"We ran out of money," Altieri said of Perryman Pointe. "The company went out of business. If there's no money to finish things up, you have trouble."
Francis, who had signed a contract on a 3,600-square-foot home with water views on three sides, estimates that she spent an additional $300,000 to complete the house that Altieri Homes left partly framed and for upgrades she never received.
"The bank continued to give Altieri money that was supposed to be used for materials and labor and the work wasn't done," she said. "The materials might get delivered, then Altieri would pick it up and use it somewhere else."
In one case, the builder withdrew $45,000 for lumber, but never paid the vendor or used the materials for her home, Francis said. The vendor placed a $45,000 lien against her house, which she fought successfully in court.
"I've just about lost my mind going through this," Francis said. "I became my own general contractor because I couldn't afford to hire a general contractor."
Her neighbors, Wright and her husband, Mark, veterinarians with a 7-year-old daughter, said they paid more than $75,000 in cash deposits for upgrades to a four-bedroom, 3,800-square-foot house. They never got the upgrades or a refund, she said. Last year, she said, they paid $20,000 in legal fees to fight liens totaling more than $100,000 by contractors who were never paid by Altieri, though the money was drawn from the Wright's construction loan.
Finally, in November, they hired a new builder. It cost them $200,000 to correct mistakes, including leaking windows and incorrectly installed pipes. They also had been paying interest on the construction loan plus the mortgage on their former house, which is still on the market.
Another Perryman homeowner, Derek Basignani, a sales manger for Best Buy who bought a home with his wife, said he realized by last summer that Altieri would not complete his home. That was when he learned that the construction loan had $117,000 left and determined that the account was underfunded by at least $100,000.
By September, he had taken over the project. "We've done nothing for the past six or seven months but scramble to get funds," he said. "I'm out $100,000 in personal funds to finish that house. I don't care who you are, that hurts."
The house that sways
