Buyer beware

Unfortunately, skipping the license search and verification step, and only taking the word of the contractor, has been costly for several Macon County homeowners as they have shared similar experiences after contracting with Gregory Ellis Hatter, owner of the Wilson County-based business Anything Construction and Remodeling.

“He (Hatter) told me that he was licensed and insured,” said homeowner Jereca Vandervoss. “I have all the text messages to prove it. After the fact, when we started having issues with him, that’s when I started digging around and found out that he hasn’t had a business license since 2018.”

Homeowner Letitia Chambers added, “I honestly thought that I had checked his credentials online. The only thing that I found was that he was not a part of the Better Business Bureau, but I know a lot of people who own their own business, and for whatever reason, they are not a part of it either. But not knowing that you could go to the licensing department, I asked him and took him at his word, that, yes, he had everything (a business license and insurance).”

Like Vandervoss, Letitia Chambers and her husband, William, and their next-door neighbor, Ronald Love, contracted with Hatter to build garages, and all say that they have dealt with incomplete, inferior work.

“We hired him to build a garage,” said Letitia Chambers. “He got it about two-thirds of the way done, but when it came to the electrical inspection, it failed. The electricity failed on Jan. 5. Then, he came back once more and then walked off the job.”

Vandervoss added, “He built a garage for us. It was almost completely finished, but he didn’t come back and finish the punch list, so I refused to pay him my last payment because the job wasn’t done.”

Besides incomplete work, the homeowners say that the initial contracted price also changed multiple times and that, because Hatter left the job after being paid and did not return to finish the work, they have had to pay twice, since other contractors had to be hired to get the job done.

And according to William Chambers, both he and his neighbor are out thousands of dollars.

“My neighbor, Mr. Love, and I, we have already bought the brick,” said William Chambers. “We’ve already hired brick layers and had the bricks installed (work that Hatter had been paid to do). I called him (Hatter) and said, ‘You owe me money.’ He said, ‘I don’t have it.’ That was his answer. Plus, Mr. Love gave him a deposit to have a concrete pad poured in front of his garage, which has never been paved. So, he (Hatter) has almost $30,000 that he’s been paid, but yet doesn’t have the money to (finish the job).”

Love added, “He was building a detached garage for me. He was supposed to do a lock-and-key job. I told him what I wanted him to do, which was to hand me a key when he was finished. At first he told me that he wanted $73,000 (to do the job). Then, he called me back the next day and said, ‘Well, it’s going to be a little bit higher. It’s going to be around $74,000.’ I told him, ‘That’s not bad.’ Well, so far, I’ve got $75,000 in it, and the job is not complete.”

In addition to failed electrical inspections at all three job sites, the homeowners all say that they had to deal with other sub-par work, such as cracking concrete and leaky roofs.

“He put my roof on, and it leaked immediately,” said Vandervoss. “I had to have the entire roof replaced, because it couldn’t be fixed. I had to replace the entire roof, and my concrete is cracking.”

Feeling that there is little recourse, Vandervoss expressed how painful it has been to deal with this situation.

“It’s just been a headache,” said Vandervoss. “Justice needs to be served. It’s not fair to anyone, and nobody else should have to deal with him (Hatter). He really knows how to work the system.”

Although Letitia Chambers indicated that she reported Hatter’s company to the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, according to Lafayette Assistant Chief of Police Jason Roberts and Macon County Sheriff Joey Wilburn, there have been no reports to the Lafayette Police Department or the Macon County Sheriff’s Office regarding the activities of Anything Construction and Remodeling.

After multiple attempts by the Macon County Times to contact Hatter, he has failed to respond.

For homeowners considering future home improvement projects, the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance’s license search and verification website can be accessed at www.verify.tn.gov.