N.B. homeowners and contractor in dispute over $200K, prompting calls for stronger oversight
A New Brunswick couple is in a legal and financial dispute with a contractor after paying $250,000 for a home renovation that remains largely unfinished. The case has sparked calls for increased government oversight of the residential construction industry.
Why it matters
The story highlights the lack of consumer protections in the construction sector and the financial risks homeowners face when dealing with unregulated contractors.
Those core childhood memories made the decision to relocate to Saint Andrews from Fredericton an easy one, with plans to turn his grandparent’s old two-car garage into a retirement home for himself and his wife, Trudy Gallagher.
But their dream of seaside living has turned into a year-long nightmare, they said, with their hoped-for retirement home now a mess of unfinished work under a layer of construction dust.
The couple said they have handed over $250,000 to their contractor, Justin Dale Stewart, and while some work was done, they believe that only about $50,000 worth of work and supplies are accounted for.
"And then you're caught because you've paid so much money and you're stuck and you have a house that's not livable," Gallagher said.
Stewart owns St. Stephen-based Stewart’s Property Solutions and is embroiled in a number of disputes with former clients.
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