Blackwell woman says contractor refuses to finish job after she paid $19K
A homeowner says a contractor is refusing to finish a job she’s already paid him nearly $20k to do.
BLACKWELL, Okla. (KFOR) — A homeowner says a contractor is refusing to finish a job she’s already paid him nearly $20k to do.
When Cassandra Gosvener and her boyfriend learned they were expecting a baby this October, they knew their two bedroom house in Blackwell would need to grow with their family.
“We were going to have three kids and a two bedroom house,” Gosvener said.
So Gosvener hired contractor Chuck Wynne with C1 Construction to build a two-bedroom, one-bath addition to her house, as well as a privacy fence.
Work got started in December, but three months later, things are far from complete.
Gosvener showed News 4 around the construction zone. Large gaps on exterior walls allow sunlight inside the house. The wooden subfloors creak and in some places aren’t nailed down.
One of the new exterior walls still doesn't have siding on it, and the siding that has been installed doesn't match the rest of the house.
“This is what he calls a properly built house,” Gosvener said.
Gosvener has already paid Wynne $19,000, which—according to her contract with Wynne—is actually $3,000 more than she actually owed him by this stage of the job.
“The 3,000 wasn't owed until after it was roughly dried in and drywall done and plumbing done,” Gosvener said. “Well, he swore up and down, promised, promised, promised that he would have all the materials here, that he wasn't going to screw us over.”
She says he told her that back in January. As of late March, no drywall or insulation has been installed, limited plumbing work has been done, and no HVAC infrastructure has been installed.
Gosvener showed News 4 a receipt from when she paid around $2,500 out of her own pocket for insulation and drywall, because Wynne never purchased any to install—even though Gosvener paid him to do so.
She says Wynne kept giving more excuses.
“He came to us Friday in person and told us that he was out of money and we could wait until after the 28th of March when he gets paid from another job,” Gosvener said.
But by the end of that conversation, she says he told her something else.
“He told me that he's not coming back,” Gosvener said.
News 4 called Wynne. Over the phone, he said it was true he told Gosvener he was out of money, but that is not why he walked out on the job he had been paid thousands to complete.
“This isn’t a matter of what’s been done,” Wynne said. “The problem is… he threatened me”
Wynne claimed Gosvener’s boyfriend threatened him with a gun when he visited their house on Friday, and that's why he canceled the contract.
“He’s the one that started it,” Wynne said. “I didn’t do anything to him.”
Wynne also claimed Gosvener’s boyfriend sent him texts threatening to attack him at his home.
Wynne shared screenshots of the texts with News 4. They show Gosvener’s boyfriend was cordial and friendly with Wynne, until the days after Wynne told Gosvener he was not going to finish the job.
After that, screenshots show Gosvener’s boyfriend sent Wynne text messages asking Wynne to return the money, and that he was willing to meet Wynne at his home to pick it up.
At that point, some messages Gosvener’s boyfriend sent Wynne included profanities.
While Gosvener's boyfriend did use profanities in the the text messages, none of the messages Wynne shared News 4 from Gosvener’s boyfriend included any threats of harm to Wynne.
Gosvener claims that’s because her boyfriend never threatened Wynne, and only got mad after Wynne refused to pay Gosvener back.
“There was no threat of a gun,” Gosvener said. “I would tell him he needs to lose his license and never work again, especially as a contractor, because he has a lot of people out of money. I mean, this is money we absolutely needed. And he knew that. And it's not right to do that to somebody.”