Renovation nightmare: Homeowner makes deal to renovate house with realtor

There’s a great house for sale in Columbus with updated everything inside and golf course lot outside.

You can get it for thousands less than what the seller put into it too. However, the only reason Consumer 10 knows this is because the seller has a nightmare home renovation story from which you could learn what not to do with your home.

Bill Jones owns the house on Ione Court and he bought it in 2015. He says his realtor, Dave Barlow, told him it needed about $100,000 in renovations and they could sell it in mid-2015 and everyone could make a little money.

Fast forward 18 months later and the house was just listed.

“Eighteen months of a setback,” Jones said. “He (Barlow) said the total investment would be about $350,000 and I’m standing here today at about $620,000.”

Jones maintains that Barlow got the renovations done but much of it wasn’t up to code and some of it was downright dangerous.

“He probably did about $150,000 of fairly poor work,” Jones said.

For example, in the attic according to Alex Orodo of The Trades Company: “There were at least 15 or 20 junction boxes that weren’t capped with live wires just sticking out so if you walked back there and actually touched them, you’d be electrocuted.”

In the master bedroom: “They have a supply vent in the ceiling. That’s illegal. You can’t have that.”

He also had to rebuild the deck.

“There has to be certain spacing. Less than four inches between the handrail. These were six and eight inches so a child could put his head through it and that’s a choking hazard,” Orodi said.

Basically, Jones paid for all these repairs once and many were shoddy or dangerous, so he had pay again to get it right.

“I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything this bad. Never,” Orodi said.

10TV spoke with Barlow but he didn’t want to go on camera. He said he’s a realtor, not a contractor and that he wasn’t responsible for any subpar remodeling work.

Consumer 10 has documents showing dozens and dozens of payments from Jones to I-home Renovations. Barlow works for I-home realtors.

Records show Jones paid I-home Renovations more than $200,000 for things like new flooring, plumbing, landscaping, lighting, granite countertops and many other items. Consumer 10 also has copies of many emails between Jones and Barlow discussing various renovation projects.

Here’s how you can learn from this whole situation whether you want to buy and sell a home or just get the right plumber when you need one.

Tips For Choosing Contractors

• References – Ask around, talk to your family, friends and neighbors
• Ask to see their business license, how long they’ve been in business
• Ask if they’re bonded and insured
• Ask to see pictures of previous work