowed to pay off the liens," Mrs. Smith said. As a result, the couple is deep in debt and fear foreclosure. They never dreamed it would end like this, because they checked Mayfield's business history.

Both couples say they talked to former customers and even looked at their homes. But Bloss and the Smiths both say a deciding factor was Mayfield's background. At one time, was a Tulsa police officer. He joined the department in 1978 and retired after spending 20 years on the police force.

The News on Six tried to contact Mayfield several times by phone and also sent him a letter to explain that we wanted to hear his side of the story. When he didn't respond, we sent our Consumer 6 producer to his home, but his dog chased her away. Finally, he answered his phone when she called him, but he still wouldnâ€™t talk with us.

Consumer 6 did some checking on Mayfieldâ€™s home construction business. He officially started his business 14 months ago. During that time period, he left a trail of unfinished homes in several counties. The News on Six has talked to other families, all former Mayfield clients, in Osage, Pawnee, Rogers and Wagoner Counties. All of the former customers say they, too, have thousands of dollars in liens filed against them. We also learned that one of the builderâ€™s recent customers is also a former colleague from the Tulsa Police Department. Two of the counties are now investigating Mayfield and collecting evidence against him. The Smiths say they have enough evidence. They even filed a police report. The Blosses already went to court and received a default judgment, but they doubt they'll ever receive their money.

Oklahoma doesn't require home builders to have a license, so you should check with the Better Business Bureau when picking your builder. You should pick a builder that belongs to a professional organization like the National Association of Remodelers or the Home Builders Association. â€œWe try very hard to screen all of our members,â€ said Tulsa Home Builders Association president Linda Johnson. â€œWe make sure they're carrying all the insurance they need, and that they have the financial backing to complete their homes."

Members of the H-B-A must use the Better Business Bureau's arbitration program if there's a problem. Mayfield is not a member of the H-B-A, so it has been difficult for his customers to fight back. So now they are fighting him in court. "Right now we're just trying to get Ron to pay off the liens and finish our home,â€ Mrs. Smith said. â€œThat's what our goal is. We just want our money back. We want our lives back. We want to get our savings back and have some security."

In an attempt to get some of their money back, the Blosses say they plan to ask the Osage County Sheriff's Office to investigate Mayfield's company. The Pawnee County Sheriff's Office and the Rogers County District Attorney's Office are already investigating the builder.