Friday, Aug. 3, 2001 | 11:02 a.m.
Las Vegas homeowner Otto Hofmann found out the hard way that he should never pay a pool contractor before obtaining a lien release.
Hofmann said he paid $6,000 to Christiansen Pools for excavation and plumbing work on a $20,000 pool project. But he said the contractor didn't pay the subcontractors who did the work.
Instead, Hofmann had to pay another $3,200 to subcontractors to avoid foreclosures on his home after Christiansen Pools' license was suspended on July 10 by the Nevada State Contractors Board.
The board ruled in 1997 that homeowners should be given lien releases upon completion of each phase of construction, so subcontractors can't demand payment from the homeowners if general contractors don't pay them.
"Christiansen Pools lied. They told me they would get unconditional liens (lien releases) from the subcontractors and then give it to me. But the process takes time. So I agreed to pay Christiansen Pools first," Hofmann said.
Christiansen Pools officials could not be reached for comment on Hofmann's situation. The Las Vegas pool contractor is allowed by the Contractors Board to finish its existing pool projects, but it isn't allowed to take on new ones.
There might be some recourse now for Las Vegas homeowners with pool projects in limbo because of wrongdoing by contractors.
Several Las Vegas pool contractors, whose industry has been tarnished by companies accused of fraud and negligence, have joined forces to create an association that helps homeowners complete pool projects fouled up by bad builders.
The Associated Pool Industry of Southern Nevada, which was created on July 1, said it is funded by voluntary quarterly contributions of about $100 for each pool built. It includes as founding members Anthony & Sylvan Pools, Blue Haven Pools, Casa Grande Pools, Pools by Grube and Sterling Pools.
In all, the group has 10 pool-contractor members and $2,700 in funds to date.
There are a total of 100 pool builders in Southern Nevada and an average of about 5,000 pools are built each year in the Las Vegas Valley area, Terry Mayfield, the association's executive director, said.
Mayfield said the association, created as an attempt by several Las Vegas pool builders at self-regulation, has received more than 25 inquiries from homeowners including three written complaints.
This coincides with a recovery fund created by the Legislature called the Residential Construction Recovery Fund.
Although it started July 1, the Contractors Board said homeowners can't access the state fund yet because regulations on the distribution of the money haven't gone into effect.
Steve Treese, a Blue Haven Pools' director, said the homeowners must fulfill several of the association's requirements before they can receive assistance from it.
"We're not handing money to people. Our mission is to complete abandoned pool projects. But we would require the homeowners to do due diligence first," he said. "They need to exhaust their avenues of recourse with the Contractors' Board and the attorney general's office before they file a complaint with us."
"The homeowners have to have had a contract with licensed contractors. The contractor has to have gone out of business and the homeowners had to have first filed a complaint with the Contractors' board and Attorney General's office."
"The homeowners have to write the association a letter providing documentation of the contract and monies paid and work done. This is then reviewed by the association's executive board, and the board goes out to evaluate the pool," he said.
Pools by Grube's Vice President Vince DeLillo noted that every homeowner on about 20 pool projects he inherited in the past few months from Christiansen Pools and other troubled contractors has paid more than the value of the work completed -- despite Nevada laws that prohibit contractors from collecting large sums of money up front.
Homeowners are urged to obtain lien releases while paying for each stage of construction and won't be reimbursed by the new association for advance payments.
"If a homeowner gave the builder 90 percent of the project costs for just 10 percent of work done, it won't fit into the association's criteria for assistance, because this violates state laws," he said.
Sonya Ruffin, the Contractors Board's spokeswoman, said the board hasn't discussed the new association's role in the industry. But she said: "From a consumer standpoint, it seems to be a good idea. But whether the association's plan works remains to be seen."
Ruffin said 22 percent of an overall monthly average of 344 industry complaints in Nevada involve pool contractors.
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