Buyers Beware: Homeowner in Riverwest neighborhood warning about bad contractor

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A homeowner in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood is warning about a bad contractor.

Steph Davies claims Willie Pritchard of JDM Development cashed a $10,000 check, and left her home in worse condition than he found it.

CBS 58 saw the unfinished projects at three houses in the Riverwest neighborhood. All homeowner's say it's Pritchard's work that hasn't been touched for months. The homes have either been finished by a new contractor, or left in disrepair.

Steph Davies and her husband are first-time homeowners. In making were going to make their first home their dream home.

She met Pritchard at a home that was beautifully remodeled, and after seeing that work, they hired Pritchard of JDM development.

"Willie introduced himself as a contractor and claimed to have done all the work on this beautiful house," said Davies.

The Davies' went on vacation, and they were supposed to come home to a new kitchen. They didn't.

"We found out at first it seems he was just taking checks and disappearing. With us he actually ripped apart our whole kitchen while we were out of town and we were supposed to come home to new cabinets, new countertop, new tile and we came home to nothing," said Davies.

Steph showed CBS 58 her kitchen. In the last month she hired a new contractor. She says Pritchard and his crew left exposed wires, no running water in the kitchen or bathroom sink, large holes in the wall, and exposed plumbing - all dangerous hazards for her two and four-year-old.

CBS 58 spoke with Pritchard over the phone. He claims he 'made things right' with Davies. She does not agree.

"When everything came to light and Willie told me he'd spent all of our money on another job, we had no cabinets, we had nothing coming, we had no materials ordered, exposed wires, we had patches in our walls that my husband and I YouTubed how to patch," said Davies.

Camille Mays is not affiliated with Pritchard at all, but she was landscaping Davies' home at the time Pritchard was supposed to remodel the kitchen. She says she witnessed the lack of progress.

"I noticed that I really didn't see much work being done," said Mayes.

When she realized Davies paid over $10,000 dollars and was worse off, she shared on Facebook.

"I posted a post with a business card and his name and just a brief overview of what happened with Steph, and I got 140-plus shares, and I had so many comments and inboxes and phone calls saying 'he did this to me,' 'he did this to my aunt,' 'he did this to my mom,' people were tagging people, 'isn't this the guy?'" said Mays.

Davies decided to warn others when she realized she wasn't his only victim - other neighbors and subcontractors had been scammed too.

"Every neighbor had nightmare stories from him stealing tools, returning material for store credit, being pressured for money whole time,” said Davies.

Joe Crawford was part of Pritchard's crew and claims Pritchard hasn't paid him for $2,200 of work. He says Pritchard owes other crew members over $10,000. Davies and Mayes say Crawford showed up for work every day, but Prichard never had any materials for him or other crew. Pritchard is working to get his money back, and filed a restraining order against Pritchard in the process.

While a solution is still in progress, Davies has consulted with Milwaukee Police and the county DA on how to hold Pritchard responsible and get her money back. She, Mays and Crawford want to make sure what they witnessed doesn't happen to anyone else.

"He needs to have his license revoked. He should not have a license to operate and do contracting when he’s doing this to people, and we just need to make sure people know, I cannot say this enough, do not hire Willie Pritchard of JDM development, it's bad news," said Davies.

While a solution is still in progress, Davies has consulted with Milwaukee Police and the county DA on how to hold Pritchard responsible and get her money back.

Willie Pritchard and JDM Development LLC has been sued in multiple small claims lawsuits and has an F rating through the BBB.