Beware the Door Knockers: Chuck in a Truck Scam

Mikki Paradis and co-host Jessica Abreu of Chicks in Construction discuss their growing audience, pushback from trolls, and why homeowners should watch comment sections for shady contractors. They revisit a key rule—don’t pay in full until work is complete—and share a homeowner horror story about John O’Brien of “Traditional Masonry and Construction,” accused of running a door-to-door fraud operation from 2021–2024 across multiple states, largely targeting seniors and stealing roughly $1.9–$2.6 million. Using fear-based claims about foundations, chimneys, and structural danger, he took upfront payments, inflated costs (e.g., $9,500 to $80k–$95k), delivered poor or unnecessary work, and disappeared after collecting final payments. They outline major red flags: unsolicited visits, urgent structural warnings, sudden price escalations, large upfront payments, and avoiding independent inspections.

00:00 Payment Rules Upfront

00:21 Show Welcome And Growth

01:03 Trolls And Shady Contractors

05:03 Clapbacks And Vampire Joke

08:16 Gatekeeping Unlicensed Guests

10:55 Horror Story Setup

11:40 Chuck And Truck Scams

13:08 Door Knock Red Flags

17:00 John OBrien Scam Tactics

20:40 Fear Sales And Senior Targets

22:44 Millions Stolen And First Victim

25:42 Estimate Fluff Red Flags

28:06 How the Scam Scales

29:16 Doorstep Trespass Story

33:06 Paying Before Completion

35:08 Payment Boundaries Retainage

39:39 Wire Fraud and Paper Trails

43:44 Five Contractor Scam Signs

50:56 Final Takeaways and Call In

Submit your homeowner horror story:
www.chicksinconstruction.com

Follow on Social Media:
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www.facebook.com/chicksinconstructionpodcast
www.linkedin.com/company/chicksinconstructionpodcast
www.youtube.com/@ChicksInConstruction

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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/

42 - Chicks In Construction
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Mikki: [00:00:00] We do not pay in full, in advance of completion. They, you hold a substantial amount of money until it is done, because sadly, motivate is money is a huge motivator.

And you want to keep people as motivated as they can to finish your project. Mm-hmm. And to finish it correctly

Jessica: as high, prevent yourself from getting scammed.

Well, hello there and welcome back to another episode of Chicks in Construction. I am your host, Mickey Paradise, and this is my wonderful co-host.

Jessica: Hi, I'm Jessica abr.

Mikki: Now listen, y'all, we're gonna have a family meeting, okay? We're gonna have a little family sit down.

This, the pot is growing. And we are thrilled. We are thrilled to have thrilled new subscribers. It is honestly, I think, very rewarding. Mm-hmm. To have put something together with the hopes that it would be something people enjoyed and something people found valuable to the point where we are now at 20,000 subscribers like that.

It is amazing. By

Jessica: the time that you're listening to this, it'll probably be 25,

Mikki: it'll probably be [00:01:00] 25. Check our Instagram for a little giveaway moment, okay? Mm-hmm. We're here for it, but you know, as we know, it is the year of our Lord 2026, and people be out here in these streets. Act in a fool. So as we are growing and as we are getting more exposure to more people, we are obviously getting exposure to more people who were not raised, right?

Mm-hmm.

Jessica: The trolls.

Mikki: The trolls and

Jessica: trolls are out.

Mikki: It's funny because over, I think last week I got a text from Jess and she was like, listen, I'd done had enough. Now Jess didn't say I'd done had enough because she's not from the south. If you don't know what I'd done, had enough means, it just translates to I'm really over it.

Over had. Done had enough of a particular commenter that was epically triggered by one of our recent podcasts where we were informing the viewers that it is literally never your [00:02:00] responsibility to pay for the work that has to happen. Pardon me? When a general contractor fails an inspection. So we had a homeowner horror story, and honestly, this has happened in so many of our homeowner horror stories,

Jessica: so many horror stories

Mikki: that I took a moment to make direct eye contact with you and tell you, Hey, homeowners, you already paid for the work.

If somebody can't get the work done right the first time, it's actually not your financial obligation to pay for it the second time. And somebody got real. Mm-hmm. Real upset.

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Mikki: And here's the thing that's not super surprising. The entire podcast exists to help homeowners avoid contractors that are going to scam you, that are going to take advantage of you, that are going to screw you over, and then leave you holding the bag.

So, of course. There are people that are going to be upset that we're affecting their income stream. Of course, there are gonna be contractors [00:03:00] that get upset that we're out here just blowing, blowing the top off their entire scam. There's

Jessica: and ire so mad that we're just telling everybody like, you need to check.

Dare their license. Dare. And they're like, how

Mikki: dare

Jessica: we,

Mikki: I, who do we think we are? Okay. Okay.

Jessica: Little me.

Mikki: Yeah. So, so here's the thing. Please pay attention to the comments and not just on YouTube or if you're listening on whatever platform you're listening on, but go to our social media and look at our, like our Instagram and our TikTok comments.

Some of these composts, I would not say they are viral, but they are getting a lot of views and there is a lot of comments on them, and some of these comments are wild in these mm-hmm. Streets. Mm-hmm. Those are the people that I want you to click on their profile. I want you to see where they're working.

I want you to see where they live and if they live in your town, make a note of it because those are the people that are screwing homeowners over. If somebody is getting mad about us, educating homeowners about how to [00:04:00] be better mm-hmm. And how to avoid getting scammed, somebody getting upset about that in the comments is because we're affecting their ability to screw homeowners over

Jessica: a hundred percent.

Default_2026-04-13_1: So

Mikki: this one lady that just had the block, she was from Florida, which I'm not gonna lie. Was not super. It's always from super surprising.

Jessica: It's always Florida.

Mikki: Florida woman and Florida man are a real thing. But here's my note to the nasty commenters and the shady general contractors do better. Like, listen, I.

There are some legitimate things you could say about me that I would be like, oh, that's a sick burn. Mm-hmm. Like, it has happened on a few occasions.

Jessica: I mean, there are some things, people that we understand. We are not, we are not perfect. We are human.

Mikki: Some people have come for me in the comments and I've been like, you know what, that's actually fair, but I know that I'm a, I'm a whole mess.

And also the whole problem, so. When you comment something that is accurate, I'm like, yeah, that's fair. Thank you for pointing that out. [00:05:00] If you want to come for me, be accurate. So this lady that just finally had, had a DAG on enough of, mm-hmm. And she blocked her, I think, what pushed her over the edge, but she said that we need a facelift and need a wardrobe change.

Now here's the thing. I was telling Jess about this before we started recording. How do I know I don't need a facelift? Let me tell you. So Hector has, he's the youngest boy in his family of like literally two soccer teams worth of people, a lot of

Jessica: kids,

Mikki: huge family. He has so many siblings. It is genuinely overwhelming.

And his oldest brother. Right hand to God. Now, I'm not sure, but I do believe he attended Jesus Christ's first birthday party. He is that old. He is soul. I was telling Jess how old he was and she was like, he can't be that old. And I was like, no, he is that old. I don't solidly know his date of birth, but homeboy be chilling with Jesus when he was young.

That's how old he is and right. [00:06:00] I don't know what it is about this one brother in particular, but he really buys into like literally anything he sees on YouTube. Like if he sees him on YouTube, it's facts and it's real and it's a thing. And so not too long ago mm-hmm. He accused me of being a vampire because I have not aged in the almost 20 years Hector and I have been together.

Jessica: I love that. For you. I

Mikki: never felt more seen. I was like.

Jessica: That's everything.

Mikki: Everything I've done, I, it worked. Mm-hmm. It's working. No, I am not drinking anyone's blood to stay alive. I just invest in skincare and a whole lot of Botox. But his brother is so old, I don't even think he knows what Botox is. Like.

You'd

Jessica: tell Botox and he'd think that it's something vampires

Mikki: would do. He think it was something vampires would do. So I just a hundred percent allowed Hector's brother to believe that I'm a vampire. I love it. And that is the joke in the family that I'm not aging because I'm a vampire and I'm here for.

For it. So if you're gonna come for me in the comments. Don't say that [00:07:00] I need a facelift because nobody believes you. Because I actually have family members that think that I'm a vampire. Okay, okay. It's a little backstory there. That's not gonna do it. You're gonna have to try harder. But then I was thinking about it on the way over here and I'm like, the reason why you can't land a sick burn is because you're bad at life, which is why you have to screw people over in order to make a living.

Mm-hmm. So it's not actually all that surprising that what you throwing out, it ain't doing it. 'cause what you're doing in life. It's also not doing it either. So sick burn on you.

Jessica: There we go.

Mikki: How'd you like me now? Anyway I just wanted to address that real quick. I do think it's actually really valuable for you as the homeowners to check out the comments section.

Mm-hmm. I mean. Because sometimes there are a few burns that are accurate and funny, but also the ones that aren't accurate nor funny are a great way for you guys to know that this is a contractor that's doing business and taking advantage of people. You should

Jessica: probably, and [00:08:00]

Mikki: they be mad at us. They'd be mad.

Mm-hmm. They've, because I can assure you that of all the, the general contractors we've, we've had on the show and that we've talked to about the show that are legitimate and genuine contractors. Are thrilled about the show. Yes. They want homeowners to how to learn, how to avoid

Jessica: Yes.

Mikki: Crappy contractors.

Mm-hmm. And honestly, we've had a couple of crappy contractors try to get on the show.

Jessica: We have

Mikki: just be gatekeeping. She's like, absolutely not.

Jessica: They

Mikki: answer a few questions, people get really pissed.

Jessica: They really have,

Mikki: didn't this one Lanie, like not sponsor your kid's softball team because you were like, no, you have to have a license to be a general contractor.

Jessica: Yeah. When she found out, my husband was my husband, she's like, is your wife Jessica? And he's like, yeah.

Mikki: All of a sudden those sponsorship dollars did not get, they did

Jessica: not,

Mikki: and

Jessica: then

Mikki: That's okay. I covered her costs.

Jessica: She, she completely just like. Silence like no more. And I was like, okay, I see you.

Mikki: Yeah. Shady general contractor.

She's so mad that we won't let her on the show because she doesn't [00:09:00] have a license and we are not going to allow people on the show that go against everything. Everything we talk about on the show.

Jessica: Yeah. It was really funny when I interviewed her, 'cause she's like. You don't, you don't need a license if it's under

Mikki: Jess's, like, I'm new at this, but that's definitely not accurate.

Jessica: That's, I, I know I'm a homeowner and I don't know all the rules and all the laws, which is why I'm here to help y'all. Yeah. Let me Southern y'all, y'all get a girl.

Mikki: We're rubbing off on her.

Jessica: Oh yeah. Doing it. Um, but I'm just like. If I, I'm here to help the homeowners and like, if I know that what you're doing is wrong because of what I've learned from the show.

Yeah.

Mikki: You can't, you can't be a guest on the show. Mm-hmm. Like, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. Not sorry.

Jessica: Yeah. Like, but

Mikki: go ahead and be mad.

Jessica: But also I am not mad that she didn't sponsor my kids' team because I also don't wanna support of,

Mikki: right.

Jessica: We don't wanna take her

Mikki: shady dollars.

Jessica: Yeah. So like my husband didn't know.

Mikki: [00:10:00] Yeah.

Jessica: Bless

Mikki: his heart. And we have been told, well, you just did, to bless your heart. You were really, I'm listening Southern today.

Jessica: I'm, I'm doing

Mikki: it. Blessed hearts out here. You guys,

Jessica: there's a lot of hearts that need to be blessed. Lemme tell you

Mikki: are a lot of hearts. I'm actually decided I'm gonna stop blessing hearts and I'm just moving fully into my villain era.

Jessica: Love it.

Mikki: Like, I was just like, listen, I've been trying to be nice my whole day gone life. I dunno that it's getting me anywhere. But I do know I feel a lot better when I just, I just be the whole problem. So that's, you

Jessica: know, you just, I'm doing gonna like lit up. You can't, you can't hold it in. What

Mikki: is it?

You sent me a reel and it was like. Well, studies have shown that people that don't yell at people end up with autoimmune disorders. So just start yelling at people. And I was like, medical advice.

Jessica: I have an autoimmune disorder.

Mikki: I need to start, I need to start yelling at people. That's the problem. I'm bottling it up.

You guys.

Okay, so today we have a home in our horror story that was sent [00:11:00] to us. It was like, Hey, have you seen this story? And I'm not gonna lie, I do love the stories that end up in the news. Yeah. Because a lot of times they lead to somebody actually getting in trouble for these crimes.

Now sometimes they don't, but. I think out of the ones that we've done, about 50% of the ones that end up in the news, they are, there are consequences. They are, this one are

Jessica: prosecuted. This,

Mikki: yes. Is this one is a doozy. Mm-hmm. So let me, we both have a script, which we're trying to save the trees, so it's on our phones.

Jessica: Yes. Save all the trees,

Mikki: saving all the trees.

Jessica: , This is like a chuck and a truck.

Mikki: Yes.

Jessica: Right. So, um, one of our first episodes we had Bailey on Yes. Who owns Cadmus Construction. She does a lot of roofing and stuff, and she was warning people who need to get a new roof.

About the chuck and the truck. It's like the

Mikki: traveling people that show up after storms and things.

Jessica: Yeah. And I thought maybe it was just for roofers, but it's [00:12:00] not. No. There are chucks and trucks

Mikki: all over there, all around

Jessica: scam people

Mikki: apparently. And I was, 'cause like, so we like found the story and then we do a lot of research and we mm-hmm.

We, we'd look at different news reports and different things on you, like all the things. And so apparently it's called transnational. S like fraud. And so it's something where like people from, from like European countries come over on tourist visas mm-hmm. Overstay their tourist visas. Mm-hmm. And like actively engage in these very specific construction scams to the point where they have like a name for it.

And I was like, wait, what? Because like one of our resources for the story is from the Justice Department, you know, of United States. Yeah. And so I was like. This is a whole thing. They have an entire like facet of the FBI in Homeland Security that's dedicated to, um, investigating. Mm-hmm. And like tracking down these, [00:13:00] they're called transnational fraud scams.

It's crazy. Um, so. Here, let's, we're gonna get into it. So what would you do if someone knocked on your door and told you that your home was in danger and they said, Hey, but don't worry, I can fix it today? No permits, no delays, no waiting. Just a quick repair to protect your biggest investment.

Jessica: Mm-hmm. I said I don't open the Uhuh.

Okay. I can't say I don't open the door. I open the door. About this much. And I go, what do you want? Because I am not gear for it. Like, because for it they all show this. Yeah. They're all carrying a clipboard. Yes. Or their iPad. And it's usually, I mean, I really feel bad 'cause they're usually like 12. It's a lot of them, they're, they're just young trying to sell something. Yep. And I get it. Everybody has to have a job. Yeah. But no. And I'm like,

Mikki: not today.

Jessica: They're like, oh, I'm here selling. Oh, do, have you heard about I'm doing roofs in the neighborhood. I'm doing solar in the neighborhood. Yeah. [00:14:00] And I'm like, cool.

Well if I need something, I'll let you know.

Mikki: So we live in the neighborhood full of very fancy houses, and this is. Listen, it wasn't always that way. They, they tear down the houses and they build mini mansions, and so everybody just assumes everybody that lives in this neighborhood is rich.

Absolutely not. But it's a, it's a real target. Mm-hmm. For like these trucks in the trucks or these people trying to sell things like mm-hmm. We got so bad to the point where we actually have a sign at the beginning of our property and our door that says that the only people we will allow to solicit to us is Girl Scouts.

Everybody else gets charged $25 a minute.

Jessica: Ooh.

Mikki: Now it's funny, nine times outta 10 that actually works. People see the sign. 'cause like we have the ring camera. Mm-hmm. So you can see them come up, they read the sign and they walk away. And I'm like, good for you. Rule follower. Yes. Like you're out here doing, doing what you need to do to make money.

And I respect that. But you also respect that I am not interested.

Jessica: Right. I am not going to open the door for you.

Mikki: Absolutely not. But [00:15:00] occasionally somebody will knock and it. I immediately start off irritated because you don't, you, you don't respect boundaries. No. So you're letting me know, you know, or knocking on the door anyway that you could care less.

Mm-hmm. About anything that I'm interested. So how is it that you're gonna sell me something that I actually need?

Jessica: I would talk to the ring. Ring here. I need to see proof of funds. Yeah. Show me your $25 for the first minute.

Mikki: I'll give you five minutes, but that's gonna cost you this much money. So show me your 125 bucks.

That you got my guy.

Jessica: Oh, let's see it. Mm-hmm. You don't got it. Mm-hmm.

Mikki: And unfortunately that is, this is one of the bigger things is when somebody comes to your house to solicit you like saying, Hey, I noticed your house has this and that this could be bad. That is almost always guaranteed to be a scam. Um, and that was from the Justice Department's website.

'cause they actually gave some, and we can leave the link down in the show notes. But, um, that was one of the things that they, the just, they gave some kind of like things to look out for. Mm-hmm. And that was one of them, when somebody comes to your house to try to [00:16:00] sell you services that you did not ask for.

Mm-hmm. Um, that is, is a major red flag. So, um.

Jessica: Sorry I went off script.

Mikki: Yeah, you did, but that's okay. So, and that's exactly what happened for more than a hundred homeowners across multiple states up north, and in some cases people lost literally everything. Today's story isn't just about bad construction, it's about manipulation, it's about fear, and it's about a man who prosecutors say, built a business out of exploiting homeowners.

Jessica: Mm, mm-hmm.

Mikki: Yeah, we're not here for it.

Jessica: Nope.

Mikki: So welcome back y'all to the chick and construction that's in, that's in the the script. So I just wanted to just let you know, I'm trying to follow the script. Be proud of me.

Jessica: We're so proud.

Mikki: I guess we can skip through that.

Jessica: Yeah. We we're

Mikki: already at a 15 minute conversation about the comments.

Jessica: We know what we're doing. [00:17:00]

Mikki: So this story centers around. A guy named John O'Brien. Um, and there was apparently, like it was two brothers, like the more I read about it, because I got y'all, I got into this company's Yelp reviews. That's how far back I've went. Mm. Um, and so apparently he was like two brothers.

And the one, I think the one who actually got charged criminally, his name is John O'Brien. Um. They operated under the name traditional masonry and construction. But according to federal investigators, this wasn't a legitimate construction business. It was a fraud operation. So how did they find their victims?

Mm. He didn't wait for them to call him. He went to them.

Jessica: So he was knocking on everybody's doors? He

Mikki: was going door to door. Mm-hmm. And like from, well, I could just read the script. Um, Orion. Orion used a tactic that's incredibly important for homeowners to understand. [00:18:00] He would show up at houses often unannounced and tell people I was working in your neighborhood and notice that something's wrong with your house.

Um,

Jessica: and that feels like, I mean, that feels suspicious and I. If somebody came knocking on my door and said like, oh, this is wrong with your house, I'd be like, oh my gosh, thank you for letting me know. I will find somebody to fix it. Yeah.

Mikki: And that's, that is exactly what you guys should do if that happens.

Mm-hmm. And what was really crappy? Like one of the news interviews? Um, I. Apparently, well, no, it's not like apparently, like this is a fact. It's in the, it's in the records, but this guy was Irish and so like legit, you know, like the, the Irish accent. We're all here for a little bit, you know what I'm saying?

Jessica: We're not gonna try to do it though, because we're

Mikki: not, we're gonna butcher it. We're, I can do a good Indian accent, but that's where my accents just stop. They stop at my good Indian accent. Um, and so apparently this guy was up north and he was, he was. Really trying to bond with people over being Irish.

'cause [00:19:00] there's a lot of, especially in this was Massachusetts and Rhode Island in Massachusetts.

Jessica: There are,

Mikki: there are so many, so many Irish people. And so he really took advantage of people and their Irish heritage and their love of the Irish people. Um, by, by kind of getting people's trust by, you know. By being Irish, I guess.

I don't know. It just, it seems weird, but that was a big thing. Like one of the guys was like an 83-year-old Air Force veteran that has really close ties to his family in Ireland. Yeah. And so that was a big part of like why he trusted this guy, because he was like, oh, we're both Irish. And I'm like, sadly, that doesn't mean much these days.

Jessica: Yeah. But like you want to believe, 'cause like if, I mean Ireland is beautiful and the people are all so nice and kind and stuff. Yeah. So if you are from that country and like somebody's here is like, oh I am, I'm from the thing. You think that they have the same morals and values as you? Yeah, unfortunately they don't.

Mikki: It's funny, I have a lot of beef with Canadians, which is very rare. Sir, everybody loves a Canadian, and it's not that [00:20:00] I don't love a Canadian. There are a couple Canadians I don't love, and I'm gonna come for you one day when you least expect it, just so you know. Anyway, the, the story is the Canadians are so polite and they're so kind.

They're not, they're not all polite and kind. Some of 'em are savage and they'll stab you in the back. The second to turn around. I'm just saying it's the same thing. People are like, oh, Canadians, they would never screw you over. Yes, they would. And so would an Irish man named John, apparently, John O'Brien.

Um,

Jessica: he's such a common name too. I

Mikki: know. I'm like, poor, poor, like every other. John O'Brien is like, I didn't do anything but this. John O'Brien did. Did. Mm-hmm. So he would go from door to door telling people that their foundation was cracked, that their chimney was unsafe, and that their structure was at risk.

And he would create like a real sense of urgency,

Jessica: which made people feel like they had to act immediately. Right. You. Preying on people's fear, and that's not cool,

Mikki: [00:21:00] which we've talked about in the past episode of when somebody tried to scam me saying that my investment account had been hacked. Mm-hmm.

It did create that. And, and so like when you're in that state of fear, in that state of panic, you're not thinking. About like, huh, this is weird that somebody just showed up at my house. You're thinking, oh God, my house is about to cave in.

Jessica: Especially if you're older,

Mikki: right? 'cause you're just like, listen, I can't afford all that.

I'm trying to pay Foral medication.

Jessica: And like the older generation, they grew up in a time where they're more or

Mikki: less she day.

Jessica: Yes. They weren't this awful.

Mikki: Yeah, exactly.

Jessica: People have gotten worse over the years.

Mikki: Oh, they have. And, and sadly the owner, older generation puts a lot of trust. I mean, listen, we all put a lot of trust in people.

Mm-hmm. That's how this podcast exists. But I think there's kind of something like you're gonna burn in a, in like the, the, the real, the real dark part of hell when you take advantage of seniors. Mm-hmm. Like we have, we have sadly heard of many senior scams, like for, from the podcast. And it's very sad. And I'm just like, come on, y'all.

Like, really? Really? Anyway, so. [00:22:00] And fear. Fear is the most powerful sales toy tool that a lot of people have. Like Ashley from Wally B. Windows who came on talks a lot about that. Mm-hmm. About salespeople trying to create this like panic and this fear to get you to just sign the deal. And so whenever that's happening, I.

I know it's hard to like take a step back from it, but that should be a great opportunity for you to realize like, okay, this person is creating fear, this is, this person is trying to scare me into getting to agree to something that I don't feel comfortable with. That in and of itself is a red flag and a great opportunity for you to just press the pause button.

Jessica: Absolutely. Because

Mikki: that's what happened to me when that guy was scamming me. Like he was on the phone trying to tell me, like, get me to log into my account, and I was like. Wait a smack him. This fills off.

Jessica: Hold the phone.

Mikki: And the second that it fell off, I just put everything on pause. Mm-hmm. And that's the move.

So apparently this scam took place between 2021 and 2024. So in just four years he scammed

Jessica: it always right after

Mikki: COVID, like,

Jessica: like

Mikki: COVID brought all the people crazy. [00:23:00] Seriously. I'm like, y'all listen.

Jessica: What was in that vaccine?

Mikki: What kind of COVID did you get? Get?

Jessica: Oh no, you can't put that on there.

Mikki: Yeah, we can, we carry, came the vaccines, Jess, I got vaccines boosted and my booster boosted and I did not turn around and start scamming people, but I do think maybe some people got the kind of COVID that rotted their brains.

Mm-hmm. Because it really is, it's kind of wild over the last several home on our horror stories. Yeah.

Jessica: It's

Mikki: 20 after 21.

Jessica: Ah,

Mikki: crazy. So this guy, over a course of four years, scammed people out of almost $2 million. And when we did the deep dive, we, we f like what they were charged for was like two very specific victims.

But as the case kind of kept building and they kept doing investigative work, they realized that it was. Probably around 20 to 30 victims and that they were all seniors, so they'd be senior [00:24:00] scamming people outta almost $2 million. And I, as I have said, special place in hail.

Jessica: Yeah.

Mikki: So one of the most heartbreaking cases involves an 83-year-old homeowner.

I was just talking about him. O'Brien told him that his foundation had serious cracks. He said it needed immediate repair and the homeowner trusted him, so he paid $9,500 up front.

Jessica: That is a lot of money.

Mikki: Yeah.

Jessica: To pay somebody that comes to your door. Mm-hmm. Like. And to not get a second opinion. Like even when you go to the doctors and they give you bad news, you're like, let me get a second opinion.

You don't just take the first thing that's there.

Mikki: I think you'd be surprised how many people do take the first thing that means,

Jessica: all right, well maybe I'm just but

Mikki: but she ain't wrong. Get a second opinion. Second opinion, no matter what it is, we're not doctors as we stated in the past. Or

Jessica: lawyers.

Mikki: Or lawyers or the judge, jury, or executioner.

However, we do fully. Hope that you guys will get second opinions. Yes. [00:25:00] And when it comes to work on your house, we actually encourage you to get three second opinions and get a total of four quotes on things because that helps you understand where the middle is. Mm-hmm. Um, so, so here's what this guy's like.

His strategy was when it came to the scam, he would come over, he would say that there was something wrong with your house. He would charge you a really nominal, I mean, not nominal in the sense that it was a lot of money, but as compared to what he would come back for, it was nominal. So with this guy, he first.

Says listen, and it's funny 'cause like on here it says that he then said 80, but I watched the interview with this particular guy.

Jessica: Yeah.

Mikki: And he actually came back at 95. So he comes to his house, he says, you have, you have structural damage to your house. I can fix it for $9,500. The guy says, all right, he has him do it.

Then the next day he came back and said that he discovered additional damage and it was actually going to cost $95,000. I see. And the [00:26:00] homeowner said. Are you crazy? Like I don't have $95,000. Like I can't afford that. So he's gonna get a new house immediate came down from 95,000 to 80,000. So obviously there are red flags all over this, but that is a huge red flag.

Mm-hmm. If somebody has built into their cost $15,000 that they can immediately walk away from, because you said you couldn't afford it.

Jessica: Mm.

Mikki: Oh,

Jessica: now that's shady.

Mikki: Absolutely not Uhuh. No, that that is the biggest red flag. Like, listen, I think negotiating is great. At the flea market, okay? Mm-hmm. But I don't build my estimates with fluff in it so that you can come back to me and negotiate with me.

I give you, this is the real cost to build this. And listen, don't think for a second that I haven't had general contractors come back to me and say, Hey, listen. We got another bid. It's [00:27:00] $200,000 under yours.

Jessica: You're like, go ahead.

Mikki: Can you meet it? Absolutely not. Like I literally told the general contractor not that long ago, that if he thought that I had $200,000 worth of fluff build into my, into my prices, that I would not be bidding your work right now.

I would be on a private island where I would be living my best life not having to deal with other people. So, no sir. Take the $200,000 bid and when you have to call me to come fix your paint and your drywall doesn't understand,

Jessica: do it right,

Mikki: that's gonna cost you a whole lot more. So contractors are not like legitimate, honest contractors are not building in $15,000 of walkaway money into your price. Mm-hmm. They're not. Everybody expects you to come back and wanna negotiate a little bit, but they're not adding fluff to their contract. That's so, that's so much. So that needs to be a major red flag when somebody can immediately drop a price by [00:28:00] $15,000.

Don't walk. Y'all run. That ain't right.

Jessica: That is crazy.

Mikki: It is crazy. And that's where the story really becomes important is because it wasn't just one homeowner, it was over a hundred victims across multiple states. Now here we found, we found a couple different numbers. One was 2.6 and one was $1.9 million of of what he was accused of stealing.

And to be perfectly honest. I saw it on multiple different websites, so I'm not sure which one it is. So let's just say this way. It's anywhere in between 1.9 and $2.6 million. It's

Jessica: that this guy, no matter what,

Mikki: right, that the whole lot money out of a hundred victims, which is. Absolutely insane to me.

Jessica: And he had a system that he was, he was using,

Mikki: it was the same for every single victim.

And what was crazy was it wasn't just those stories that they shared in like in the trial. Mm-hmm. I, when I went, this guy's Yelp, his Yelp review. [00:29:00] Every single comment, and there were several was the exact same story. There was one which I was really proud of, this lady. Um, again, I'm just like, listen, I don't know who you are.

I hope this video finds you somewhere because you boss you, you have the boss energy of the boss. Of boss ladies. So she shared how he, he came to her door and she, she like even gave the details of like, our house sits on five acres and in the, it's on the very back of this five acres. So these people trespass on our property down almost four acres of our land to come to our front door and tried to tell us they were in our neighborhood, which we know they weren't because our neighborhood is like, everybody's on five acres

Jessica: and like, you can't even see the house

Mikki: from the road.

Right. You can't see, like you, you're

Jessica: like

Mikki: the lady believed that he. Was looking at tax records. So he was looking at who to hit based on how much they're paying in taxes, because they're like, oh, these people have disposable income. Mm. So he, she's like, he shows up on my property. He tells us that we have a foundation problem.

We told him [00:30:00] that we are, we're actually working with another contractor, but they were happy, you know, like, you feel free to give us a quote. But they immediately got like weird vibes from this guy, and so they were just kinda like, yeah, give us a quote, but please get off of our property.

Jessica: Right?

Mikki: So the next day she's at work, but her two teenage daughters are at home and they show up unannounced and trying to say that.

Oh, your, your mom asked me to come to the house, but I forgot her cell phone number. She never gave this guy her cell phone number. No. And asked the girls, can you give it to me so I can call her and let her know I'm here? No. And the girls, they were teenagers, so they were like, oh, that seems legit. So they give this, you know, this guy, her cell phone and this, this mama.

Full mama bear. Mm. Full mama bear. I can't

Jessica: imagine,

Mikki: was like immediately get off my property. I'm calling the police and she called the police because she's like, my kids are home. Yeah. Like my teenage girls are home alone. These random dudes just showed up clearly violating our, our request to [00:31:00] just provide us with a quote just showed up and trying to do work at their property.

She called the cops and that's how she didn't get scammed by these people. Yeah. But literally everybody else, it was the same story. They showed up at the door unannounced. Yep. They said that there was, and, and, and what's really messed up is. F foundation, things are scary for somebody to say that there's very serious damage to your foundation.

Mm-hmm. It is. Because you're just like, oh God, what does this mean? What is this

Jessica: about? Yeah. My, is my whole house gonna fall down?

Mikki: Right. And especially them, them preying on older people. Mm-hmm. Like. They, they knew just the right thing. So they go in, they say, Hey, I see there's a crack in your foundation. I think one guy, it was a chimney.

Mm-hmm. I think somebody else, it was a driveway, but every single thing then resulted in, we found major damage. It's gonna cost. It was, he always went between 80 and $90,000. And so many of these people paid. And one of the things that was so noted in every single story mm-hmm. They paid in full before it was finished.[00:32:00]

Every single person on his Yelp review. Mm-hmm. Said I, the, I wish I had not, like I trusted this guy. And, and the thing is, one of the reviews said, if this man says hand on my heart, you know, he's lying. 'cause apparently that's what he would be like, hand on my heart. You know, like I'm trying to imagine the Lucky Charms guy hand on my heart.

Jessica: He shows up in a.

Mikki: Right. I'm just like, wow. Leading into that really hard. I think that's, is that, no, that's Irish. I was like, I was thinking of um, the Outlander, the, they're Scottish and they were kilts too. Oh, yeah. But Oh, do. Of course they both do. Course they do. They both do, both do, right? They both do.

I'm

Jessica: like the, the

Mikki: bagpipes, they technically we're Irish, so Yeah, we do My family's all the things,

Jessica: oh,

Default_2026-04-13_1: the

Mikki: things. My dad got wasted one time at a Irish festival and spent like $3,000 on us all getting kilts.

Jessica: Nice.

Mikki: And that's what they do. That was also a scam. They got him loaded and they were like, here, buy $3,000 worth of kilts.

You three fourths Irish person or a [00:33:00] quarter Irish man.

Jessica: Everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day Facts.

Mikki: So. The repeatable process was this. They find a homeowner, they create the fear, they offer an immediate solution. They collected the money, they inflated the problem, and they collected more money.

Jessica: Mm.

Mikki: In some cases, homeowners didn't just lose money.

They got bad construction. One woman paid $90,000 for repair that originally cost $9,000. What she got was poor workmanship. Mm-hmm. Materials failing and even infestations caused by the work. One of the things in the report on the Department of Justice's report about it was that they actually had.

Inspectors for the Department of Justice go to these properties and found that on, not a single one of them were any of the repairs that this guy did even necessary.

Jessica: So he actually did work, did, he didn't just take the

Mikki: money and run. He didn't do work. He didn't [00:34:00] just, I mean, he, so they, he took the money and ran at around halfway through the project.

Yes. So he would, he would do enough work to make it so that you're probably gonna have to spend another $90,000 putting it all back together. Oh my God. But he would take, he would do enough work, I guess. He was like using the, doing enough work to build like a rapport with the homeowner. So then would keep giving him money.

He would go to them and be like, Hey, can you pay me in full? 'cause we're almost done. They weren't almost done. They were like halfway through. Mm-hmm. But people didn't know any better. They would pay him in full and then he would never show up. Again, and in one of the Yelp reviews, they talked about how like 99.999 or percent of the work was done by subcontractors.

So it wasn't even like this guy was out doing the work. Like he would get the work and then sub it out to somebody else, which isn't fully uncommon. But he also wouldn't supervise the subcontractors either.

Jessica: So like you don't even know if the subcontractors were actually. Yeah. Like

Mikki: doing

Jessica: Supposed to.

Mikki: He could.[00:35:00]

Supposed to be doing,

Jessica: yeah. Which supposed to be doing the work because Oh, that's awful. Yeah.

Mikki: So he made everything worse.

Jessica: Yeah. It's really important for homeowners to remember you do not give the final payment no until the work is complete and you are happy with them, right? Like,

Mikki: don't pay for bad work either.

Like, I'm not sick, don't, don't pay for work that's not done, but also don't pay for work that you know, if they need to come back for literally anything, don't pay them. It's sad because it, we wish that we lived in a world where you could pay somebody and they would come back regardless. But I'm Gua like, listen, integrity is a, it's a rare thing to find these days, so you have to protect yourself.

And if somebody doesn't understand why you're not paying them in full when they're not complete. I feel like that's pretty questionable. I mean, I think there's limits too. Like we had a situation where somebody was holding $300,000 worth of retainage on us [00:36:00] because there were two entry doors that they weren't happy with the paint.

Do I think that's fair? No, I don't, but I'll tell you this. The holding of $300,000 for two entry doors did highly motivate us to get those doors painted. Like, did I like how it felt that he was holding that much money over two doors? No. But we also, you know, we got those doors painted and then to be perfectly honest, we never bid their work again, but.

The point is that's highly motivating, so mm-hmm. Using it as like a, hey, whether, whether you like it or not, we are not paying in full for work that is not complete. It's non-negotiable. Don't ask us again, if somebody continues to push that boundary. That might be a situation where you start to panic because nope.

They're not respecting that boundary. They need to finish the work or just you hold onto that money. Mm-hmm. To page somebody else to come finish it.

Jessica: Yeah. And we're not talking, like you said that you wanted a paint in one color. Now you don't like that color and, right. That's not what [00:37:00] we're saying.

Mikki: That's not a thing.

It's good. Good point. It's, yeah. It can't be like, Hey, I changed my mind and I want you to do something different and so I'm gonna hold your money because I changed my mind and wanna do something different. No. In these cases, it, like on the, the homeowner that paid the $80,000. His, the, the, the dirt around his house.

Yeah. The entirety of his house was still dug up. Lovely. So like this guy was genuinely maybe halfway through or maybe had just dug up the house and hadn't done any work and got paid in full. Absolutely not you guys. No, no, absolutely not. Mm-hmm. We do not pay in full, in advance of completion. They, you hold a substantial amount of money until it is done, because sadly, motivate is money is a huge motivator.

And you want to keep people as motivated as they can to finish your project. Mm-hmm. And to finish it correctly

Jessica: as high, prevent yourself from getting scammed.

Mikki: And this dude kept like wild records of his payments. So like, after he was arrested and he, [00:38:00] they were like investigating all, all the things, like they found that he kept incredible records of his scams.

And I'm just like, how are you this. Stupid.

Jessica: It's, he's gonna be like, oh, I am so like, look at me getting away with everything. Like he felt like, I am never gonna

Mikki: get

Jessica: caught.

Mikki: I'm gonna create a, a how to series on, put it on the dark web and make money off that. Like he kept immaculate records of his scams.

Jessica: It made the police's job way easier. I bet.

Mikki: Yeah.

Jessica: Oh, thank you. But it's also like really cold and calculated like you. Like dude,

Mikki: he wrote in his notes on some of the reports that he kept and he called it money for nothing. Like he literally wrote, oh my God, I charged them $90,000 for nothing.

Jessica: Nada

Mikki: like he confessed to his crimes.

In this note, [00:39:00]

Jessica: I mean, it's just like those people that like, I mean, I don't even know if it's real, but like you watch on cop shows, they're like, oh yes, I, I kept this money from this person. This is where this person is buried, like their ledger. This is where, this is where this body can be found.

Mikki: Mafioso style.

Jessica: Oh, there's money for nothing. It was a hundred thousand dollars go.

Mikki: He literally wrote money. Oh my God. For nothing in the notes.

Jessica: And that shows intent, right? Yeah,

Mikki: it does. Which is, is probably part of why this case was actually brought to trial because it was an accidental, it was calculated. Um, eventually federal investigators stepped in.

He was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. And this got me thinking that I feel like one of the best ways to protect yourself, like not necessarily protect yourself, but to make it so that you do have a potential to, to bring criminal charges against somebody mm-hmm. Is [00:40:00] only transfer money via.

Wire. If you write somebody a check, like check fraud does not carry, um, apparently doesn't carry federal consequences. It's a state thing. Mm-hmm. And states be tired and they be broke. Mm-hmm. So they're not coming after people for check fraud. But the government, the federal government is here for a long time and a good time, and they're down with some wire fraud charges.

I feel like that in all the cases that we've seen where people were actually charged mm-hmm. It was wire fraud. Because the $5 million Yeah. Chip and jojo like wannabes mm-hmm. In Texas, they got a couple of years in jail for wire fraud. Mm-hmm. So like, if you wanna give yourself like a, I'm gonna be sneaky and give myself away to get you charged with crimes, if you screw me over, be like, sorry, I'll only transfer money via wire.

And that was another thing that I saw mm-hmm. In several of the articles that I read about this guy is they, he would request either cash or like a check from. Like a certified [00:41:00] check from their bank so they could immediately cash it. He would have them write it out to different people every time, which is also super shady and a super big red flag.

But

Jessica: the people probably didn't know that he was having it written out to different people. Right. Like each,

Mikki: each homeowner was. In the reports was like the first check. He asked it to be written out to this person. The second check, he asked it to be written out to this person. Oh

Jessica: yeah, no, that's weird.

Mikki: And apparently should all be written out to the business that got flagged by her bank and her bank was like, no, this is weird.

Jessica: Yeah.

Mikki: So that's another thing guys. If somebody is asking you to pay them directly, now listen for small stuff. I don't think that's that big of a deal. Like every once in a while we'll have some work done around the house and it's just. It's somebody we know and we'll, you know, they're like, Hey, just write it out to my name.

And I'm like, all right, well you're gonna be getting a 10 99, just so you know. But they don't care, and that's fine. But if it's a $90,000 repair to your foundation and they're asking you to write a check to not a business name, that is a major red flag.

Jessica: So if they [00:42:00] got caught for wire fraud, that means that some of the people paid

Mikki: him.

So apparently. As he went on and he was charging more and more money, people were like, oh, I'll wire it to you. And eventually he started accepting the wires. Mm. Which is, I think, how it got up to the amount of money that it got up to, because he was scamming people for years. And it wasn't until he, he started accepting wire fraud or wired payments, payments that it flagged to the federal government, which is pretty wild.

So because of the wire fraud and the federal, apparently the federal government. Loves a good wire fraud moment. It became a federal case. He was arrested, prosecuted, and ultimately sentenced to four years in federal prison. So, and after that, which I thought this was really funny, I, listen, I'm here for a good prison moment.

Yeah. Like. He should go to jail.

Jessica: Absolutely.

Mikki: But then they're like, and oh, and as soon as you get outta prison, you're being deported to Ireland. And I'm like, wait, can't we deport him first and then let Ireland pay

Jessica: [00:43:00] for

Mikki: him

Jessica: to go jail? And I'm not have to pay for the taxpayers that have to pay for him to be in jail.

Mikki: My, and I'm just like, I love a good three hots and a cop moment. Don't think there haven't been times in my life, especially in this economy, that I'm like, maybe prison is a great place to go. Don't, don't

Jessica: orange.

Mikki: And also I get three hots and a cot. That's three meals. And a place to put my head. Prison's been looking good in this economy.

I mean, I'm just kidding, but like, honestly, I'm not, sometimes I think about it, so I'm like, why are we paying for this scammy, scammy scam artist to go to jail for four years and then we're just gonna deport him to Ireland? Like, why don't we do that now? But listen, nobody asked me and what I thought about how our Justice Department works.

Speaker: Mm-hmm.

Mikki: So let's break it down how this happened. Um. Something like this happens so many times because homeowners don't know what to look for, and construction is intimidating, especially when they're saying really scary things about your [00:44:00] foundation. If someone tells you that your house is structurally unsafe, most people panic.

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Mikki: So let's break down into about five of the the most clear red flags. Do you wanna start with the first one?

Jessica: Sure. First red flag, someone shows up uninvited. So it is not just the people there that are, you know, coming from a company and they're like, oh, we were in your neighborhood. Yeah. But there are some that like, that's their job and like, poor them.

Right?

Mikki: Like, that's your job. And I'm sorry,

Jessica: and I'm sorry for you. It's the ones that come in like. Immediately, like, oh my God, there's a problem on your roof. There's a problem with your foundation. Your house is unsafe. Listen, you've been living in that house for God knows how long with that one little problem, have somebody else come take a look at it.

They are,

Mikki: yeah,

Jessica: just full stop.

Mikki: Yes. Then that. Honestly, anytime anybody puts you in a position where. Like, you feel like, oh my God, I need to make a decision right now. Mm-hmm. Like, that is such a great opportunity for you to be like, oh, I actually have a rule about this. I don't [00:45:00] make any decisions when I feel like somebody's putting pressure on me.

No. So, mm-hmm. You know, I'll take your card. Please leave, sir. Like that's, that's the move.

Jessica: Absolutely.

Mikki: The second red flag is that urgent structural warning, which we just mentioned, like. I'm not gonna say that there haven't been situations where people have been warned that something was going to, something bad was gonna happen and then, and they waited and something did that actually happened in a major way in Miami, in a, in a condo building that eventually collapsed or a partial collapse.

Mm-hmm. Because, and they were warned several times, but that was, they were worn several times over a period of like a decade. Mm-hmm. So. The re, the chances of your house falling in on itself, especially if your house has been there for like, because these were houses of North, right? So some of them had been there forever.

Jessica: I mean, they're built in like the thirties, forties, fifties,

Mikki: they've been around that long. Mm-hmm. You probably have enough time to call somebody else and get a second opinion. Yes. And some of the people on the [00:46:00] Yelp reviews actually said when we had somebody come back out. They actually didn't, they said there was nothing wrong with our property and they didn't know what this person was talking about.

Mm-hmm. So that is an, an important thing, is that urgent structural warning, warning of like, your foundation is failing. That's time to get a second opinion immediately.

Jessica: Immediately. A third red flag is escalating costs. Oh God. Nothing goes from 9,000 to $90,000. Nothing. Nothing.

Mikki: Literally nothing. Literally nothing.

A thing.

Jessica: Mm. Not

Mikki: in the real world, like in scammers worlds. That's a great day for them.

Jessica: Yeah.

Mikki: They're winning, they're thriving, they're going on vacation. Nothing is

Jessica: going to 10 times. No.

Mikki: No. Mm-hmm. It just is not a thing, guys.

Jessica: Nope.

Mikki: Like, listen, if you, if you're like doing a little renovation, like you were like, oh, I'm gonna like.

Swap out my cabinets and the next thing you know you wanna do an addition on the back of your house. Sure. That could be $90,000 in a day. That

Jessica: makes sense.

Mikki: But if somebody comes to you and says, Hey, I have a little, you have a little cracky crack on your foundation, lemme just fill that in for you. It's [00:47:00] gonna be $9,000 and the very next day.

Just kidding. It's gonna be 90. Absolutely not. No, we're

Jessica: not ever, we're gonna need that payment upfront.

Mikki: Yeah. No. Oh, see, and that's, that's the next red flag is large upfront. Yeah. Good call Jess. Thank

Jessica: you.

Mikki: She's learning these red flags guys. Ain't no contractor coming for Jess.

Jessica: No.

Mikki: So that's the fourth red flag is large upfront payments.

Mm. Never pay large sums before the work is verified. So this is the hill I'm gonna die on. We've had a, we've had a couple of general contractors on the show. Um, some of them. Don't align with our, with our new values, which is we do not think it is okay to pay more than a 20% deposit under any circumstance.

The only place where that changes is if a, if a construction company has a policy that they can't order certain things without payment. So I have a friend who owns an HVAC company. If, if you want a specialty type of unit.

Jessica: [00:48:00] Yep.

Mikki: Because like if you, if you, if you order just a basic HVAC unit, like you have to replace a basic HVAC unit.

Mm-hmm. A lot of times he won't request a deposit because he knows he can turn around and sell that HVAC unit to somebody else. If you back out.

Jessica: Right. 'cause it's, it's just

Mikki: generic because it's a generic HVAC unit. There's nothing special about it. Like, he knows he's gonna be able to recoup those costs.

So it's not that big of a deal. But if you want something special or you want a really hardcore unit, or you want, like, we have a, um, a. Attachment to our HVEC unit that has a ultraviolet light in it that helps reduce, um, contaminants coming in the house '

Jessica: cause of your four dogs. '

Mikki: cause of my four dogs. And the fact that I'm wildly insane.

So when you combine those things together, I need extra things. That was an expensive piece of equipment that he was like, here's the cost for that. Once you pay it, I will order it. And this is my. Very good friend. So it's just this is what things cost. Mm-hmm. So unless you're ordering something that's really unusual [00:49:00] or something that can't be resold, there is no reason that a general contractor needs more than 20% down.

We had somebody on the show once that said, A homeowner needs to have as much skin in the game as we do. And here's the thing, I don't agree with that. A homeowner already. All the skin in the game, it's their house. They live there, they're that is all of the skin. If a general contractor feels that you need to pay a 50% deposit, I'm gonna go ahead and say absolutely not.

20% is the maximum amount of deposit that you should absolutely pay for any work to be done on your house. With our caveat of, of specialty equipment

Jessica: Yep. When things need to be boarded ahead of time.

Mikki: And I'm saying like people could make a case otherwise that, that might be accurate in certain situations, but it's a very small group of very specific situation.

Mm-hmm. So obviously take that into account, but if you're doing a basic renovation to your home or you're doing a basic whatever, 20% Max, max Outof pocket upfront.

Jessica: Yep. And the last red flag is that there's [00:50:00] no independent inspection. You always want to bring in a second professional,

Mikki: like in this case. And here's, here's the fun facts, structural work to your house.

If, if, if somebody is coming to you and saying, your house is about to fall over and you're gonna die in your sleep because your house is gonna collapse upon you, but we're gonna repair this work and don't need any inspections. Think about that. Does that seem, that's seems

Jessica: smart. No, no, no.

Mikki: Mm. No. That's because it's not.

So y'all structural work to your house, structural repair work to your house absolutely needs to be inspected. And if somebody is coming to you and saying, Hey, we don't need to have this inspected, we're gonna spend, we're gonna take 90,000 of your dollars to fix your crumbling. Infrastructure here. Um, but we're not gonna get inspected by anybody.

Absolutely not.

Jessica: No.

Mikki: No, sir.

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Mikki: Not today. Not tomorrow. And not yesterday.

Jessica: Never.

Mikki: We're not doing that.

Jessica: No.

Mikki: So let's, let's wrap it up. [00:51:00] Wrapping the story is scary because it could happen to anyone. And that's exactly why we tell these stories, you guys, because the most, the more homeowners understand the process, the harder it becomes for people like this to take advantage of them.

Um, if you've been in construction, well, let's say this, we'll, we'll rephrase. Everybody that is, that is out there in the world. Like we, we always say this, you don't know what you don't know. Mm-hmm. And so, but we all have a gut and we all have that, that moment where you're like, something about this doesn't feel right.

And so we wanna f. Flag important things like, like people just showing up at your door, people asking for large sums of money. People going from $9,000 to $90,000 in 24 hours. Those are really big wow moments. But this stuff happens in little ways all the time, and that is what the purpose of this podcast is for.

We want you to have better experiences and to have to hire the right people to know the questions, to ask, to know the things, to look up, [00:52:00] to have better experiences, but some of you guys haven't. And those people we want you to write in and share your homeowner horror story with us so that we can educate other people.

Jessica: Yes.

Mikki: Um, I will say that, that I think I. As the longer this podcast goes on, the more it's gonna feel like they're just repeating the same story over and over again. Mm-hmm. But the reality and the sad reality is we're genuinely not like every single one of these stories that we get are written by homeowners and they all sound the same because the scam.

Is really the same over and over and over again. And the more we can share with you guys and say, Hey, look at how this keeps happening in every single home on our horror story. There's a pattern here. Let's recognize it. Let's call it out and let's educate our friends, share these podcasts with your friends.

And that has been happening and we're so grateful for that. But also share your stories. With us. You can go to chicks in construction.com. We have a little form right there on the homepage. You can scroll down, you can fill out your story and send it to us, and we can use that [00:53:00] to help people because learning the hard way is fact

Speaker: overrated.

It's you gonna say it's just overrated?

Mikki: Well, you know how I like to add a little pizazz

Speaker: to just everything. A

Jessica: little razzle dazzle.

Speaker: A little razzle dazzle. It's, we got a

Mikki: razzle. We got a dazzle. Yeah. So we hope that you do that. Thank you for liking and subscribing. Thank you for being part of our little chicks and construction family.

And make sure you pay attention to the crazy people's comments on our Instagram, because they be out here wild in these streets. Just where can they find the social media so they can see the wild in these streets people, the wild in

Speaker: the streets

Jessica: love it. So on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn is at Chicks Construction Podcast and on TikTok is at Chicks Construction.

Mikki: Awesome. We love you guys. We'll see you next time. Bye.