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In this episode of Chicks in Construction, Mikki Paradis and Jessica Abreu dive into a homeowner story involving mold, excessive humidity, HVAC problems, poor ventilation, and major construction issues that eventually led to a lawsuit.
The homeowner discovered mold appearing throughout the home, including inside cabinets and around areas where water was stagnant. After testing, the source was connected to extremely high humidity and problems with the home's HVAC system. The home was reaching 70 to 80% humidity, the HVAC system was not properly removing moisture, and water was found inside the ductwork. The attic was also poorly ventilated, and the home was not fully weatherized.
The repairs quickly became expensive, with estimates reaching $60,000 to $80,000. The story eventually uncovered documents that allegedly showed the previous owners knew about similar problems before selling the home. The homeowners are now involved in litigation and say they have documentation supporting their case. The hosts discuss the importance of inspections, documentation, proper HVAC installation, ventilation, weatherization, and understanding what you are getting into when buying a home.
Mikki and Jessica also talk about why they want to hear stories from both homeowners and builders, including situations where homeowners may be contributing to construction problems themselves.
If you have a construction story to share, visit chicksinconstruction.com. You can also find Chicks in Construction on TikTok at @chicksinconstruction and on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at @chicksinconstructionpodcast.
00:00 Welcome to Chicks in Construction
05:00 How this homeowner story began
10:00 Mold found inside the home
12:00 Problems with the shower
16:00 Mold and stagnant water
18:00 HVAC and humidity problems
21:00 The HVAC installation issues
23:00 Poor attic ventilation
25:00 The cost of fixing the home
28:00 Why the homeowners went to court
31:00 Evidence and the legal case
34:00 Health concerns and living with mold
36:00 The homeowner's health improved
38:00 The seller disclosure issue
40:00 Discovering the previous lawsuit
43:00 Evidence in the case
45:00 A possible fight and win story
47:00 How to submit your story
Creators and Guests
Host
Jessica Abreu
As a social media expert, Jessica has a knack for identifying what makes each business unique and translating that into powerful, engaging content that resonates with clients and customers. From crafting tailored strategies and managing accounts to recording on-site content and boosting engagement, Jessica and her team handle it all so their clients can focus on what they do best.
Host
Mikki Paradis
President & CEO at PDI Drywall Inc. Mikki founded her first construction company, PDI Drywall Inc, in 2005 while she was still a student at NC State. After growing PDI into a multimillion dollar company, she has become an accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, and advocate for innovation in business and leadership. With a passion for empowering others, she has built a reputation as a forward-thinking professional dedicated to driving growth and fostering meaningful connections. Known for her dynamic energy and ability to inspire, Mikki is deeply committed to creating positive change in her industry and beyond. Whether through her entrepreneurial ventures or speaking engagements, she consistently challenges the status quo and encourages others to reach their full potential.
What is Chicks in Construction?
You plan your renovation with excitement, trust your contractor, and hope for the best...until things start going sideways. That’s when most homeowners realize they didn’t know what they didn’t know.
From permits that were never pulled to “contractors” who ghost after demo day, the construction world can feel like a maze of hidden costs and shady shortcuts. Too many homeowners end up confused, overwhelmed, and out of a lot of money.
The Chicks in Construction Podcast is here to change that. Hosted by Mikki Paradis, a licensed general contractor with 20+ years of experience, and Jess Abreu, a homeowner turned construction content creator, this show breaks down real renovation horror stories and teaches you how to protect your time, money, and home.
After building a multimillion-dollar drywall business and helping countless homeowners recover from construction nightmares, Mikki is on a mission to make sure you go into your next project informed, not blindsided. And Jess brings the perspective of someone who’s been in your shoes and now knows exactly what questions to ask.
Submit Your Construction Horror Story: https://chicksinconstruction.com/
65 - Chicks In Construction
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Mikki Paradis: [00:00:00] Well, hello, and welcome back to another episode of Chicks in Construction. I'm your host, Miki Paradise. This is my amazing co-host.
Jessica Abreu: Hi, I'm Jessica Abreu.
Mikki Paradis: And this podcast really just exists to try to help you, the homeowner, the potential homeowner, or the person who just loves a little bit of tea, construction addition.
So we compile stories. Sometimes it's submitted by our amazing viewers. Sometimes it's things we source. Sometimes it's a little, a little drop in the TikTok DM, you know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. They slid right on
Jessica Abreu: into our DMs. They went
Mikki Paradis: right in. Joe's, Joe's gonna ... Joe's having a nightmare with us today. I'm just telling you right now, the amount of editing he's having to do because we cannot get it together is high.
But so, that's, the podcast is here to help just homeowners. And to be perfectly honest, we have been asking, and I am, I have been trying to source for [00:01:00] some time now, a builder or a building professional that will come on the show and tell us stories about homeowners behaving badly.
Jessica Abreu: Ooh.
Mikki Paradis: I am work- I'm, I got one on the line, and I'm working on having them on the podcast one of these days.
Because we, we want to acknowledge, in the realm of fairness, that there's two sides to every story, and that two things can be true at the same time. Homeowners can have a really terrible experience, and sometimes homeowners can be their own problem. That's not the case in our story today. Yeah. But for the purpose of explaining, like, full transparency, we do acknowledge that sometimes homeowners can be the problem.
We wanna share those stories with homeowners. It's just hard to get people to come on the show- And share them ... and tell us. Mm-hmm. And I get it, because they think, "Okay, well, it's gonna affect my ability to get more clients," because I'm a, you know, they'll be afraid that you're gonna go on a podcast and talk about them.
And I understand that fear. But-
Jessica Abreu: They could also just send us their story, and we will not
Mikki Paradis: say who they are You can also send it to us. We don't, [00:02:00] we can change all the names. Jess is really good about that. Me, not so much. I make Joe work really hard. He works hard for the money we pay him, I'm telling you right now.
But it's two sides, and we wanna share that. So if you are a builder, and you feel like you've watched a couple of our episodes, and you're just like, "How come nobody's talking about the b- the builders or the homeowners that are really putting the builders through their paces, or are really just not living in reality?"
Well, we'd love to talk about it. Because we think that we have an amazing base of subscribers that- Yeah ... wanna take responsibility for their bad behavior sometimes. They wanna know what is and isn't, um, accepted, acceptable. We need to be able to tell them that. Mm-hmm. So if you have a story- Send it
chicksinconstruction.com. Send them in. You scroll down, type it out, get your little cat hands clacking on them keyboards. Send us a story, and we will share it with our, with our viewers- Mm ... with our homeowners. Because we want them to be fully better, not just knowing how to deal with shady [00:03:00] contractors- Yep
but also knowing- How they need to be part of the solution and not the problem. So I'm just, we're just throwing that out there. There you go. Just throwing it out there. I feel like the TikTok has been ... So we've, we've probably discussed this too much, I'm not gonna lie. TikTok's been blowing up a little bit.
Jessica Abreu: It has been.
Mikki Paradis: It has been. So and a lot of people have been sharing stories with you on the Tok.
Jessica Abreu: They do. They love to send me their stories. I love it when they're, they send me the first message and it's like, "Hey, is this the real Chickens, Chicks in Construction podcast?" I was like-
Mikki Paradis: Who's the fake one?
Jessica Abreu: Yes.
Mikki Paradis: Who's out here representing us that's not real? I would love to know. Because can some of y'all direct your nasty comments to them? Take them. We'll take the good comments, and you can take the nasty comments and take it to the fake Chicks in Construction podcast.
Jessica Abreu: Well, I will say, as of late, we have been getting way more good comments.
Yay. And people that are happy that we are here and explaining things that they have- It's
Mikki Paradis: catching on.
Jessica Abreu: It is. And honestly, the stories that people sh- are [00:04:00] sharing with us, um, one, I feel bad for them, but also, two, it's really great to be able to share with other homeowners so that if they're having a similar issue, they're not like, "Oh, you know, it's just me."
Yeah. Like, "I'm just being- Yeah ... you know, overly sensitive," or like, "I don't wanna make a big deal." No, go ahead and make a big deal. Make a
Mikki Paradis: big deal. Like, l- who started, "I don't wanna make a big deal"? I always wanna make a big deal. Now, obviously you're clocking that I'm a, like, slightly mentally ill, which is fair, but I don't, I did not come here to be a little deal.
Jessica Abreu: No.
Mikki Paradis: I didn't come here to be not a deal at all. I came here, if I'm gonna be a deal, it's gonna be big. If I'm gonna make a deal, it's gonna be big. I'm just saying, be a big deal. We wanna hear this. And isn't that, like, so the story we have today kinda came from a story that, one of our podcasts-
Jessica Abreu: Yes ...
Mikki Paradis: and we kinda just threw it out there, like, "Hey, we don't know what this is."
Mm-hmm. "We want, if you know what this is, write in." And so, like, that podcast s- stirred up a lot of [00:05:00] responses, and this came from that.
Jessica Abreu: Yes. Yes, 'cause what ended up happening is we shared this, a story, um, about HVAC and the wa- walls sweating- This lady, her
Mikki Paradis: house was like- Was,
Jessica Abreu: like, mushy ...
Mikki Paradis: 80% humidity. It was genuinely it was moist.
It w- Sorry. Oh. I'm sorry.
Jessica Abreu: Um, yes. So we shared that story, and I shared a clip of it on TikTok, and then this woman was like, "Oh my God, I think that I have information for them to be able to help them kinda, like, fix," but I- Which was
Mikki Paradis: amazing ...
Jessica Abreu: um, but, like, I wanna know- The collective ... she wanted to know a few more details of it And I was like, "Oh, you have a similar story.
Would you mind sharing? And also can I share?" So she agreed, um, to be completely anonymous because she is- Yeah, she is in
Mikki Paradis: active litigation, which just feels like just- That- ... every episode these days-
Jessica Abreu: She is in a- ... is active litigation. Yes. She is in active litigation. Everything is allegedly.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah.
Jessica Abreu: But I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you
Mikki Paradis: about it.
Josie's gonna [00:06:00] do, we do, do wanna do one caveat. Um, we're gonna do our absolute best to be as, as anonymous as we can. Um, there is Th- this story takes place in the South. She wants us to just say the South. Uh, we do want to acknowledge, though, that there's different laws in different states. And so one thing that's really unique about some southern states, or just in particular one southern state, which is apparently, they just did the research.
There's only one state in the, in the union-
Jessica Abreu: There is one state in the union ...
Mikki Paradis: that has seller beware r- rules over buyer beware. So, like, for an example, I'm currently, like, in the process of potent- potentially buying a house in the mountains, and it sounds really just, like, illustrious, right? But it's really because we're doing a project up in Western North Carolina, and I'm, you know, we're bringing laborers, 'cause there's just not a ton in the area.
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm.
Mikki Paradis: And that's kinda why we were brought [00:07:00] in, because we could travel and we had, we had the workforce. Nobody wants to provide us with housing. Like, I've, I... 'Cause I, as, as- Yeah ... an Airbnb owner myself, I think it's really important just to be upfront with people. Mm-hmm. So, like, when I've had several people rent our, our unit and not tell us that, you know, this is for a construction crew.
And I understand why they don't, because I've experienced so many people tell me no, um, that they just lie and say, "Oh, I'm renting your house for a week." And it's like you look and you're like, "Oh, that's funny. You're not there, but there are strangers in my house." So that's actually not legal. Um, so
Jessica Abreu: I- Oh, so they're not, they're not- Yeah
the construction worker working- Yeah ... and renting.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah.
Jessica Abreu: It's the owner of the company- Yeah ... sending his-
Mikki Paradis: Yeah.
Jessica Abreu: Oh.
Mikki Paradis: And I get it, right? 'Cause, like, we're experiencing that right now to the point where we're literally talking about buying a house because we are gonna have something like 30 people, not all at the same time, but, like, over the course of the project- Right
we'll have, like, 30 different people that [00:08:00] we need to provide housing for. And so many people, when they find out that I'm, like, 'cause I'm honest, like I own a construction company- But- ... it's my guys- I don't
Jessica Abreu: understand why that would be a problem, because in my eyes, 'cause I also have Airbnb-
Mikki Paradis: So many people. I don't even know what you're gonna say, but I know what you're gonna say.
Jessica Abreu: I would rather have a company that's going to put guys there- Right ... because if something does happen, you're going to fix the problem. That's exactly, we have s- And, like, they're not going to do anything foolish- Exactly ... because they don't wanna get fired.
Mikki Paradis: So many s- like- Mm ... literally you're the third person when I've kind of told, like, the problems that we're having about finding housing.
You're the third person- God ... who's like, "Contractors are the best people," which is hilarious, because there's this one lady who was very cool, and she didn't give us a hard time about- Mm ... renting her house at all. We've already helped her fix her dryer, which was not correct, connected properly. Like, we are troubleshooting her house.
I'm like, "We're the best people you wanna have in your house." So anyway, just to explain to you, we're, we're [00:09:00] looking at buying a house. We're in that process. And North Carolina is a s- buyer beware state. Mm-hmm. If the seller, the seller does not have to disclose things that they know are wrong with the house No,
Jessica Abreu: they have to tell you if there's things that are wrong
Mikki Paradis: They don't.
So we're... I thought that too, and then I was dealing with our realtor, and she said that they only have to disclose certain things. Oh. Like, if it has, if there is a report and there is, like, proof that they have had this repeated problem with the house- Mm ... they have to disclose it. But the, even the language on that is a little fuzzy.
So she was just saying that's why home inspections and all these different inspections are so important when you're buying a house in a buyer beware state- Mm ... because technically even if the seller knows, "Well, yeah, it's, we do have a leak ro- a roof, you know, that leaks, but we're not gonna mention it," that's on the s- [00:10:00] buyer, not the seller.
But some states, in a state in the South, has a rule that is the opposite. So if you the seller do not disclose-
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm ...
Mikki Paradis: you were telling me that, like, they, the state can force the person who sold you the house to buy it back. Yes. Which is wild. That's absolutely wild. So all that knowing- Mm-hmm ... we, we are gonna probably disclose a little bit more than this person would want us to, but you're never gonna be able to figure it out who it is.
Don't even try. Don't even try.
Jessica Abreu: Don't
even. Sure. Jess is like, "Eh."
Mikki Paradis: It's fine. All right.
Jessica Abreu: So we're gonna dive into it.
Mikki Paradis: Uh-huh.
Jessica Abreu: Um, so the first thing that they found in their home was mold in our shower door railing.
Mikki Paradis: You shared that with me and I was like, "¿Cómo se qué?" What?
Jessica Abreu: So, um, so I guess it's not abnormal, but it was black and would come back [00:11:00] instantly, like- Yeah
everywhere. So okay, like, you might not think anything of that. Yeah. And when she said it's funny enough, her cat really liked it.
Mikki Paradis: Which is weird.
Jessica Abreu: Yeah. When you
Mikki Paradis: told me that I was like, what?
Jessica Abreu: They like the smell
Mikki Paradis: of it. See, I don't have cats so I don't know how they roll when it comes to organic growth.
Jessica Abreu: Yeah.
So my assumption is that whatever scent it was giving off- The cat ... the cat would just notice it. Oh, it
Mikki Paradis: was giving- So the cat was probably- ... like, cat nip vibes. Mm. Okay.
Jessica Abreu: Okay. Okay. So the cat probably noticed it even before- The cat
Mikki Paradis: was like, "Mom, something's happening here. Let me knock it off the table."
Jessica Abreu: Yeah.
Like a... Like, like the bomb dogs. They're like, "There." Here. Here. It's right- "There's something here." This
Mikki Paradis: is where the problem is.
Jessica Abreu: Um, so when the person was selling this house, they put on the shower door upside down. I've seen
Mikki Paradis: worse, but
Jessica Abreu: And they, so that it opened, they bought it so that it opened the wrong way, so they put it on upside down and then jerry-rigged it so that- Yeah
it would close.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah. [00:12:00] Like, why? We could flip it the other direction, but why? Why when we can just figure out how to make it work inappropriately
Jessica Abreu: Could go back to the store and just buy the one that opens the correct way. But that was too much work. But
Mikki Paradis: who are we to judge?
Jessica Abreu: Or it was, oh, Home Depot had this one, uh- Right
like, on a discount because This one's on sale.
Mikki Paradis: We're gonna make this work ... because it's wrong.
Jessica Abreu: Um, so they did a mediocre job, and it was dripping water under the shower insert. So-
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, you, so, so just, like, um, just to be clear, you shouldn't have access to your shower insert. So your shower insert should be completely sealed.
Mm. There shouldn't be no, "Oops, water was getting under there." So just if you are ever looking at water get under your shower insert, call somebody.
Jessica Abreu: And for those of us who don't know what a shower insert is, what is that?
Mikki Paradis: Okay, so there's a couple different things. So you have your shower pan, which can be an insert.
Like, [00:13:00] it's, um, it's the thing you're standing on. Like, it, like, some people have tile- Mm-hmm ... but some people will have, like, a, it's, like, a fiberglass pan that goes in, and it's supposed to be built, like, at an angle so that when you stand in it- The water
Jessica Abreu: goes down to the drain ...
Mikki Paradis: yep, the water goes down the drain.
But there's also, like, an insert that's like a tub, 'cause, like, in multifamily we use inserts a lot. Mm. So it's the tub goes in, and then there's this, instead of tile- Mm-hmm ... this, like, shower, the tub surround that then goes on top and it's, like, waterproof. Like, it connects- Got it ... to the point where water can't, shouldn't be able- Mm
to intrude past it. So there's a couple different inserts. In my mind, I, I- It's
Jessica Abreu: gotta be just the shower one ...
Mikki Paradis: it could, but the thing is n- at no point should water, either one of those, water shouldn't be getting into- Under ... or under. Yeah. Like, it's, it's a on-top kind of situation. On top.
Jessica Abreu: Water belongs here.
Mikki Paradis: If it's going underneath, we need to call a plumber or Jesus. [00:14:00] Mm. Or both. You can call both. But somebody's gotta make a call.
Jessica Abreu: so after removing and sealing the quarter-sized hole, we confirmed with wa- wall exploration- Ooh ... that we were dry and mold-free. Mm. So yay.
Mikki Paradis: That, we don't hear that on the show much.
Mm-mm. So that's awesome.
Jessica Abreu: Good job, DIY Fixer Man. The
Mikki Paradis: last lady took a hammer to her shower- Mm-hmm ... and found black organic material
Jessica Abreu: Which could have been mold. Allegedly.
Mikki Paradis: Allegedly.
Jessica Abreu: Uh, we didn't have a working dishwasher at the time, so I was hand washing and drying all the dishes.
Mikki Paradis: Okay.
Jessica Abreu: This part totally grossed me out.
Not that she's washing the dishes by hand. That's totally acceptable. The, the part that's coming up next. We're getting to it. Dun, dun, dun. Um, usually if you don't dry cups all the way, or if a drying mat gets sour, you might see like a pink growth or green.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, I've seen it. Yeah. I have. Not 'cause I wash dishes, just like in my [00:15:00] life I've seen
Jessica Abreu: it.
Yeah. I have seen that light pink
Mikki Paradis: color. Yeah. Like, yeah. Like, or like a, like a kinda crusty yellowish. Hmm. Gets weird. Yeah. Gets weird.
Jessica Abreu: Usually it's different every
Mikki Paradis: time. Jess is like, "Make here disgusting," and that is fair, 100%. She's like, "
Jessica Abreu: Oh, or is..."
Mikki Paradis: Yeah. "Or is
Jessica Abreu: that?" I
Mikki Paradis: mean, Jess doesn't come to the house often.
There's reasons.
Jessica Abreu: Can I bring my own cups?
Mikki Paradis: She does, 100%. And she does not drink our water, which is fair.
Jessica Abreu: Just kidding, our house is not bad. It's... She's making it sound like it's condemned. Uh, there's just a lot of animals and plants-
Mikki Paradis: There's a
Jessica Abreu: lot- ... and things ... all of
Mikki Paradis: that. So many things.
Jessica Abreu: Um, but I kept finding mold that was black in all places where water was stagnant.
Mikki Paradis: Dear.
Jessica Abreu: Under the bottom of clean cups, plates, and bowls. What? In our- That
Mikki Paradis: I've never heard of ...
Jessica Abreu: in our cabinet.
Mikki Paradis: No.
Jessica Abreu: So the only way in my mind that you would get that is, like, if you were taking a wet cup and putting it there, and then, like, it- [00:16:00] there's no air that can get under there.
Mikki Paradis: So, like, mold can only grow when something is continuously wet.
Oh. So, like, the whole thing... Like, when, when, when mold became a big scare item, which it should be, like, mold can be very scary, and people have different tolerances to it. But, like, for the, for the longest time in construction nobody talked about it, and then all of a suddenly everybody was freaking out about it.
Mm-hmm. And the thing for, uh, me as a drywaller that was so frustrating was, you know, it's not the drywall that is the problem. Drywall can, is, is made out of all water-soluble products. Like, it's all- Mm-hmm ... organic material. So if it gets wet and it dries, there's no reason that you should be worried about mold.
Right. Especially on, like, a product that has antimicrobial properties like a water or a moisture-resistant drywall. Like, even there, like, if it's drying, you're fine.
Jessica Abreu: Right.
Mikki Paradis: When something gets wet and it stays wet- Mm-hmm ... that is where mold comes from. Mm. And so the fact that mold is just appearing inside a cabinet means that it is so moist [00:17:00] in her house.
I know we hate that word, I'm sorry. I don't know- It's all right ... a d- a better word. That's all right. It's juicy. No, it's just wet. It's mushy. It's damp. It's damp. Damp. Jo says damp. It's so damp inside her house, literally inside of her cabinet- Mm-hmm ... that the conditions are p- appropriate for mold to grow.
That's wild. Inside of a cabinet? Like, that... If, if there's no water- Should not happen ... source inside a cabinet, there should not be mold. Mm-hmm. Like, absolutely not.
Jessica Abreu: I had a drying mat that was porous and I kept seeing little black dots on it. So I turned it upside down and the whole bottom was molded and black.
Mikki Paradis: Oh, God.
Jessica Abreu: And I'm just thinking like how long was that there?
Mikki Paradis: On your k- For me- But that- ... like if that happened to me you would know it's because I did something stupid or I, I left that mat there for seven years. But like if this lady's got mold growing in her cabinets, it could've just been there a couple of days.
Right.
Jessica Abreu: That's fair. Um, so after about two months of steadily finding this, I spoke [00:18:00] with my husband and we decided to make sure we didn't have a leak-
Mikki Paradis: Yeah ...
Jessica Abreu: that had happened be- um, to become the source of the mold which would fuel the consistent findings. So once we hired a mold remediation company to come and test is when we realized it was the HVAC and our home's humidity to be the cause.
Mm. Which tracks. Mm-hmm.
Mikki Paradis: I think it's important to note, something that drives me absolutely bonkers, uh, about a decade ago it became this thing where energy efficiency became the most important thing, and energy efficiency meant that none of our houses have any air leaks.
Like, there's no outside air coming in. Mm-hmm. And so we started sealing everything, and we started using like a zero, you know, it's like a zero loss system where there's absolutely no air intrusion and there's no like w- nothing. Nothing. The house is hermetically sealed. The problem with that is all of our [00:19:00] building materials are built and, and engineered in a way for airflow, for movement- Mm-hmm
for there to be some air, air coming from the inside and going from the outside in. Yeah. So that air exchange is really, really important. And nobody wants to pay the amount of money that they have to pay for these very, uh, extreme HVAC systems- Mm-hmm ... that will pass the air through. So they wanna put a regular HVAC sy- system in a house, but then they also wanna make it zero penetrations.
There's no movement coming in and out. Mm-hmm. It's all, it's, it's energy efficient. Mm-hmm. But what it is actually is creating the perfect storm and the perfect conditions for mold to grow because there's no airflow. It's not moving. What would be drying out, because there's kind of a natural give and take- Mm-hmm
outside, inside, it's sealed. Mm. So it's just sitting in there. Just sitting in there. I don't know if that's the case here- Mm-hmm ... but that [00:20:00] is something that everybody needs to understand. The more energy efficient your house is, that's great, but your HVAC system has to compensate and has to have a system that will allow air to be moving even when the air or heat is not on, 'cause that's when it also becomes a problem.
Becomes a
Jessica Abreu: problem.
Mikki Paradis: Mm. Sorry.
Jessica Abreu: It's okay. Back
Mikki Paradis: to you, Jess.
Jessica Abreu: In this issue with our current home is the issue was a combination of things. It took about a year to fully figure out.
We live in the South.
Mikki Paradis: Yep.
Jessica Abreu: So humidity is all year long. Y'all,
Mikki Paradis: we do humidity hard. It is so humid here. You don't even say it's
Jessica Abreu: that
Mikki Paradis: bad here. It's September. It smacks you in the face it's so humid here. I don't care. The other day I was just sitting outside and I went ba- I went from outside to inside. I, my shirt was wet.
It was that humid outside. I know you're thinking it's 'cause you're a sweaty hoe. It, that's not it. Yeah, I wasn't sweating. It was just that humid. I was just damp. Back to the story, sorry.
Jessica Abreu: Uh, [00:21:00] we had mold in our entire HVAC system. Ugh. And when we found out that it, when we found this out, it showed us that our home was sitting at 70 to 80% humidity.
Our walls were wet and our HVAC system wasn't dehumidifying. Ugh.
Mikki Paradis: The
Jessica Abreu: HVAC was a part of the problem because it was installed incorrectly. Shocker. With the drain for the unit having an actual cap on it. Never allowing the water the HVAC pulled out of the air to drain.
Mikki Paradis: Oh my God. Really? Wow. Why
Jessica Abreu: would they put a cap on that?
That seems foolish. I
Mikki Paradis: don't-
Jessica Abreu: Maybe they just forget to take the cap off when they installed it.
Mikki Paradis: Maybe. Maybe. It could be actually, 'cause they do have to, 'cause they have to test the system. Well, not an HVAC. They put a cap on plumbing. No. Like that- Mm-mm. Mm. I, I can [00:22:00] ask a friend. I'll phone a friend, but- We will
Jessica Abreu: phone a friend later
Mikki Paradis: I don't, yeah, that seems weird. When
Jessica Abreu: replacing our entire HVAC system, they popped off the vents in our room and water-
Mikki Paradis: Ooh
Jessica Abreu: no ... poured out of the duct. This explained why it could be 70% relative humidity
Mikki Paradis: Yeah ...
Jessica Abreu: outside- God ... and our home would read 80%. I, I can't imagine walking into my house and being like, "Oh, it's still bleh."
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, no. That, yeah, that's-
Jessica Abreu: That would immediately to me be like- Something's wrong ... something is wrong here. Yeah. But listen- We are not judging ... we are not faulting you.
Mikki Paradis: We listen. We don't judge.
Jessica Abreu: We are not. Nope. But I'm- I
Mikki Paradis: judge everybody else, but not you guys.
Jessica Abreu: So if you are walking into your home and it feels muggy and sticky- Just
Mikki Paradis: as humid inside as it is outside
Jessica Abreu: there's a problem- There's a problem ... with your HVAC.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah.
Jessica Abreu: Yeah. Phone them immediately.
Mikki Paradis: Immediately.
Jessica Abreu: Immediately. Do not walk, run. Don't walk, run. As Jess says. The HVAC was pushing wet- Ooh ... moldy air into our [00:23:00] home. The home was still sitting at almost the humidity of outside after replacing the HVAC system and- God
did a small particle. I don't know what that means.
Mikki Paradis: Like a t- particle test maybe.
Jessica Abreu: when the HVAC was replaced, our guy said the attic was poorly ventilated, and he was correct.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah.
Jessica Abreu: Which is another reason why our old HVAC and the previous owner's first HVAC had this problem. It was sweating way too m- much in the colder months as well.
Mikki Paradis: Hmm.
Jessica Abreu: This home has had now three-
Mikki Paradis: Wow ...
Jessica Abreu: HVAC units in its six years of being built.
Mikki Paradis: Well, I was envisioning a very old home. Mm-mm. So
Jessica Abreu: this is a new house. A new-ish house. Wow. Yes. Mm-hmm. So they didn't build it. Damn. Yeah, yeah, they bought it. They, they bought
Mikki Paradis: it.
Jessica Abreu: But yes, so we corrected the ventilation in our attic, which [00:24:00] stopped any sweating of our HVAC unit in the attic, but our home was still 60% relative humidity.
Mikki Paradis: Hmm.
Jessica Abreu: So when we got the outside of the home evaluated, it showed to not be fully weatherized, meaning outside air has many places to seep through that were not finished by the builder.
Mikki Paradis: Hmm.
Jessica Abreu: So-
Mikki Paradis: I could see where that would be a big issue in- Mm-hmm ... in the South South, where, like, the humidity is smack your mama in the face kind of humidity.
Um, like, you want airflow, but you don't want so much airflow that all of that humidity can come into your house. No. Like, there needs to be, it needs to be a, an equal and minimal exchange- Yeah ... inside, outside.
Jessica Abreu: I feel like it's a very delicate-
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, it's a balance.
Jessica Abreu: Yes. Yes. The balance of all the things there.
Yeah,
Mikki Paradis: yeah.
Jessica Abreu: And this house ain't- Yeah ... doesn't have it.
Mikki Paradis: That ain't it.
Jessica Abreu: That ain't it. That
Mikki Paradis: ain't it.
Jessica Abreu: Um, so that is tens of thousands of dollars that we do not have to fix it. Oof, yeah. But we added a whole home [00:25:00] dehumidifier, which keeps our home dry at 50 to 53%, even on the hottest parts- That's good ... of the summer.
Mikki Paradis: Tech- see, that's what I'm saying. Like, there's, there's things that need to be added when you go for that zero, you know- Mm-hmm ... energy efficiency kinda level where there's no exchange happening. Okay, but then you have to account for... But it seems like that's not the, the situation here, if that much air intrusion is coming in, that, that part of the humidity issue is coming from the outside.
So I don't... My God today.
Jessica Abreu: Yeah. It's a lot. So in addition to correcting the weatherizing of the house-
Mikki Paradis: God ...
Jessica Abreu: um, which the cost of that fluctuates with the market. They got quotes from a general contractor who did the attic ventilation- Yeah ... for them, and the range he gave them at the time that they requested it was 60 to $80,000.
Mikki Paradis: Oh.
Jessica Abreu: What? 60 to $80,000. Now, in my [00:26:00] mind, we're in- Mm ... we're more Southern than us.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jessica Abreu: And so as we go more south- As long as you're not in a major city- Yeah ... the housing prices come down.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jessica Abreu: So I don't know how much her house cost when she bought it, but I am imagining that this is like, like a-
Mikki Paradis: There's, there's a couple pieces, right?
part of it. 'Cause like in my, my mind, my mind first goes to Okay, that they must be planning on just taking all of the siding off. Like, that's how much it would cost to re-side a house ...
Jessica Abreu: re-do the house. And I imagine they probably have to, 'cause if something was letting that much moisture in-
Mikki Paradis: Yeah. And I've
So I consulted on a, on a property in Atlanta that we covered the story on the show-
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm ...
Mikki Paradis: where they had to take all ... It was a stucco house, and they had to re-side the house. Mm. So they had to, so they had to pay to have all the stucco demolished, which was an astronomical amount of money. Mm-hmm. And then they had to [00:27:00] pay to have all of like the, the, the boards- Mm-hmm
like the plywood boards that had been damaged because the stucco was, was done improperly. Mm-hmm. They had to have all that replaced. Then they had to have siding put back up. Then they had to have it painted because- Yeah ... so it's just like it wasn't just one thing. It, it was the demo, it was the work, the labor- Mm-hmm
to have it removed. So it's like it's, it's kinda like paying for your siding twice essentially is- Yeah ... so like-
Jessica Abreu: It's crazy ...
Mikki Paradis: it's a crazy amount of money, but in my mind I'm like there's reasons.
Jessica Abreu: There's a, yeah-
Mikki Paradis: There's reasons ...
Jessica Abreu: and this is to be done correctly.
Mikki Paradis: Right, and the- and the, the builder's saying, "Okay, well, these are people who have had problems, so we need to make sure we're doing it right."
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm. And they don't want the previous issues to come through- Right ... on their work.
Mikki Paradis: Right. Yeah, there's a lot. And they have to- It's kinda like the a little bit also the I don't wanna do it price. I mean, I don't know that for sure, but like that's a lot of money.
Jessica Abreu: It's a lot of money. So we've, they say, "We've already spent half of that range- Oof
with s- um, saving and new debt [00:28:00] along with the blessing of my parents- Thank God ... when we had to pay cash for the attic. So we have no, they don't have any money- Oof ... left. So of course the amount can change. Um, and we aren't sure when or how this will end.
Mikki Paradis: Oh my God. Poor thing.
Jessica Abreu: So at this point because they have to do all that they've gone into litigation.
They looked at getting a lawyer. Um, so with specific laws in our state, this whole event, whole event is fraud. Yes. On multiple, on multiple counts, and our attorneys are actually on contingency.
Mikki Paradis: Oh. Yeah, this is that
Jessica Abreu: story. And without sharing specifics, they said that we have this case already done when we presented all the evidence.
Mikki Paradis: Okay. That, that
Jessica Abreu: was- So it is big
Mikki Paradis: that they took- No, seriously. Like, I don't know l- Mm-hmm ... I've, I've unfortunately learned this the hard way just being in business for 22 years and also not having the best choice in what humans I dance with from time to [00:29:00] time. Um, litigation is just a part of like your life when you're a business owner.
Um, an attorney will a- Like, it's hard to find an attorney that won't take a case if you're willing just to pay them copious amounts of money. Mm-hmm. A lot of attorneys will tell you straight up like, "Hey, this is a good case," or, "This is a bad case," but- For an attorney to take a, a case based off contingency, which means that they only get paid if they win the case and then, and, and you get paid.
There are so many factors that go into that. Mm-hmm. Like one, they have to have done their research to know that the previous owner or the whoever they're gonna sue has the money to collect. 'Cause as we've, as we've learned, so many people can get it, you know, can win a case. Mm-hmm. you, can you collect the money?
Well, you can't get blood out of a rock. So if somebody's broke, even though you have a judgment against them, doesn't mean you're gonna get paid. So one, they know that whoever they're suing has the cash. Two, [00:30:00] they are so confident in this case that they will win it, that they are willing to risk potentially losing and not getting paid.
Lawyers almost never-
Jessica Abreu: Almost never ...
Mikki Paradis: ever take a case on con- Like, your case has to be so strong that for them to take it on contingent. That is absolutely insane. So that-
Jessica Abreu: Yes. So there are legal documents, actual written proof from the sellers and so much more. Allegedly. That they
Mikki Paradis: knew? That they, so they knew they had this issue- So-
and they didn't disclose it?
Jessica Abreu: I, so she doesn't say what the
Mikki Paradis: actual- She is being very careful.
Jessica Abreu: She's being very careful,
Mikki Paradis: which- Which we understand ...
Jessica Abreu: so-
Mikki Paradis: We do ...
Jessica Abreu: there must be something that they either did on the house before they sold it, or like some back and forth.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah.
Jessica Abreu: There's gotta be something [00:31:00] that-
Mikki Paradis: We're gonna need you, you viewer, who you know who you are, you're gonna need to send us regular
Jessica Abreu: updates.
Updates. We are going to need all the updates. We
Mikki Paradis: need to know.
Jessica Abreu: Um, so the attorney's quote, this is the attorney's quote, "We almost never take these cases because the burden of proof is on us." Right. "Only about 5% of these cases win, and this is a part of that 5%."
Mikki Paradis: Wow. "
Jessica Abreu: If we do for some reason lose, we don't have to pay anything."
At all. "Not court costs, not experts, nothing. So the firm had to agree as a whole to take our case, and they did." Wow. "We have no legal standing with the contractors who built the home-
Mikki Paradis: Right ...
Jessica Abreu: since we bought it from the seller- Yeah ... who was a civilian, and the time of responsibility for the contractors is two years- Yeah
and we bought the home after that."
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jessica Abreu: So. Wow. "So their goal [00:32:00] is only for us to be brought back to zero with our finances being hijacked."
Mikki Paradis: Wow. "
Jessica Abreu: And it has changed the rest of our lives." Um, she attributes her needing anti-anxiety medication, "Because I was work from home and began having terrible panic attacks while we were waiting for everything to be fixed.
All the while- Poor thing ... I know I was breathing in- Ah ... moldy air 24/7." Yes. Like, I can't imagine, like- Mm ... once you find out that information- Oh, 100% ... you're just like
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, no. Well- Yeah ... yeah. It's so fr- I, I, 'cause w- so when we were looking at houses in the mountains, we w- a couple of them had been not occupied for a very long time.
Yeah. And you walk in and you just, you can smell the mold. And it was like, after like the third or fourth house, I, I started googling like, "Okay, like what do I do if I know I've been ex-" And, and g- the, the panic level is real. Like, it is r- and for it to be your house and not just like- It's crazy ... a place you're going to look at real quick, insies outsies.
Jessica Abreu: Yeah. You're like, "Oh, my God." And like when you aren't ever leaving the house. [00:33:00] So like if you work from home- Right, right ... like my husband
Mikki Paradis: never- Yeah ...
Jessica Abreu: leaves the house.
Mikki Paradis: Ever. Brad lives there forever. He's not-
Jessica Abreu: Yeah ... he's not going out. Except for kids' sports and his own sports. That's-
Mikki Paradis: Sports.
Jessica Abreu: Sports.
Mikki Paradis: That's it.
For sports. If it's not sports-related, Brad's not leaving.
Jessica Abreu: Not leaving.
Mikki Paradis: And like, like if you know, like you never leave the house, and you also know you're breathing in mold- Yeah ... like I can't. Like I
Jessica Abreu: can't. I would just be like- I,
Mikki Paradis: no, yeah ...
Jessica Abreu: I would be like, "Oh, my God, now I'm going to die."
Mikki Paradis: That's exactly where my mind goes.
Jessica Abreu: This is how I die. 100%.
Mikki Paradis: I was like, "What can I take to help flush the mold toxicity out of my body?" And the Google was like, "Calm down." "It's not that serious."
Jessica Abreu: I was like, "Oh, okay. Thank you." Drink vinegar. No, don't really do that. Don't do that. I don't recommend. We're
Mikki Paradis: not doctors.
Jessica Abreu: We're not doctors. We just pretend to be on a podcast.
Mm-hmm. Um, I was afraid to shower, wash dishes- Oh, man ... wash my clothes for fear of the added humidity making the mold spores multiply.
Mikki Paradis: Oh, God, yeah.
Jessica Abreu: There's so much evidence. Our attorney said that [00:34:00] if they try to claim anything but the truth, we have every form of proof against them.
Mikki Paradis: Dude ...
Jessica Abreu: stating that they are lying
Mikki Paradis: Liars be lying
Jessica Abreu: and have no excuse basically.
Ugh. So whatever that proof is, good for you for getting it. For
Mikki Paradis: real.
Jessica Abreu: Stinks that you have to go through this. Yes. But great that you found attorneys that are contingent.
Mikki Paradis: Right? My God, the luck of that.
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm. One last thing that we are not claiming because, um, you c- it's medical causation. Like, you can't, you can't prove that the- she can't prove- Yeah
that the house made her sick, but she believes that what happened to her body while being in the mold environment for almost a year, 24/7, was that they were, they were trying to have a baby. They bought a house. They were trying to have a baby. Oh, no. And she, her cycles were being all whacked out. Mm. Which if you are a woman and you have ever tried to track your cycles to get pregnant-
Mikki Paradis: I don't know about that life, but I have friends
Jessica Abreu: Oh, [00:35:00] it is, it is not, it is not fun.
It is not easy, and then when they're whacked out, it's even worse. Then it's
Mikki Paradis: even worse, yeah.
Jessica Abreu: Mm. She also gwa- gwainged.
Mikki Paradis: Gwainged.
Jessica Abreu: She gwainged.
Mikki Paradis: That's what it does.
Jessica Abreu: She gained 20 pounds.
Mikki Paradis: Ugh. As if any woman trying to get pregnant needs that. No.
Jessica Abreu: Like, God. I mean, no woman needs that- Poor women ... period. Oh. End of story.
We don't need to be gaining weight for no apparent reason. That's so
Mikki Paradis: rude.
Jessica Abreu: Um, she says that she has a metabolic disorder, that she takes medication. Oh, no. She tracks her weight diligently because it reflects how her levels are doing. Oh,
Mikki Paradis: okay,
Jessica Abreu: okay.
Mikki Paradis: So it makes she,
Jessica Abreu: like- Yeah ... um, and she had that diagnosis 10 years ago- Okay
but she pays more attention- So not related ... to her body-
Mikki Paradis: Yeah ...
Jessica Abreu: than most people do at her age.
Mikki Paradis: W- w- which congrats, like, honestly. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm a little behind on that.
Jessica Abreu: Uh, she had a full blood panel drawn up because of everything, of her cycle being pushed further and further away, and found that her pituitary gland-
Mikki Paradis: Oh, no
Jessica Abreu: was overproducing prolactin, [00:36:00] which can stop ovulation.
Mikki Paradis: Oh, my goodness.
Jessica Abreu: Yeah, your little pituitary gland. It's very important. Um, so after MRIs to rule out a tumor in my brain, I started to put two and two together. My h- my health started going down after we moved in. Oh, no. And I tested the theory once we fixed our environment and my body reset.
And literally one month after having a mold-free home-
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, pregnant ...
Jessica Abreu: she lost the 20 pounds.
Mikki Paradis: Oh, good for her.
Jessica Abreu: Her cycle went back to normal. Yay. In one and a half months of they're fixing the home. Oh,
Mikki Paradis: she was putting the work
Jessica Abreu: in. She was pregnant.
Mikki Paradis: Congrats. Oh, that's... Wow. Yeah. As a non-breeder, I am all still just excited for the breeders-
breeding. Congratulations. Yes. That's amazing.
Jessica Abreu: So but now she's carrying.
Mikki Paradis: Oh, gosh.
Jessica Abreu: Okay. So she's going through all of this- Ooh.
Mikki Paradis: Yeah ...
Jessica Abreu: while- Wow ... carrying, um, her first-
Mikki Paradis: Her baby ...
Jessica Abreu: um, child on the way, and having to go through [00:37:00] this financial burden too.
Mikki Paradis: Not good for the baby.
Jessica Abreu: Um- Gosh ... so that quote that they got- Yeah, I know
Mikki Paradis: that
Jessica Abreu: for the 60 to $80,000- Yeah ... also included two new exterior doors because they look to not be fitted correctly, and we have no way of knowing if they're from the seller or the contractors. But-
Mikki Paradis: Oh, my
Jessica Abreu: goodness ... I mean, that's gonna let in all the moisture- Yeah ... and stuff. If your, if your doors are not ...
Mikki Paradis: Yeah.
If you close your door and you can still see the sun coming in, you have problems.
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm.
Mikki Paradis: I mean, we all do, but-
Jessica Abreu: Yeah ...
Mikki Paradis: different kinds of
Jessica Abreu: problems. Only Wednesday has this law where... And I looked into it because I was like, "This is fascinating."
Mikki Paradis: Yeah.
Jessica Abreu: I wouldn't feel bad buying a house there and being like, "Oh, well -
Mikki Paradis: Be like, "
Jessica Abreu: Try to screw me" ..."you better tell me.
Yeah, go ahead." "You're gonna have to
Mikki Paradis: buy it back."
Jessica Abreu: Yeah. Um, it's a retibition law where the sale of your home can be voided and the seller [00:38:00] forced to buy it back from the buyer- Buyer,
Mikki Paradis: okay ...
Jessica Abreu: or a reduction in price or to keep the house. The seller is forced to pay you back the total cost of the remediation, the gutting, the rebuilding.
Mikki Paradis: Okay.
Jessica Abreu: Okay. Um,
Mikki Paradis: and the- So this is where she has the case. Okay ...
Jessica Abreu: and the drop in the home's market value. Oh. So that would make it so that- Yeah ... anybody who is selling a house here would really wanna make sure that they are
Mikki Paradis: living- Not being lying-ass liars. Mm-hmm. I mean, my God, today, do we need laws for that?
Apparently we
Jessica Abreu: do. Apparently we do. This also triggers bad faith because there was active concealment- Ooh ... and we had requested a service to be done in negotiations that unknowingly to us- Okay ... would have revealed the mold and the request was denied.
Mikki Paradis: Oh, because they knew what they would find. Mm-hmm. Okay.
Okay. Um- I'm seeing where this lawsuit's [00:39:00] coming together. Mm-hmm.
Jessica Abreu: Um, she says that it's also potentially- Potentially ... fraud on many levels because our home was appraised 10 to 20% higher than its actual value. Mm. Um, So the person who is selling the house, or who sold the house- And this jerk- Is also in a lawsuit with the builder.
Mikki Paradis: Uh, uh. So
they knew that there was problems with their house in the first place- At the time of the close ... and they're suing the b- Oh, it's good that they didn't give us names, 'cause I would be cats on that keyboard finding names. Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa. Ooh. Mm-hmm. So they knew that there was, the house was defective- They had to have a-
because they were suing the builder over the defective house, and then they turned around and did the same thing the builder did by- To
Jessica Abreu: that person ... allegedly, may- might I say allegedly, selling the house to
Mikki Paradis: somebody and not disclosing the problems. You're going to hell. Straight, straight to hell. No stops.
Mm-hmm. Um, and that was a cause for us to start- Oh, I'm, my blood pressure just shot right[00:40:00]
Jessica Abreu: up ... your vein is popping out right there.
Mikki Paradis: It's pop- It's right up. It's popping. Calm down. Shh. Yeah, I can feel it. I can literally feel my heart beating in my forehead right now.
Jessica Abreu: Whoosa. Whoosa.
Mikki Paradis: Oh.
Jessica Abreu: Um, so it made her and her, I'm, I'm guessing her lawyer team, search for more documents, and those documents showed that they were suing the builder for the same mold reason, and then settled a couple months after we closed on the home.
Mikki Paradis: stupid do you have to be? Like, seriously, the level of, one, audacity-
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm ...
Mikki Paradis: but two, you clearly are not well-educated. Like, who is advising you to sell this house without disclosing that you are actively in a- Well- ... lawsuit for [00:41:00] the same issues?
Jessica Abreu: Yep.
Mikki Paradis: In a state that has seller beware issues.
Jessica Abreu: Right. Like- So they must not have told their realtor, obviously.
Mikki Paradis: Oh, yeah.
Jessica Abreu: Because if you don't, like, if you- Okay. Yeah ... have a problem but you don't tell anybody-
Mikki Paradis: Yeah, yeah,
Jessica Abreu: yeah ...
Mikki Paradis: you're just like- Your realtor's gonna be like, "Absolutely not. We have to tell people."
Jessica Abreu: Right. Like,
Mikki Paradis: you will-
Jessica Abreu: Because they, by
Mikki Paradis: law- These are the things that will happen to you. Yes. Oh, yeah. So maybe they...
Or they sold it
Jessica Abreu: themselves. I mean,
Mikki Paradis: obviously we're just, we're speculating. Or, you know. Right. But oh
Jessica Abreu: my
Mikki Paradis: God.
Jessica Abreu: Yes. Allegedly.
Mikki Paradis: Allegedly. I'm gonna allegedly find you.
Jessica Abreu: Yeah. So, um, they do not have access to what the settlement was, but being that we own the home, when they were awarded the settlement, we assume there was something of monetary value because those repairs- Guess who's getting that?
to the home were never made. Oh.
Mikki Paradis: Hence why the lawyers are taking this case contingently- Because they're like- ... because they're like, they just got a payday. Oh.
Jessica Abreu: Now, I just hope that the lawyers are- This is
Mikki Paradis: Lifetime Movie
Jessica Abreu: Network ... that the lawyers don't take so much [00:42:00] money that they're still... 'Cause like, you-
Mikki Paradis: I mean, they're gonna take enough money to cover their risk levels.
Like, it's just one of those- Mm-hmm ... things, like if you're going into a lawsuit and you don't have any risk, and the lawyer has all the risk, like, I mean, the- Yeah ... hourly fees are what hourly fees are.
Jessica Abreu: Oh, yes. I understand
Mikki Paradis: that. So they're willing to take like... They're, there's gonna be like a 10%, 20%. Like, it's gonna be in favor-
Jessica Abreu: It's gonna be
of the lawyer. I just hope that whenever, like s- That
Mikki Paradis: it's enough money-
Jessica Abreu: For the- ...
Mikki Paradis: for them to fix it. Mm-hmm. I honestly- And
Jessica Abreu: be back to ground zero-
Mikki Paradis: Yes, ground zero ... with their finances. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hope they've run those numbers to make sure that like at the, the, the r- most realistic amount of money that they'll get after lawyer's fees is still enough.
Jessica Abreu: Yeah. I'm assuming that the lawyers probably talked to them about that. I
Mikki Paradis: hope so.
Jessica Abreu: But I just, again,
Mikki Paradis: we don't know. If
Jessica Abreu: you're
Mikki Paradis: watching, run the- This is- Run that, run
Jessica Abreu: that math ... run the numbers. Not that you can really get rid of your lawyers at this point. Yeah, yeah. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun But it will help
Mikki Paradis: you to know, like, what amount to settle on, 'cause you know these people are settling.
Yeah. This is not going to
Jessica Abreu: trial. So we basically... We have basically [00:43:00] handwritten and signed proof from the seller, along with legal documents that they filed through our state- Oh my God ... proving their knowledge with timestamps and everything. They have no idea how much we have, and are currently trying to wait us out because they know we are a young newly married couple.
Mikki Paradis: Oh, underestimate the youth. Mm. That's a great idea. I'm like, "Sorry, I just told them everything
Jessica Abreu: that you have." Underestimate, right, the
Mikki Paradis: people who have the capacity to use AI like nobody's business. Mm-hmm. That's a great idea. Underestimate the youth.
Jessica Abreu: Yeah. They took almost a year... Or no, they took almost half a year to respond to being served, and have pushed off our first hearing with the judge out almost another half a year.
Little do they know, , they're not gonna pay a dime of our attorney's fees unless we win. The F around and find out- So they think that- ... is high ... so these people probably think that if we just keep pushing it out- Yes ... they're gonna run out of money.
Mikki Paradis: So they, what they don't know is that they're like, "There's an unlimited amount of money here because we're not paying [00:44:00] anything for it."
Jessica Abreu: Wow. Keep messing around. Good for them. Keep messing around. Um, apparently our case has... Oh. Apparently our case has enough monetary value in evidence that they, um, want to take the risk, our attorneys. Their attorneys are putting their income on the line for our case. There's so much evidence that our attorney's words, that they've already poked holes- In anything that the defense-
Mikki Paradis: Dude, I...
First, first of all, good for you. Like, honestly, s- so good for you.
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm.
Mikki Paradis: I'm so glad that you're in this position, because I feel like just 99.999-er percent of the cases or the stories that people write in, it's just the story of, like, how they got so epically screwed. And, and, and, like- Mm-hmm ... it acknowledges how screwed up the situation was, but there was nothing that they could do about it, and there was no real recourse for them.
So- Yep ... honestly, I'm so glad you shared this story, because I feel like it's super inspirational to, like- Mm-hmm ... everybody watching. [00:45:00] That, like, uh, you know, 'cause sometimes we can be real Debbie Downers. Like, when we're sharing these stories it's like, yeah, they sued, but there was nothing that could happen from it.
The... It's just inspiring to know that that's not every story. Yeah. It's inspiring to know that... You know, it would be more inspiring if people had integrity and just- Like, you know that what is happening- You did what was wrong ... is bad. Mm-hmm. Because you're suing someone else for the same thing. But that you're turning around and doing the exact same thing, that is mind-boggling to me.
And please, whoever you are who shared this story with us, please keep us up to, updated, because I cannot wait till you win. I cannot wait till you win so we can disclose this entire situation, so we can name names. Like, I am so ready for justice. And if you don't get it, street justice, we ride at dawn.
Okay? We can
Jessica Abreu: ride at dawn.
Mikki Paradis: I will ride at
Jessica Abreu: dawn. She will ride at dawn. You give me an address. I will not ride
Mikki Paradis: at dawn. I will show up with my golden crowbar. I'm just saying. It says, "Have a great day." Have the day you're gonna [00:46:00] have, the day you deserve. Deserve. You pieces. Anyway, this is a great story. Please keep us apprised of it.
Um, it is just absolutely insane to me how people operate with such absolute, like, lack of integrity.
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm.
Mikki Paradis: And it is so crappy that you being young- Is inha- like, it is, is they're treating you like you don't know any better. Like, like they're treating you like the rules don't apply to you- Mm-hmm ... which is just, I bet it, I bet it would apply to their kids.
Bless you.
Jessica Abreu: Thank you. Salud.
Mikki Paradis: So it just, it, I'm so sorry that you're going through this, but I'm so glad that you're in a position of like, "Oh, they don't know what they don't know." Mm-hmm. And I cannot wait for that to end so well for you, 'cause I'm just, I'm calling it in. I'm calling it in. You're gonna win.
Jessica Abreu: Mm-hmm.
Mikki Paradis: So listen, if you, our amazing audience that we love so much, have similar stories, especially, you guys, I am high off this story right now. I need more of like the fight, fight and win stories. If you have a fight and win story of where you just, [00:47:00] somebody tried to screw you over and they did you dirty but then you came back, and you gave 'em a little piece, you gave 'em a taste, we wanna hear it, and we wanna share it.
'Cause we do want to share not just the good stories, but the bad stories. Or like the, you know, it, it w- it was bad, but it ended really good. We wanna share those stories too, 'cause I think people need it. Mm-hmm. So if you have a story like that, you can go to chicksinconstruction.com. You scroll down a little bit.
There's a place for you to share your story, and it comes directly to my inbox. And then it goes to Jess's inbox. So if you have that, s- share it with us so we can share it with our audience. And Jess, where can they find us on the socials so they can see what's happening? On the Tok. Well, and also Instagram.
But it seems like- ... TikTok is where the comments are really getting hot.
Jessica Abreu: They are getting spicy. Good or bad. On TikTok, it's @chicksinconstruction. On Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, it's @chicksinconstructionpodcast.
Mikki Paradis: All right, guys. We'll see you next time. Share your stories with us. And listen, stay safe out there.
We love you. Bye. Bye. Nailed it. [00:48:00]