Erick H Millholland - WLAM Construction and Roofing Ripoff! Contractor fraud Springfield Illinois

The rest of the story....Yes, it was and still is a nighmare for us!!!

We did not even see a contract until about three weeks into the job. He was just too eager to start. That should have been our first clue. The good contractors are busy in the summertime.

Erick H Millholland dba WLAM Construction and Roofing began in July 2004 and he was last seen at the 33088 West Shore Drive residence on October 23,2004 by Tim Hamby, the logger. WLAM'S truck was parked in the driveway and workers were seen working outside the main house and the unfinished garage and studio.

At the time we were staying at Studio 1 in the Marysville area. Erich called us at the Studio 1 room and was very angry threatning to come find us. Erick was upset because he had lost his 5 star rating from Service Magic. He again asked for more money. We said he would not get any more money until he finished at least one project. He told Ed Foote that he and one of his workers planned on coming to the residence on Monday October 25th to "finish the roof and build stairs". He never showed up on that Monday, October 25th.

On October 20, 2004. we received a fax to the hotel again asking for more money. That was week 13 or 14 of the project which was supposed to be done in an estimated 7-10 week completion date. At this point Erick was charging us for work he hadn't even started working on.

The last three weeks both Ed and I witnessed people putting siding on the main house and one or two people working in the "master disaster" of the main home. The ?head worker cut out the main supporting beams and also opened up the front wall even more than it had been.
This room that was supposed to be the master suite is still open to the elements and only covered with a tarp. The cap of the roof was not put in place on either the main house or the unfinshed studio above the garage. There were multiple leaks in both the main house and the studio apartment. The so called skylight in the main house was only covered by a piece of plywood.
Due to the moisture and leaks there is now black mold forming on the sheetrock and the insulation of both buildings. No steps were ever built to the front door or the unfinished studio. The sheetrock in the studio and the main home was put in place before any electrical or plumbing inspections could be done. Now all this has to be removed and inspected. There live wires in both the main house and the studio. Erich was seen by my husband and myself doing his own plumbing and electrical work, or at least attempting to do so. He literally stuffed the live wires anywhere he could and/or covered them with sheetrock. Erick received a citation from Mike Jones from Washington State Labor and Industries, to redo the electrical work and have it inspected, but of course he never did.

Labor and Industries also cited Erick Millholland for failure to disclose lien information to us. No permits or inspections were done by WLAM and nothing is built up to code standards. In Erick's own words, he did substandard work on the main house to attempt to get the studio finished in a reasonable timeframe, but of course he did not. He blamed everyone, but himself!!!

Erick and his employees did not frame the garage correctly and that was his area of expertise.
He did not finish siding the home.

All the sheetrock has to come down to get the electrical work inpected. Everything room he touched he and his crew demolished and has to be redone.

One of his main employees told us that he quit because of his "game playing".

We hired a house inspecter, and he stated that Erick had left our home in a "state of demolition".

There are live wires behind the sheetrock and wrapped around a main post in the living room.

Erick Millholland basically left us to live in a death trap. We lived in a tent all last winter to keep from freezing to death. He had taken the wall heaters out and then he tryed to hide mold
without telling us.

He left on a Sunday and we passed him going to the house. We were in a state of shock when we saw how he left it. He took a liveable home and made it unlivaeble. He realized about halfway through the project that most of what he said were lies.

We have him over 70K to demolish our home. The only project that was completed (I think) is the foundation work.There still isn;t a garage floor and there are no steps to the unfinished apartment. He left the cabinets that were suppossed to be installed in the apartment out to rot outside.

Washington Labor and Industries are the ones who suspended your license, not us. They were appalled
by his shoddy work.

I don't have a problem being open minded here. My father was a builder in the '70's, my late husband a master builder in the '90's, so I've been on a few job sites.

You said in your initial rebuttal that there was no reason for the tarp on the roof, but in your follow up, you say that there are two skylights that need to be finished. So, in regards to this, is the roof finished and weathertight or not?

I can understand the 'friend' thing. I've seen it happen in the past. (Funny thing about most 'friends' that are going to do this type of work for you.... a LOT of times they fail to show up, and you have to go back to the builder/contractor to get the job done correctly and in a timely manner.) Did you make sure that this was noted in the original contract? The things that you are NOT going to do should be noted in writing and signed by the homeowner for YOUR protection.

Another thing that I don't understand is why so much work was started simultaniously. You said that you have a small company (again, I can relate). Why, then would you attempt soooo much work at the same time. I may be way off base here, but it was common practice to begin and finish one area (drywall, taped and sanded not painted, ceiling finished,and floor ready for carpet or lino), before moving on to another. The room would be ready for paint and flooring before we moved on to any adjoining room. (If the room was not adjoining another room, ie: bedroom or bath, the room was completed prior to moving on to the next room). At this point in the job, we would have the homeowner sign off (approve) the work that had been completed, make a draw or receive payment from the homeowner, and move on to the next room. This practice was for our protection, as well as the protection of the customer. In the case of a homeowner paying out of pocket for remodeling expenses, we required a deposit equal to 20% of the contract total, (for materials), and payment at the completion of different stages of work. There was most often a 'lien' clause in the contract, allowing the builder to attach a lien to the homeowners property in the case of non payment of XXX amount, which assured payment for the work performed at some time in the future, since the homeowner couldn't sell the home without paying the liens to clear the title (deed). The homeowner also had advance knowledge that work would be performed in stages, and that if payment wasn't received at the end of each noted stage, work would cease. It was also noted in the contract that should the homeowner make any changes to the original work contracted, they would sign a change sheet, and any additional monies involved would be paid 50% prior to the work being performed, and the remaining balance paid prior to moving to the next stage. Did you have any of these protections written into your contract? (Yes, I understand that you had scheduled payments due, however, with the massive changes that the homeowner signed on for, there should have been a clause for deposit of a %, and a clear timeline for payment. Failing that, it would have been our stance that until payment was made, no further changes would occur.)

I'm not trying to sound so cynical Erick, but given your statements that you've had no complaints prior to Cheryl's, I have to assume that you've been in this business for awhile. This being the case, I would have expected more protections in the contract (and certainly NOT the excessive amount of money that you claim she owes, unless she had a verified loan for the work so that you could make draws to keep your out of pocket costs down), and a more conservative work area. I will give you the fact that there are people out there that will take advantage of a poorly drawn contract, that will use 'disability' and 'gender' to any advantage, and those that will sign a contract with no intention of following through. If this is the case, it's been a hard lesson for you, and if you're truly the builder that you claim to be, I hope that you'll continue your work, and put the knowledge that you've gained from this experience to good use in the future. In the meantime, check out your options to clear your name, including suing the homeowner for the payment that you are owed. I understand that you would have to pursue them for the payment, but you may have the option of getting a judgement and placing a lien. I understand that it's not much solace at this point to be able to collect years down the road, however, it gives you some options, as well as having the satisfaction that a court has said, "He did the job he contracted to do, and the homeowner failed to uphold their end of that contract."

I eagerly await your response, for several reasons. 1. There are some good builders out there that have been taken advantage of by homeowners. 2. Some of your statements in your reply lend themselves to your credibility (hence the reason why I ask for clarification of the above), and 3. You are correct, there are two sides to every story, and you deserve to tell yours. If this was simply a case of a good builder with too much trust (it happens), I hope that you are able to move on in your profession with added safeguards to protect you and the homeowner in the future.

the owners had there own friends that were going to do the plumming and electrial. the roof was finished
and a tarp was placed on it by the customerthey had two sky lights on either end of the roof that needed to be finished,the customer had picked out a flush mount sky light and then changed their minds and wanted a curb mount and had not picked them up yet so after we had left we put small tarps over the two holes ,they must have put the big tarp up later. and as for the room with the tent it is a open beam ceiling.

also i did contact a lawyer i paid $2500.00 dollar retainer.to fight this after court dates were sent i ran out of money like you said it was alot of money
she owed me and this job was to take me through the winter untill my next house started in january .so i had to make the the hard choice to cut my losses or try to fight and spend more money then i had at the time.

If you go to labor and industries web site you will find only the one complaint and it's from cheri. as for the fines i agreed to do some wiring
and plumming for her in the new two story garage and studio behind the house that you cant see, so the could move in temporay,untill there friend could get there. im not a plummer or a electrition i was trying to get them out of the motel they were taying in. my bad because they used it agenst me later. and for the permit all my contracts and many other contractors have the customer file and obtain the permit. this location was twenty mile in the mountains by a lake and no permits were required for the work we started out to do.
not untill we started the garage and studio.

I was a small company and did not have a big bank roll saved when this happend and would have costed several thousands of dollars to pursew just to win and still not recive any compesation as she stated
she was broke and the courts would leave it up to me to collect....

.Ive had many houses inspected and passed no problem. the only thing that did not pass was the electrical and the plumming in the new studio.nothing was touched in the house accept the bath room.

If you or anyone else have question please let me know here i will check her daily like i said before i just found this website last week. i will answer all questions. i have nothing to hide i will even give as many referals needed to put my name straight.

p.s. if i had the money i would have fighted this to the end

Ok, I've looked at the pictures. I've read both report and rebuttal. Here are a few things that just don't make sense to me.

1. Ok, I understand that the poster chooses the pictures that they want others to see. Taking this into consideration, it still doesn't explain why a)You would leave a brand new finished roof covered by a tarp. It's quite apparent that the tarp is held on by 2X4's or similar, that are attached to the roof edge. Are we to believe that the homeowner put these up here just to make you look bad? b) You've gone to lengths to tell us how much work that you've performed, yet it's noticeable that some of the work I would have expected to see isn't there.... ie: insulation in the walls, drywall on the ceiling to close it up. Why would you finish the roof, and not move to the ceiling? I see in the room with the tent that the walls look finished/taped, is this the room you said needs carpet? Where's the ceiling?

2. The homeowner can do their own plumbing and electrical. That's true, however, how many homeowners are qualified and/or feel comfortable doing this? Did you make it clear that you would NOT be taking care of these things in the contract? I'm sorry, but I don't see the homeowner agreeing to take care of these things with one party disabled and the other being a female (this is not meant to sound discriminatory, as I'm female and there's NO WAY I'm messing with either my electrical or plumbing systems!) The homeowners that I do know that would take on this type of work certainly WOULDN'T take out kitchen, bath, and heating systems all out at the same time. They'd finish one room at a time, not gut out a home that they were trying to live in!

3. You claim that you have proof of the homeowners contracts, changes, and money owed. I'll give you the fact that I know many homeowners that make changes as you go, so that's a given. BUT, I also have to give consideration to the fact that the homeowner says that you had NO building permits (these are seperate from plumbing and electrical permits), that the home doesn't pass code, and even the roof that you claim is done doesn't pass structurally. Could this be the reason that they stopped paying you? I'm surely not going to pay for something that isn't right until the situation is rectified to my satisfaction. If it's simply a matter on non-payment on the homeowners part, why didn't you pursue payment through legal means, instead of leaving the state for 'a new start'? I certainly wouldn't walk away from this sum of money if I knew that what I had done was correct! I'm going to stand my ground and get paid for the work that I've done!

I'm sorry, Erick, but your rebuttal just doesn't hold water. It sounds to me like you've managed in the past to scrape by, and this time, you got caught by a homeowner that wasn't going to be taken. A stand up 5 star contractor/builder doesn't forget to get permits, (by your own admission, you were fined for same), but someone who doesn't want his work inspected DOES. A stand up 5 star contractor helps the homeowner to understand the changes that they want to make, the consequences financially and structurally if they do, works those changes in following a logical order, not haphazardly, causing the entire home to be torn apart at the same time. A stand up 5 star contractor doesn't walk away from $26,000+ in work performed, they take legal steps to get paid, including but not limited to liens on the property in question.

Cheryl and husband, You've been shafted. Contact an attorney to find out what your options may be. Contact your local housing commission (this isn't HUD, at least in our area) and find out what kind of grant options may be available to you. This will normally be listed under your county offices. Make sure that you keep documentation of everything, including any of the repairs that you need to do just to make your home 'livable' (ie, water and heat). Good Luck and keep us updated.

we moved to start over and its not springfield il its mo.

The job that is in question was a nightmare from the start. the customer and i sat down for two weeks before we even started the job. we went over the whole project in detail . first off in my contract
it was clearly stated that the permits for this job was the responsibility of the home owner. the house was left in a unfinished state because of lack of payment. there was a $10,000,00 dollars ballance left on the first copy of the contract. and over$15,000,00 dollars in change orders that were signed by the custome before the additional work was even began. The customer was not on her right mind.
the job starting falling apart when they came to visit the job site for the first time , this was after we had already done two weeks worth of work
the owner loved what we had done they added more work which added more time to the job and more cost
which they agreed apon. then after thie first visit
they would visit the site every week .they would look over the work and give us more work to do .they just kept adding and adding more work, which was fine i would give them a price and they would sign it . 5 weks into the job they starting acting very wired about everything we would move a door were they wanted it not more then we would move it they would want it in a nother spot .we moved the front door five different time. and finally i refused to move it any more it was wasting my time and there money.

then they started buying thing off e-bay windows nine of them , they wanted them put into the mesh of thing i gave them a price for the window instalation and the agreed apon the price.

we put the windows in the places we both agreed on had the new sheet rock in lace and ready to finish
when the showed up and wanted to move four of them
i quess they had a idea how they would look even better somewere else , i said fine gave them the new price to move them and buy new material to replace what we had already done...

and it dont stop there she wanted to redue the kitch they would buy the cabinets and i would redue them . they refused to go and get cabinets that fit instead they ordered them off e-bay
from a house that had 9ft ceilings and they have 7ft ceilings whitch did not fit in there house
every time we turned around they were bring stuff over they bought off e-bay and storing it at the job site.there was so much stuff by the 6th week we could not store any of my tools or materials
let alone work . it seemed like every time we would start getting ahead they would come and change everything, ( just keep in mind i have signed change orders for everything)

im not going to get into any more of the details but just remember we did not lose our lisence do to anything that happened at this job ,yes i did get a couple of fines but they were just for no permit, no electrical lisence, and no pluming liseence. in washington state the home owner can do all there own electrical and plumming and they ewere to do these projects them selves and after i left the job they desided to throw it on my lap

We lost our lisence do to lack of funds to pay our
insurance and bond. cheri did not have the money to pay for the changes . we only left after they failed to make the next scheduled payment .and it was clearly stated in my contract that work would stop if a scheduled payment was missed.

In the mayham of all this i lost my house my buesiness, and was forced to move. cheri and her husband owe a ballance of over $26,000,00 and thats not encluding loss of wages for me and my employees. we were on a website called service magic. com and rated a 5 star company for three yr
and have never had any complaints untill we ran into cheri and her husband.

So when reading there statments just remember there are always two sides to a story. and i can back up my side.

I have documents that are signed buy the customers
i have reciepts on moneys receved. and documents of every change or strange thing the customers did
when i wasnt there.

If there were other complaints on me or my company
i could see were this may be true but theres not
i operated a good honest company and lost it due to a women that over spent her budget and is taking it out on me. i had hundreds of satisfied customers the only complaint you will find is cheri's



in the pic provided by cheri all she shows is what she wants you to see. the roof is covered by tarps
which are not necessary there is a new standing seam metal roof that was finished and water tight
you can see the new sidding we put on looks good
all that was need in the front room was new carpet
and the sheet rock painted, she did not show that
the cluttered mess you see in the one pic is what we had to deal with because of the things they ordered off e-bay its funny how a customer can go out there and say whatever they want and get it publicated on a site like this but at least i can defend my self. and the only reason it took so long is i just got a e-mail from a friend telling me about this site .

I have said enough

The contractor fraud happened in Mount Vernon, Wa. but I believe the contractor Erick H. Millholland has fled the state of Washington after his contractor license was suspended by Washington Labor and Industries.



He fled the state and is thought to be in Springfield, Illinois now.