Caught in the Fraud: A Tale of Deception in Construction

Hosts Mikki Paradis and Jessica Abreu share a personal update about a car crashing through Mikki's fence and guardrail, then dive into a North Texas construction scandal involving Christopher and Raquel Judge of Judge DFW LLC. Marketing themselves on social media as a Chip-and-Joanna-style design-build team, they allegedly offered below-market bids, collected deposits and installment payments, and left more than 40 families with unfinished or poorly done projects across 24 jobs, totaling about $4.8 million in losses. Investigators found Christopher was not a licensed architect despite claiming to be and despite warnings from the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners. The case became federal due to wire fraud, large losses, and misrepresentation; both pled guilty, with potential prison time and restitution. The episode highlights key red flags and homeowner protections: verify licenses, avoid unusually low bids, use milestone-based payments, research history, and watch for communication breakdowns.

00:00 Contractor Scam Fallout

00:28 Podcast Intro and Format

01:06 Midnight Crash Story

04:50 Fence Damage and Insurance

09:00 Safety Concerns and Fix Ideas

15:04 Horror Story Setup

16:04 North Texas Fraud Case

21:37 Fake Architect Exposed

24:19 Scam Playbook Breakdown

25:15 Social Media and AI Fakes

26:59 Online Trust Collapse

27:48 Vetting Pros and Red Flags

30:34 Where the Money Went

31:14 Victims and Federal Case

34:50 Wire Fraud and Plea Deals

37:54 Restitution and No Money

42:15 Red Flags Checklist

51:06 Protect Yourself and Wrap Up

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/

38 - Chicks In Construction
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Mikki: [00:00:00] One woman was left with a half-built house and no responses from the contractor. Some families lost their savings, others filed for bankruptcy, and several were forced to hire a new construction company to repair. All of and finish all of the work.

Jessica: Gosh. So this became a federal case. Eventually the federal investigators stepped in the FBI, secret Service task force, and local police investigated the case.

So you know, you're going down, well, hello and welcome back to another episode of Chicks in Construction.

Mikki: I'm your host, Mickey Paradise, and this is my co-host.

Jessica: Hi, I'm Jessica Abra

Mikki: and this is the podcast. What we do is we tell you how to not have bad experiences with contractors, and a lot of that comes from home and our horror stories or people can write in and submit like, Hey, have you heard of this story?

And so we actually. Have one of those for you today. But [00:01:00] before we get into that, we like to have what we call hashtag chickie chat. Chickie chat, chickie chat. Um, so I know you know this, but Joe doesn't know this and you guys don't know this. Last week. I was slumbering. It was a little after midnight. I was just minding my own business as one does when you're old and it's midnight and a weekday, um, laying in bed.

And so Frankie, Frankie is my little pit bull that we found on the side of the road. He's a pretty good natured being like he's just here for a good time. Yeah. Like, he's just like, listen, I'm a good vibe. He doesn't require a lot of energy. He does go to the chiropractor monthly. He just lived for a little bit of that drama, but other than that, he's probably my least expensive dog.

Knock on wood, knock on wood. Knock on all the wood because I probably just cost myself thousands of dollars.

Jessica: Next week we'll find out.

Mikki: So, um. He's like heavy breathing, and I was like, oh [00:02:00] God, here we go. Something's wrong with Frankie and he's, oh, I call it his condo. So. Mm-hmm. When we got Callie. Um, Frankie protested.

He was like, absolutely not. I'm not here for this little dog. She's very annoying. She's all up in my face. She doesn't respect personal boundaries, which c does not. She's not at all, never heard of a personal boundary, and she's never gonna hear of it. So Frank, Frankie requested that we get him an apartment so that he could move out and because obviously that's not in the budget.

Frankie Frankie's new apartment is Hector's Closet and we call that Frankie's condo. Of course, I'm just setting up the story so you guys understand what I'm talking about.

Jessica: When

Mikki: I say he, he was sitting, laying in his condo,

Jessica: getting all

Mikki: in his little bed and he is like, panicked. And I was like, oh God, I'm, something's going on.

So I'm like. Making direct eye contact with him.

Jessica: I'd be like, do not throw up. I

Mikki: was pretty much just like I was eyeing him, like, you know, and like, which you probably don't know 'cause you probably didn't watch these movies, but a Crocodile [00:03:00] Dundee,

Jessica: please. What?

Mikki: That is a quintessential childhood.

Jessica: Did it?

Mikki: Oh, you guys, Jess and her not watching movies.

Jessica: Sorry.

Mikki: Um, crocodile ND was this Australian guy. He was like of the bush and he did this thing where he would like. And the animals would just listen to what he says. So I'm laying in bed, making direct eye contact with Frankie, trying to crocodile Dundee him into not throwing up,

Jessica: do it outside if you have to.

Mikki: It's like, do you need, I'm like, do you need to go outside? And he's like, not getting up. So I'm like, all right. Next thing you know, turns off Frankie's psychic. Just side note, we're leading into it. Um. I hear this crash that shakes the house and I, my immediate first thought was the house just got struck by lightning.

Then I was like, wait, there was no lightning. Oh, I know what happened. A car just drove through the fence and crashed into the back of my house.

Jessica: Which the fact that you're like, oh, that's what that

Mikki: does. The second thought, first thought, thunder, lightning. Second thought, somebody crashed [00:04:00] the car at my house.

I thought like a tree

Jessica: fell down,

Mikki: right? No. So. Actor is passed out. He's just like, in La la land. I wake, I get outta bed and he's like, what's going on? And I was like, Sammy just crashed their car into the back of the house. Who?

Jessica: That night we come up. I wish I, you know what? When I die and come back, I wanna come back as a dude.

Mikki: Right? There's just, he's just like, what happened? And I'm like, don't worry. I was up the whole time making direct eye contact with their dog, trying to will him not to throw out. Turns out. Frankie's psychic naturally, that's, that's the next progression of how things could go. And he just knew that the house is about to get crashed into.

And he was a little nervous.

Jessica: Mm

Mikki: uh, 'cause he was fine. Like after the house got crashed into,

Default_2026-03-16_1: he

Jessica: was like, okay.

Mikki: He is

Jessica: like, and we're done.

Mikki: And I just wanted let you know your house didn't, technically, the house did not crash. Get into Thank God. Thank, thank, thank the Lord. Um, however, so this is actually the second time this has happened.

Which I know is, says it's

Jessica: things happen in threes. You got, you got one more? [00:05:00] You got one more, sorry.

Mikki: I dunno how many new fences I can keep installing.

Jessica: This is Newton.

Mikki: The first time it happened, the guy fell asleep. Um, he wasn't going 75 miles an hour, which did it. It helped the fact that he was going a normal rate of speed meant that he, he still damaged the fence.

He took out like half of the fence. But he didn't, like his car didn't go fully into my yard. Mm-hmm. This guy was too fast, too furious. He was auditioning for Fast Than Furious. 19. He was hoping Vin Diesel was watching via satellite because he was going for it. He was going at least no less than 75 miles an hour.

Jessica: It's crazy.

Mikki: On a residential street. Just so we're all clear, like my, it's, it's somewhat busy street, but it's a residential street.

Jessica: Yeah.

Mikki: Um, after the first time somebody. Drove their car, threw my fence. Mm-hmm. The city put in this heavy duty guardrail. I'm [00:06:00] talking like the fir, when they first installed it, I was like, the next person that hits this meets the Lord.

Like there's no surviving this, this guardrail.

Jessica: Surprise.

Mikki: You can, don't jokes on us. Don't test fate. Fate will come. So it gets, it's literally was like a concrete piling.

Jessica: Mm,

Mikki: this guy took it out. It was, it's gone. You can't even find where the concrete piling is. Like, it's just like in heaven now, I guess.

Takes the, takes the whole guard rail out. Probably like, well not the whole, but probably like 15 feet of the guard rail. The several panels, like half my fence, and he was all the way in my yard. And the only reason why he didn't hit my shed, the shed of wonders, the shed of special trash, which Hector would've been

Jessica: devastated IED by.

Mikki: Hector would've probably killed somebody in that, in that

Jessica: he would've beat up the guy.

Mikki: He'd have been like, now you have to die. This is my special trash shed. The only thing that saved the special trash shed was a tree. [00:07:00] He's, the tree stopped him from hitting our face. That's how fast he was going.

Jessica: Do you have to take the tree down now?

Mikki: No, that tree was okay. 'cause she's, she's large and in charge.

Jessica: Okay.

Mikki: She's here for a long time and a good time.

Jessica: Nice.

Mikki: Unfortunately, several other trees did not survive, so Raleigh Police Department was like, so these trees, you're gonna have to take 'em down within 24 hours or they're gonna fall into the street.

And I was like. That sounds expensive.

Jessica: So who pays for that bill?

Mikki: I don't know yet. Listen, if you from Liberty Mutual, understand I'm coming for you. Um, he was. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. I swear to God, I swear to God

Jessica: I hate their commercials.

Mikki: I swear to God I hate your commercials and I'm not a fan of your insurance company.

Um, so he had, he was insured. Think, praise be praise be. Um, but they're trying to say that the car he was driving was not insured. And I'm like, I don't give a [00:08:00] hoot about who. I can tell you this. I did not drive my vehicle. Through my own deone fence.

Jessica: No,

Mikki: I did not do that.

Jessica: I did not take out my

Mikki: own face. I don't care.

Right. I didn't, I didn't take out my fence. I didn't take out the, the guardrail. I didn't take out much. I didn't. I was minding my own damn business, which is a rare moment for me in the bed. Yeah. Making eye contact with my dog. I. I can tell you I did not do this, therefore I am not paying for it. Yeah. But we, we beefing.

Mm-hmm. We beefing. So, so, you know, if you're driving, if you're driving through Raleigh and you see like a busted guardrail and a half of a fence missing, now you know where I live

Jessica: and

Mikki: I've got so many calls from friends, oh my God, I drove past your house. Are you guys okay? And I'm like, honestly, no. But it has nothing to do with the fence.

I'm not Well, but it's not fence related. But thanks for checking on me.

Jessica: Oh my [00:09:00] gosh,

Mikki: Sam,

Jessica: wait, can you let your dogs out?

Mikki: No. No. Well, like we could, 'cause we have the invisible fence. And the invisible fence encapsulate the whole property. But like, listen is the fron and find out strong in my dogs it is because

Jessica: they're gonna,

Mikki: and there is a bus stop right there, which is one of the reasons why like the fence is really important.

'cause there's literally where. Thank God nobody was waiting for the bus.

Jessica: Well, at midnight, hopefully

Mikki: not. Yeah. Hopefully not. But um, so like my dogs will be like, absolutely not. If they see people waiting at that bus stop and they can make direct eye contact with them.

Jessica: Oh, they're gonna stand right there.

They're

Mikki: prime's gonna be like. What R you do, but don't look at me like, I swear to God, like Frankie, he just likes to bark to hear the sound of his own voice. Like he doesn't mean anything by it. He's just like, huh, oh, well that sounds good. Let me do it again. Rah. And he has a very intense spark. Like it's one of those ones that you feel in your soul.

Mm-hmm. So yeah, like I don't wanna roll those dice. So yeah, dogs can't go out in the back. They can still go out in the front. [00:10:00] But my biggest concern is like, I don't. I don't want my backyard just exposed for, for hooligans, if you will. Mm-hmm. To just be like, oh, what's in that shed? Hmm.

Jessica: Let's go find out what that special trash is over.

There's now,

Mikki: luckily, and it was just, this was so funny. Hector was shamed by our podcast where we talked about the parts toilet. Mm-hmm. He was very shamed by this and so he got rid of the parts toilet.

Jessica: Oh, would they have run into the parts toilet?

Mikki: I don't think they would have, but you would be able to see if we still had the parts toilet on property, you would be able to drive by and see just a random toilet and I was like, hmm.

I'm grateful that he got rid of the parts toilet like

Jessica: that might have kept people out of your yard.

Mikki: We're a hundred percent trashy. Like don't get it twisted. But I don't want everybody other than us. You know, all of you

Jessica: circle, circle

Mikki: of

Jessica: trust here,

Mikki: circle of trust. We're absolutely like not made for gen pop.

Like we're not, we shouldn't be allowed out just in regular population, but we are. And um, [00:11:00] you can tell by our house, you can tell, but the parts toilet's gone. And I was like, whew. We somewhat look normal. You can, if you're just driving by, you're like, oh, it's a normal backyard. You have no idea. So there's that.

That

Jessica: happened. This is crazy. I can't even imagine.

Mikki: Two times driving through fence twice. Somebody was like, it's time to move. I'm like, in this economy, no,

Jessica: it's time for the city to put up a stronger fence. Maybe some science that say there's a turn here, a turn, turn coming. You know they have those black and yellow.

He say, avoid put a big X on it.

Mikki: I'm gonna go. Those our children live here, please drive slowly.

Jessica: Come with a little turtle.

Mikki: Yeah,

somebody was like, oh, what if you put in like, I guess it's called, um, and it happens a lot in the mountains. 'cause I mean, listen, I'll be honest, it makes sense. I don't know if you've ever been to the mountains. Yes. [00:12:00] Sometimes I'm driving and I'm like, I wonder how many times someone's driven their car into that person's property.

Like mm-hmm. It's real twisty turning and sometimes the houses are boom right there. So in those situations I'm like, yeah, I get it. I, Hmm. There's barely a turn. Yeah. Like, I don't know how people keep running their cars into my yard, but

Jessica: they do it.

Mikki: They do it. It's,

Jessica: I always get nervous for the houses that.

There's a street going this way and there's a street coming down and there's a stop sign.

Mikki: Yeah.

Jessica: So that you can go left or right here. Yeah. And there's a house right there, right on the other side of you're just

Mikki: like,

Jessica: I'm like, there's gotta be people that just blow through that stop sign, not even realizing it.

Mikki: Yeah,

Jessica: a hundred percent. And that person's house.

Mikki: Yeah. I mean, listen,

Jessica: I'll never live in one of those.

Mikki: I never thought my house fell in that category, but apparently two times. And what's crazy is same exact spot. Same exact spot.

Jessica: Yep.

Mikki: Like I'm just [00:13:00] like, this feels like a little, it feels like a little bit of witchcraft.

Jessica: They need to put one of those, um, borders like they do for the highways.

Mikki: Yeah.

Jessica: To block out the sound and noise and stuff. Those really? That would be great. Heavy TV. Heavy.

Mikki: I'm gonna be like, dear City of Raleigh, please.

Jessica: I need a brick fence.

Mikki: Save my fence. The Raleigh police were like, oh, you should put those, um, it's called like a landscaping rock.

But it's like one of those big ones. And they do that in the mountains. Like if you, you can always tell if somebody's had their house run into more than once, is that a big

Jessica: boulder?

Mikki: Because there's like a huge boulder there and that's like, you're gonna hit that before you hit my property. Yeah, you might

Jessica: go

Mikki: over, they like, you put that in and I'm like.

How much do you think those cost? You think I could just got money? It's growing on the trees. Look at my special trash. It's

Jessica: your job. Like

Mikki: we're clearly trashy people. We clearly don't have money for landscaping boulders.

Jessica: Next time he brings home a toilet, just fill it with cement and there

Mikki: go be like, here we go.

Jessica: It's a landscape. We boulder.

Mikki: You

Jessica: can put a little light on the top of it, like a [00:14:00] beacon.

Mikki: Oh my God. A toilet lighthouse. Alert. Alert, like please don't run through my fence. Luckily in both cases, everybody was okay. Um, so I was, I was very grateful. Mm-hmm. That like, you know, there wasn't like a dead body inside that car.

I come out and I'm like, are you okay? I'm in my jammies, by the way. And um, he's like, yeah. I'm okay and he gets outta the car and he is fine. He was, and he was not drunk like they did a sobriety test. He was sober as a church mouse.

Jessica: He just. Fell asleep.

Mikki: I think he fell asleep. He did not admit to falling.

The first guy admitted it. This guy, I don't, he didn't admit it, but there were not skid marks. He was going seven to five miles an hour. Yeah.

Jessica: I mean, how

Mikki: do you, and he didn't even break. He had to have just passed out.

Jessica: Mm-hmm. He fell like he fell asleep. Like that's way better than like, I just

Mikki: don't know how I've been having a sauce.

Yeah. Too fast. Too furious. Yeah. So, listen, it's a dream. Being alive is a, is a real gift. Every day [00:15:00] is just a, it's a new mission. Mm-hmm. It's a new journey. Yeah. Speaking of missions and journeys, our homeowner horror story today is, oh, it's a world delight. Um, I'm gonna, I

Jessica: mean, delight. Mm.

Mikki: Yeah. I always say delight, but I, it.

For lack of better words, guys. My, my words are limited. Let's just be honest. It's shocking. Mm-hmm. I will say one thing that brings me a lot of joy is they were prosecuted. So like we have shared so many stories where there was absolutely no consequences. Yeah.

Jessica: Stop on the wrist

Mikki: and even sometimes not even that.

Mm-hmm. And so, at least in this case. They're, I mean, justice with a capital J, all caps underlined, bold, and italic. Like they these people, the Lord came for these people. So, um, imagine I also, guys, we did write a script, so we're gonna try to, to do our script, I'm gonna [00:16:00] have to look at it. My printer did not wanna print, so I have it on my phone.

Love you guys. Okay, so imagine this. You hire a contractor to build your dream home. He tells you he's an architect. Note that, underline that for later. He shows you beautiful designs. He promises a custom build completed in just a few months. You sign a contract, you wire the first payment, then another, then another.

But the house never gets finished. The contractor stops answering the phone, and eventually you learn something chilling. The man you trusted with your dream home. I was never actually an architect. Whoopsie. Today we're talking about a construction scandal that ripped through North Texas, leaving more than 40 families with unfinished homes, and nearly $5 million missing.

[00:17:00] 5 million capital. M the story, the story is of Christopher and Raquel Judge and their construction company called Judge. D-F-W-L-L-C and that's in North Texas. Wild in these $5 million. And I just wanna point out that this, they started their company in 2020 and were already out of business by 2023.

So in three, three years, years, they scammed people out of $5 million. What in the world? I can't, I literally can't.

Jessica: And the must have just got kept getting greedy. Mm-hmm. Because like once it started working, they're like, oh, let's just go for a little more.

Mikki: Yeah.

Jessica: A little more and a little more. Yeah. Yeah.

So this story is not just about bad construction, it's about federal fraud charges.

Mikki: Yeah. Yep. It is insane. So [00:18:00] let's see. Obviously the podcast, um. Is where we tell real construction horror stories and help homeowners avoid being the next one. Um. So let's get into it. Christopher and Raquel, judge presented themselves as Desi a design build powerhouse.

And one thing that I thought was really interesting, I did a wild deep dive on this couple and they were. They utilize social media, TikTok, all, all the socials. Mm-hmm. Giving this like chip and jojo vibe. And what was funny is everybody, like multiple people said that they were kind of presenting themselves as Chip and jojo, so he was.

An architect, allegedly. He was absolutely not an architect and she was an interior designer, absolutely not an interior designer. And they had this construction company. And

Jessica: so when you did the deep dive, did you find out what they had done before? No. They became,

Mikki: I did not find that out.

Jessica: I'm gonna have to Google that.

Mikki: [00:19:00] That is a good gut. We should have Googled that 'cause that would be really good to know. Yeah,

Jessica: you

Mikki: can

Jessica: keep talking. I'm going Google it.

Mikki: Joe was like, I'm on it. And Joe's also like, I'm also on it. We'll

Jessica: find out the answers.

Mikki: We shall find out. Um. Like, so they're a super young couple and they kind of got their, their, I guess notoriety or like their, they got a lot of clout from these, this insane instant, um, instant media, sorry, social media campaign that they did kind of putting themselves, like stating that they are experts in things, so.

The company Judge, D-F-W-L-L-C, market itself as a one stop shop offering, offering architecture, custom home construction, interior design work, and renovations on social media. They built a brand that looked like a real life version of the popular T-H-G-T-V show Duo Chip and Joanna Gaines. They posted project photos, shared design ideas, [00:20:00] promoted custom builds, um, to potential clients.

They looked very legitimate and that's exactly what made this scheme work.

Jessica: Yeah. So everything that you see on social media is not true. I mean, it looks beautiful and everything, but it's, it's a curated list of things that they want people to see. Um, I mean, even on our social media, I don't put all of our stupid outtakes.

Mikki: Could you guys imagine? Obviously Jess is the normal one here, Joe,

Jessica: slightly.

Mikki: Joe works the hardest because of this mouth. Okay. Like, yeah, Jess doesn't put my nonsense out on social media. I will tell you. I do put my nonsense. She does.

Jessica: There is no stopping her. It's just she, all the thought comes here and the phone comes out and there is a conversation happening.

Mikki: To be, to be fair, just [00:21:00] please, the only redeeming quality that I do have is my social media that I share the real, the full truth, and nothing, but the truth is private. So I love you guys. I'm not gonna add you if I don't know you on my very private social media. I don't add you. And even like if I do know you, but I don't like you, I don't add you.

So take that how you will. All, we have a bunch of public social media, but like my personal social media is private for a reason because I am not. Suitable to be in the general public. There is no censor, censor talked about. All we have about this, there's no censoring me. It's impossible.

Jessica: So the central lie that helped sell this dream was that Christopher Judge to old clients that he was an architect because like, that sounds so good.

Like I'm an architect, like, I'm gonna build your house.

Mikki: First of all, I don't even, that's like lying about being a lawyer. The. An architect is a different level. Like it's, it's not like, oh, I'm a general contractor now. Mm-hmm. [00:22:00] So I call myself a general contractor and I tell everybody, I'm a general contractor.

That happens all the day on time, but it's like I have literally never heard of someone that's fake, misrepresenting themselves as a licensed architect. And he wasn't saying, oh, I dibble dabble in architect. Mm-hmm. He claimed to be a licensed architect

Jessica: and like they need to know. So many things like the level of work goes into designing and like, I only know a very small bit because I've gone to, um, offices where the architects are like building all the things and they make the little models and I'm fascinated by it.

Yeah, I don't have the patience for that. Absolutely not for the math skills, but,

Mikki: and the thing is, it's like actually a lot of math, like

Jessica: it is,

Mikki: they're not just like, Ooh, let's put the wall here. The, as the architect, they carry a license because they are responsible for these, the, the integrity of the home.

Now, they're not necessarily the only ones responsible. So [00:23:00] an architect and a structural engineer are required. For the construction of literally anything, depending on where you are. I know in North Carolina you have to have, especially on like bigger builds. Mm-hmm. You have to have an architectural stamp and a structural engineer stamp.

So those two people are the ones that are responsible for like calculating loads, for knowing how far. A wall span can be. Mm-hmm. Like there's a lot that goes into this because it is about safety.

Jessica: Yeah. You don't want your hu down on you.

Mikki: No. I mean, and that's like the story we had a couple of of weeks ago, or I don't know if it was months ago now, the in Chatham County where Right.

They only had nine. Pillars in their basement, the foundation, they, something, pillars something. And they added 23. Yeah. To make it structurally sound. That's because that guy drew the plans on the back of a napkin and the Chatham County accepted it. Like, what? The what?

Jessica: We don't know what's happening.

Mikki: We don't know what's happening.

We

Jessica: don't know why people do the things that they do, but the investigators later confirmed that he was not a [00:24:00] licensed architect. In fact, the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners. Had warned him, he was violating the law by using that title, so they, they knew, but the marketing continued, the claims continued, and the homeowners kept signing contracts.

Mikki: My God. So how did the scam work? According to federal prosecutors, the scheme followed a clear pattern. Step one, attract clients on social media. Step two, offer below market construction bids. Mm-hmm. To win the job. Step three, required deposits and installment payments. Step four, begin the project. Step five, collect additional payments.

Step six, fail to complete the work. Court records showed the couple accepted installment payments from homeowners for construction Pro projects that were never finished by the time the scheme. Unraveled, 40 plus victims had been defrauded. [00:25:00] 24 construction projects were affected. Mm-hmm. Um, and the losses totaled $4.8 million.

Million dollars.

Jessica: That is just insane. And like what I don't understand now I understand homeowners, they see things on social media and they're like, this looks great. But like at what point?

Mikki: Yeah.

Jessica: Do you not say, can I see a finished home?

Mikki: Yeah. And

Jessica: like, can I see something that you have finished in person

Mikki: that see the in-person piece is the part.

That I think is the, is the differentiator. Mm-hmm. So like technically these people were showing all these projects that were not projects that they built. So all of the projects that they were showing on their, can you, do you hear this? I was

Jessica: like,

Mikki: we going die. Jesus.

Jessica: I was like, gonna take the wheel. My God.

Something. Just hit something and then I was like, oh, no, wait, we're getting thunderstorms today.

Mikki: Fine. Nobody drove their house into the, or their car into the house. House, into [00:26:00] a

Jessica: car. That would be impressive.

Mikki: Nobody drove their house into the car or their car into the house.

Jessica: Sorry, I just swirled

Mikki: it's

Jessica: thunder for a moment there.

Mikki: Well, we are, we are under like a severe storm weather, you know, a moment. So, listen. This isn't live, but if something weird happens, we'll definitely put it in here. Joe's like, we're not doing that. We're doing it

Jessica: fine. It's all fine. Sorry,

Mikki: squirrel.

Jessica: Um, yes. So

Mikki: yeah, it's like seeing it in real life. I'm, I'm here, here's where I'm at.

Listen guys, listen, AI really freaks me out. I love me some Chad, GBT, we all know that. Mm-hmm. But other than that, the AI imaging and the AI videos and the level of deep fakes that you cannot tell. Are not real freaks me out to the point where I won't even buy things that I see people like influencers because I don't even know if that influencer is real.

Like there is a whole movement of AI influencers, they are not real humans. They are AI and they're trying to get you to buy things. Mm-hmm. And they are not real. I [00:27:00] can't, I just, I'm so, I just, I'm like, I'm on a buying stop because I don't trust anything that I see. So if. I can't trust this enough guys. We can't trust the things that we see online.

Mm-hmm. The way that we used to. Nope. And in this case it wasn't 'cause it was ai, but it's because they were fake and fraudsters and had absolutely no construction experience, so.

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Mikki: They, the idea of like, oh, well I saw it online, I saw, I saw videos of it. We, you can't trust that anymore. And that really sucks because it's like, yeah.

Who has the time to be like, let me see five of your properties. I wanna go physically to see them like. Nobody has that kind of time, but unfortunately we have to learn to make that time because we can't necessarily trust the things that we see.

Jessica: Yeah.

Mikki: And sadly, I think there's just, this, just reinforces what we've been saying is the importance of really doing your research and

Jessica: checking the license,

Mikki: checking well, checking the license.

I mean, in this case, [00:28:00] who would've thought to check that, that somebody claiming to be an architect is licensed? I have never heard of somebody lying. And now being an architect. But now we have, so now we're saying we're for you, the homeowner, we're saying? Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. So how you can avoid this is, is this guy who's claiming to be an architect licensed, you can check that on there is an architecture licensing board and you can check that.

Um, and so unfortunately now we're saying also check and make sure your architect is licensed. Yeah. Um, I think also like they didn't have a physical, um, address. So like they did not have a, like a business, an office. And I know that that's a thing nowadays, like brick and mortars is not so much a like, but I am actually pay for the overhead.

But Iactually never heard of an architect that didn't have a brick and mortar

Jessica: because like, where are you doing all of your, you're

Mikki: architecting

Jessica: drawings and like the computer stuff and like the little 3D model. Like Yeah. Where is all that going to be done? Yeah. In your

Mikki: garage?

Jessica: I don't think so.

Mikki: Yeah. I mean, so I [00:29:00] think that was another like potential red flag.

Mm-hmm. Is that they one. Where's your experience? So like you're an architect. Okay, what college did you go to? How, how many years have you been an architect? Mm-hmm. Like how many projects have you completed? These are all really important questions to ask and I don't wanna be ageist, but they were a very young couple and so I think there was a lot of excitement behind them.

'cause it was this young hick PIP couple and it's like, that's great. How much experience do you have? Mm-hmm. And I actually see this all the time of people claiming to be general contractors or claiming to be even project managers. And they have. Zero experience. We met somebody once that, um, she was a, what was she?

She was a, a, a executive assistant to like somebody who was very, very wealthy and she got her foot in the door in construction by managing some construction projects for him. And then next thing you know, she was calling herself a general [00:30:00] contractor. Literally, that was what she considered her experience.

That's terrifying. It is terrifying to think that people are out here pretending to be construction experts that have literally never done more than one or two projects, and that wasn't even projects they were doing. It was projects they were managing. So checking out the people that you're hiring.

Mm-hmm. Making sure they have legitimate projects under their belt, making sure that they have experience and that you can track that experience and see that experience. Is really, really, really important.

Jessica: Federal investigators say the money wasn't used for construction. Instead, prosecutors say, funds were diverted to mortgage payments, personal living expenses.

Mikki: This one's amazing

Jessica: plastic surgery. Amazon purchases and other luxury spending at the same time, construction sites were stalling and homeowners were left asking the same questions.

Where did the money go?

Mikki: Yeah. [00:31:00] So let's talk about the victims. Um, victims across Texas began telling eerily similar stories. One homeowner said the couple pitched them, like Chip and Joanna Gaines, another homeowner, excuse me. Paid around $200,000 for a renovation, but the work was so poorly done that a construction friend told them that this was the worst project they had ever seen.

One woman was left with a half-built house and no responses from the contractor. Some families lost their savings, others filed for bankruptcy, and several were forced to hire a new construction company to repair. All of and finish all of the work.

Jessica: Gosh. So this became a federal case. Eventually the federal investigators stepped in the FBI, secret Service task force, and local police investigated the case.

So you know, you're going down, who do

Mikki: these people know? Like I'm reading that I'm look deep diving [00:32:00] this going down the hole and I'm just like. So many of these stories. Mm-hmm. Even the local police would have absolutely nothing to do with it. Mm-hmm. And I was just like, okay, what did they do differently than all of these other stories?

Default_2026-03-16_1: I

Jessica: bet you there was somebody in law enforcement for the local police, but it

Mikki: must have been because basically so much. I think one, it was the amount mm-hmm.

Jessica: That

Mikki: becomes federal and then too, because I actually watched a bunch of legal, like, of lawyers talk about this case. Mm-hmm. And like one, um, interviewer specifically said.

Why is this case getting prosecuted? And so many cases don't. And so here's what's really important. This became a criminal matter and a, it's a, it's criminal fraud. One because the amount of money. Mm-hmm. So the $5 million that, you know, the. The investigators were like, oh, that's, that's a lot of money. I am listening.

And the fact that the dude lied and misrepresented himself mm-hmm. As a licensed architect, it was [00:33:00] those two pieces, the large sum of money and the fact, so the fact that he lied, made it a, a felony mm-hmm. Fraud case. And so, listen, we have like. The one story, the one homeowner horse story we shared, it was like several hundred thousand dollars.

They, everybody was actually licensed. They still frauded, they still like stole money from people, which was a civil matter. Mm-hmm. But what, where it changed was. This was, it hit the, the, the, the money requirement, like the amount of money requirement. And he had misrepresented himself mm-hmm. As an architect.

Yeah. And I think that that, and from what I understand, the, all of the not all of, but many of the homeowners got together and they. Because this happened across like several counties in Texas. Texas is huge. And one thing to note, you don't have to be licensed to be a general contractor in Texas,

Jessica: which is crazy.

Mikki: It's just wild in these streets. Don't even get me started on [00:34:00] it. Um, we'll probably talk about that in another podcast. Um. You don't have to be licensed. So where, so he, they didn't misrepresent themselves as licensed general contractors 'cause you don't have to mm-hmm. Be licensed. But he misrepresented himself as a licensed architect, which you do have to have a license to be an architect.

So that it happened across multiple counties. And from what I understand is all, all of these homeowners that were scammed just kept going to different police departments until they found a. I think it was a sheriff that was like, what? And he's the one who called the FBI.

Jessica: Ah,

Mikki: so thats how it became federal.

Jessica: Yeah. And prosecutors charged a couple with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The crime of wire fraud involves using electronic communications like bank transfers, emails, or online transactions to execute fraudulent scheme. So Christopher Judd pled guilty. He now faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Raquel Judge also pled guilty. She faces up to five years [00:35:00] in prison. Both also face restitution fines and supervised release. So that's another thing. Why are fraud is is no joke. Yeah, that is. That is,

Mikki: that's, and that's like how they got Diddy. Like, I, I'm just like, don't be messing around with the wire fraud.

Like, people are like, wire that money to me. And I'm like, I will send you a check. Um, one thing to note as in the deep dive is that because they, they, this was a plea deal. So they, by plea, by pleading guilty, they accepted a plea deal

Jessica: for less time.

Mikki: Oh. For way less time. Mm-hmm. So, and like. I learned more about how sentencing works than I'll ever wanna know in, in a federal situation.

I mean, probably all need to know if we're being honest, but now I know. So when I'm about to commit a crime, I'm like, how many points is this gonna get me? So they base sentencing based on like literally points. So it's like how much money did you defraud from people? How many people were affected? And that that's where like the potential [00:36:00] 20 years comes from.

Mm-hmm. But because of this plea agreement, then the plea agreement. It's, he can serve no more than seven and a half years. So more than likely he's not even going to be sentenced to seven and a half years. 'cause they had, neither one of them have been sentenced. One is in April and the other one is in May.

So more than likely he won't even serve seven and a half years and she won't even serve two years. So, of the five years, she's only gonna serve prop. I bet you it'll be months.

Jessica: Yeah.

Mikki: Um, because they're, mm, I can't, I can't. But at least because they

Jessica: called, what is that? Like white collar?

Mikki: It's white collar crime.

Crime. So they're, yeah. So this is, it's, and, and that's the, it was the white collar crime division of the FBI that investigated it. And, you know, all, all this came from that. Um, so that is, I mean, at least in this case, there, there is some justice and they are being held accountable and now they're felons.

And I don't listen. In Texas, that probably doesn't mean much, and I don't mean like, oh, Texas is full of felons, but they [00:37:00] don't even have. A licensing board. So I don't think it means that they can't go out and just do it again. Um,

Jessica: I'm assuming that they're going to revoke their, I mean,

Mikki: well, there's no li there's nothing to revoke.

He wasn't an actual architect. Yeah. There's no license to be a general contractor. The thing thing about it was like I, I can't believe, like, now mind you, one of the news sources that we got all of this from was literally Good Morning America. So one would think that people have heard of this except for I hadn't,

Jessica: I don't watch tv.

Default_2026-03-16_1: So

Mikki: this is literally what we do. And it was news to me when somebody shared it. Like, what? And then I went down the rabbit hole of shenanigans. Mm-hmm. So very oddly, they are not really going to serve that amount of time, but at least.

Jessica: I just hope the homeowners get some actual restitution. Like,

Mikki: oh, they, that's the other thing,

Jessica: like the $4.8 million, like they couldn't have spent all of it, could they?

Mikki: They already f so they started their company in 2020. By [00:38:00] 2022, they had received a, um, a letter from the Texas License Architecture Licensing Board. Mm-hmm. Telling they had already been reported to the licensing board.

Jessica: Okay.

Mikki: And or so, the licensing board sent him a letter in 2022 stating that he had to stop representing himself as a licensed architect.

Mm-hmm. By, and that was like, um, January of 2022. By June of 2022, they had already filed for bankruptcy. And by, I think it was like January or February of 2023, they were charged like so, like, oh, so

Jessica: there's no money.

Mikki: There's no money. There's absolutely no dollars. And, and that's the worst part is like, and we talk about this all the time, you can't get blood out of a rock.

I don't know where they'd put all that money. 'cause the money, if you track the money that they spent,

Jessica: like well, they can file bankruptcy under the business and have the money in personal.

Mikki: Yeah.

Jessica: Accounts hidden somewhere.

Mikki: I'm sure the interesting because bad

Jessica: people will

Mikki: be

Jessica: bad people.

Mikki: People, bad people will be bad people.

The interesting part about this is [00:39:00] they were not very smart. So like. Yeah, they had absolutely no construction experience. The, the projects that they did do, like I saw videos of, of projects that they had done, and it was wild, like. Trim that wasn't fully installed on the walls, like wasn't fully nailed in, um, cabinets that were crooked doors that were not the right size.

It was insane. Like they had no idea what they're doing and. Unfortunately, there's more people than I would like to admit that just decide one day that they're gonna, oh, I'm gonna be a general contractor, I'm gonna be a designer, I'm gonna be this, that, or the other. And they have absolutely no

Jessica: experience.

Be like me saying, gonna be a designer, and I can't even figure out what to put on the inside of my house.

Mikki: You know? Or like, Hey, it's just beige. Right. You're like the builder, put this painter on the wall and it was, it looked good to me. [00:40:00]

Jessica: I didn't have curtains, I have lines and that's it. 'cause I could never decide like what color curtains I wanted.

Mikki: If you would be amazed, like somebody realizes there's an opportunity and they're just like, and the whole thing is like, listen, I'm all about you waking up one day and being like, listen, I wanna do something different. And I think construction is an amazing place. Mm-hmm. One of the things I was on, on my way here, I was listening to a market brief about AI and how AI's taking all these white collar jobs and I was like, oh, she's blue.

Um, so I'm fine. So I listen and we need people in construction. So don't get me wrong, I am not discouraging people from entering the construction trades. Mm-hmm. But I am encouraging you to enter the construction trades. And then learn how to be a contractor. Mm-hmm. Before you represent yourself as a licensed general contractor before you represent yourself as anything in construction.

I have met people who claim to be master carpenters who could barely use tools, who didn't know how to install crown molding. No, you are not a master [00:41:00] carpenter. You're a home D iyer, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's how you represent yourself. It needs to match the level of experience that you have.

And so frequently, especially like as the generations, you know, kind of come into the fold, there's so many more people in construction that have absolutely no experience that claim to be, oh, I'm a general contractor. I do all this work. Oh, I'm a carpenter. I do all this work, and they can't. Get themselves out of a paper bag with a blowtorch and an ax.

Absolutely not. No, absolutely not. And so that is the things like people have got to when you, you know, listen again, I'm not trying to be ages, but when you come across a young blood, it is absolutely fine to hire young people to do your work. You just have to vet them. You have to make sure they have the experience.

The other thing that I thought was interesting was how, you know, people made progressive payments without.

Jessica: Things

Mikki: being done, the work being done. So I'm kind of like, guys, we have talked about that on [00:42:00] multiplication. Mm-hmm. So let's actually talk about the red flags. Um, so these are the things that homeowners missed.

Um, this case reveals several warning signs that homeowners should never ignore. So the red flag number one is false credentials. Yeah. Christopher claimed to be an architect. He was not. Always verify that people are who and what they say they are. So if somebody claims to be a licensed general contractor, and here's something that really gets under my skin.

Somebody pointed sent us a link to somebody's website recently that their web website was recently redone. So this wasn't like something that had been on their website for years and years and they just hadn't updated it. So it had recently been redone and they had. A link to click on their general to see their general contractor's license.

And so when you click on the link, it takes you to their company's general contracting license. On the license it says 2024. Now, you would think, okay, I checked. They have a general contractor's license. Mm-hmm. I saw the license myself. Now, if you [00:43:00] went to the licensing board, you would see that almost three months after that person got their general contractor's license, it was revoked.

But they still have it on their website, and so you think, Hey, I checked it. I saw the license with these two little lies. Unfortunately, you have to actually go to the board because people are shady

Jessica: liars.

Mikki: They be lying. Lying liars. Mm-hmm. So it's not just a matter of, oh, they showed me their license, they showed me their certificate.

Nope. You gotta go to the licensing board and you've got to double check. Mm-hmm. That what they say is true. So, red flag number two, and God, I see this all the time, was the below market bids. Um, the company frequently offered prices lower than competitors. Um, so that they could win the contracts if it never go with the lowest.

Too good to be true. It probably is. And unfortunately that is what happened to all these people. You [00:44:00] know, they were, they were showcasing and I saw a lot of their social media reels and there's like. The, the dream home, like, you know, the, the houses where the windows are, like floor to ceiling and there it's just like, it is a level of luxury that if you ain't a one percenter, you probably are not gonna be living in a house like that.

Jessica: Say,

Mikki: I don't want windows, but they sell you this dream of like, Hey, don't worry, you can afford this. And unfortunately guys,

Jessica: you cannot,

Mikki: you cannot unless you have the money, like, unless you're got a couple mill just hanging around. But no, with

Jessica: a lotto.

Mikki: Yeah, when you, if you win the lotto, you're good.

Default_2026-03-16_1: There

Jessica: will be signs, there

Mikki: will be signs I send just all the time reels or like, I won't tell anybody I win the lottery, but there will be signs and one of them will, I will buy, um, a school bus and start driving dogs around. That's. The sign, then I won the lottery. I'll quit my job and just drive dogs to and from daycare.

Um,

Jessica: another sign was that they had social media credibility. The company relied heavily on social media [00:45:00] marketing to attract clients. Social media followers are not proof of competency.

Mikki: God, I list you guys. I can't stress this enough. Here's how you prove competency. Experience. Owning a company that promotes other construction companies is not proof of competency.

Sh showing pictures on social media of projects mm-hmm. You allegedly did, is not proof of competency. Um, competency is proven by the work that you actually did. So somebody being able to tour you through homes that they have done. Mm-hmm. Somebody being able to show you the receipts. Mm-hmm. Is how you prove competency.

It is not, we no longer can trust what we see on social media. You have to physically put your eyes on it. You've got to talk to people. You have to get a feel for like how these people operate in the actual construction world. Um mm-hmm. The [00:46:00] other red flag, and we have talked about this, is payments without progress.

Jessica: Never.

Mikki: Never. Homeowners reported making multiple installment payments while construction stalled payments should always match verified project milestones. Mm-hmm. So that is.

Jessica: That's in your contract too.

Mikki: It is in your contract. And I think what happens is people, because we've, we've seen this on a lot of the actual homeowner horror stories where the homeowner writes in, um, where they say, I didn't wanna not pay it because I didn't want the job.

I didn't want them to leave, I didn't want them to walk off the job. Mm-hmm. I didn't want the, the work to stop happening 'cause it was already happening so slowly that I just felt like if we didn't do pay it. Then we were ev gonna be in a worse situation. And unfortunately if you are already there, it's probably not gonna end well.

If somebody's already not doing the work in a timely manner, paying them is only going to make it worse. And in all of these people's cases, [00:47:00] that's exactly what happened. I mean, I don't think yet, we've even shared a home in our horror story where there was consequences, so. These people actually went, are going to jail over this, but even still, they're not getting their money back.

Nope. So making sure that when some, when a, when a contractor submits a bill, that you're looking at it and going, okay, um, that actually doesn't make sense. They build for the windows. The windows aren't in, we're not gonna pay that. And letting that lets the contractor know that you're not the one or the two.

That's your, you're not, you're not here for a long time or a good time.

Jessica: I was like, I'm watching you. Yeah.

Mikki: Like I'm, I got eyes on it. I have enough knowledge to know that this isn't right. And a lot of people say, well, how would I know? There's a lot of things you can do. You can hire an architect that will come out and inspect the work.

But I, in this situation, you thought you had hired an architect. Yeah. So why would that architect. Bill for something that wasn't legitimate. So I could see how homeowners fell into this. Mm-hmm. But this is one of [00:48:00] those things where having a third party to say, okay, this bill does not match the work that is done, would've put you in a much better position.

But I'm gonna go so far as to say, put it under chat, GBT, ask, ask the internets, okay, does this make sense? This is what's done on my home. This is how much they're billing for. Does this seem legit? Um, even if you went on a, on a Facebook PA post and was like, Hey friends, I do this all the time, which is part of the problem.

Um, or I'll just source information from the internet. You know what? I learned that from Kim Kardashian. Kim Kardashian uses her massive amount of followers mm-hmm. To test out products that will work in all of our companies. And so I do this all the time. I'm like, if it works for Kim, it will work for me.

Um, it doesn't exactly work the same, but listen. That's neither here nor there. So sourcing and making sure that like mm-hmm. There's a lot of ways that you can make sure that the progress billing is the correct amount for the work that [00:49:00] has been done. You sometimes have to think a little bit out of the box.

Jessica: Yeah. And if they put something there that you're paying for and you know it hasn't been done, then don't give them the money.

Mikki: No. And it's. That's the piece is like not letting these contractors bully you and not letting mm-hmm. Them take advantage of you, I think is really important. And I think if you, if you are very clear from the very beginning that you are not gonna play that game, I do think people like this would've steered clear.

Mm-hmm. And I'm sure there are, are stories of people who did interact with them and we're like, Hey, listen, I'm not here for the, for the nonsense. Yep. And they were like, well, you're not the client for us.

Jessica: Yep. Because anybody who's doing a scheme or a scam is going to want people that are easily manipulated.

Yeah. Or that they're going to get easy money from if you put up a stink Yeah. They're gonna be like, ah, next. Yeah.

Mikki: This isn't worth it. Yeah.

Jessica: That's what you want. Yeah. You want them to fire you.

Mikki: Yes. 100%. So the, the final red flag was the communication breakdowns. Mm-hmm. Um, victims reported that the couple eventually stopped [00:50:00] responding to calls and messages.

Um, a contractor disappearing mid project is one of the biggest warning signs, and I don't think we've had a single home in our horror story that didn't, that this communication from the get go mm-hmm. Wasn't a problem. Um. Communication and, and people letting you know how things are gonna go and the process that things are gonna go in, and then updating you on, you know, if something's fallen out of the timeframe, they're, when they're letting you know what's going on, you're probably okay.

Mm-hmm. When you. Are running the job when you are the one man, you know, finding out whether materials have been delivered and they don't even know about it. You have a problem. Yep. Now, it may not be this level of a problem, but the ghosting of the contractor is like, okay, you are guaranteed to have lost some money in that situation.

Jessica: Yep. So here's our lessons for homeowners from the story. If you're hiring a contractor, here are five steps to protect yourself. [00:51:00] One, verify licenses with the state board. Do it. Okay.

Mikki: We're not playing, do it.

Jessica: Never accept unusually low bids without explanation. It is always going to cost you more money.

Never take the lowest bid. And

Mikki: even if they give you an explanation, don't accept it. Like. There's no good reason for a number to be substantially lower than every other number, except for this person has no experience and they're probably not gonna finish the job,

Jessica: right? No, you do not want to, do not take the lowest bid.

Do not ever require clear contracts and payment schedules.

Mikki: Yes,

Jessica: pay based on completed milestones, which you have in your payment schedule and your contract, so you'll be able to verify everything and always research a contractor's legal history and reviews, making sure we've talked about [00:52:00] this the last time, that they haven't had companies in multiple names.

Yep. That they don't have judgments against them. And I mean, don't take someone who this is going to be their first job either.

Mikki: I also listen, so

Jessica: not for this big of like, you don't want

Mikki: the first Right. Somebody we have to start somewhere. Right? Everybody has to start somewhere. Every ev for somebody, every project is their first project.

And I understand why a lot of people would think, well, okay, they were lower because they're younger and they're just getting started. And so like I'm getting, I'm getting the low price because they're gonna learn on my job. Okay. I, I know that's a thing, and there are certain things where I will let you learn on my job.

If you're a painter, and this is your first job, you can learn how to paint on my job for a discount. I'm not paying full price for you to learn on my job. So I understand how a lot of people like this could click in their minds, but

Jessica: now building a whole house,

Mikki: right? You don't want, and here here's, okay, so how does this work?

Right? [00:53:00] Nobody who is actually good at what they do and is a qualified builder and a qualified general contractor is. Coming to you as, I have never done this before. This is genuinely my first job. If you are a quality general contractor and you have experience, you may be, oh, I just got my license. But I worked for a general contractor for five years.

I completed with that general contractor 15 projects, right? I learned on someone else's dime. How to do this work. And now I'm, and that supervised, I'm expand out. I was supervised, I was taught. Mm-hmm. I was trained. I saw how all these things happened. I saw the problems. Mm-hmm. I know how to avoid them because I have experienced, this is just my first time being a general contractor on my own.

Mm-hmm. But I worked for many years, I worked as an apprentice. I worked in the trades. Right. I worked in this way. I [00:54:00] have the experience, like I am a licensed general contractor. I have 20 plus. Years of experience in construction, I still won't go out and just willy-nilly build a house because that's not the level of experience that I have.

Mind you, there are people that just wake up one day call themselves, general contractors have never. Built anything. Mm-hmm. And are out here in these streets being praised as people in construction, y'all. I cannot. And that's the point of this whole story is people just wake up one day and they're like, there's an opening in this market.

Mm-hmm. And I'm going to use my ability to do social media and my ability to gen, generate buzz, to make myself seem like a professional. And that's where you have to use the, your ability to do a deep dive. Mm-hmm. Pull apart the. The fluff from the real stuff. So, you know, these people were nonsense. And there are so many people out there that have no experience.

Mm-hmm. And they never [00:55:00] worked in construction beforehand, so they genuinely don't have experience. I, we had a guy. That worked for one of our general contractors, and he was as green as the greenest of Greengrass. He didn't know anything about anything, and he came into it and he was like, teach me everything, you know?

Love

Jessica: that.

Mikki: So me and Hector were like, all right, here's how this works. Here's how that works. And every other trade taught this kid so much. And when he was done like working with this company, he had probably completed, I'm gonna say like. Five or 600 multifamily units. So he was not himself the licensed general contractor, but he learned everything that there was to know about building from working for a general contractor.

Mm-hmm. He's a young guy, so he goes out, he gets his general contractor license and he's killing it because he had. Five or six years mm-hmm. Of experience learning how construction works.

Jessica: And he probably passed the test pretty ea. Well, not easily. 'cause the test is a beast.

Mikki: The test is very hard. [00:56:00] It is a, I've

Jessica: heard

Mikki: a beast.

Jessica: I've heard that. It is a beast. I am not in construction. I am simply a homeowner who is like, oh my God, I'm so glad that none of this stuff is happening to me. Pass you, I have had I passed

Mikki: the test. And I have dyslexia. Mm-hmm. How does that work? You wanna know how, because I have 20 years in construction experience.

Jessica: Yep.

Mikki: That's how I pass the test. I can have dyslexia, I can be whatever, neuro, whatever, and still pass that test because I have the experience to back it up. Mm-hmm. And that is what separates me from little oompapa out here on the streets. Okay. Just so we're clear. Anyway, that

Jessica: was Quest. So Yes. Experience helped.

For passing the test. And that's what you want your general contractors to have. So what makes this story so disturbing was that it didn't start as a crime,

Mikki: right?

Jessica: Like, I don't even know if they actually went into it thinking that they were just going to defraud a bunch of people, a bunch of money. I mean, they might have,

Mikki: they weren't very smart.

Like I, I think they did kinda [00:57:00] started out as a crime. I don't think they were smart enough to know that they were doing crimes, which is kind of the scariest kind of criminal is like. They're 100% doing crimes, but they're too stupid to know that they're doing crimes. And I see that more times. More times than not, than not.

Jessica: But this started as someone promising to build someone's dream home. And that's really sad.

Mikki: But when someone lies about their credentials, which makes my blood boil and takes millions of dollars of work, they never finish.

That stops being bad construction and it becomes fraud.

Jessica: Mm-hmm.

Mikki: And for more than 40 families in Texas, the dream home they were promised. Turned into a nightmare and we don't want that to happen to you guys. We, that is the whole point of this podcast, is to share with you guys stories, share with you our experience, and give you the tools that you need to recognize red flags, to know how to negotiate your contracts, to know how to do your research before you hire somebody.

Mm-hmm. That is. All we [00:58:00] are trying to do, we want you to have better experiences when you're hiring anybody to do work in your home. Um, and if you have a story, we would love for you to share it with [e-mail]. There's a little form. If you scroll down, you can fill it out. Every story that you guys share with us helps us improve.

Or save somebody from having the same experience. So if you were one of those people, we would love for you to share your story. If you know of some of these stories like in your town or a friend of yours that had this experience, we would love for you to share that story with us.

[e-mail], you can share that. We would also love it if you would like and subscribe. We have been growing. And I'm very excited for all of the people who are our new subscribers. Thank you and welcome, welcome to the Tribe of the Chicks Tribe. Um, and just where can they find us on the socials?

Jessica: So on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram is at Chickson Construction Podcast on TikTok. It's at Chickson Construction.

Mikki: So guys, we will see you next time. And remember, learning the hard way is overrated. [00:59:00] Bye.