Restoration runaround complaints: 2 lawsuits accuse contractor of leaving homes with unfinished work

CHICAGO (WLS) -- If you're a victim of a flood or a fire, you could be scrambling to find a restoration company to repair and remodel your home.

Consumers who hired one contractor are turning to the ABC7 I-Team, saying they didn't get what they paid for.

The contractor said he believes he completed what he was paid to do, but three consumers said they were left with unfinished work. Two of them are filing lawsuits.

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Morris resident Samantha Grogan showed the I-Team work she said wasn't done on her fire-damaged home.

"Just studs," Grogan said. "It makes me very sad that this is our house."

"And he didn't finish the floor?" the I-Team asked.

"There is no flooring throughout the whole house," Grogan said."

Grogan hired Matt Workman of Workman Cleaning and Restoration after her February 2024 house fire. She paid him $149,000 in cashier's checks, through insurance payouts. An insurance document estimated the job to be $183,000.

"He didn't complete the work with the money that he has," Grogan said.

In a lawsuit, Grogan alleges that work stopped in September of 2024 and the insurance inspection shows that the "Defendant had only completed $68,690.58 of the Scope of Work." But Workman said he did more work after that inspection.

"So from that point I worked another few months," Workman said.

In his attorney's response to the lawsuit, Workman denies all allegations and asks that the case be dismissed, with prejudice. Workman also filed a counterclaim in march saying Grogan made "false and defamatory statements" on social media.

"For $149,000, what did you do?" the I-Team asked.

Workman responded, "Mitigation, cleaning, additional items that she had asked for drywall, the bathrooms to where they were when we left the tile."

But Grogran said a lot of the mitigation work had already been done by another emergency services company.

Michael Hetelle hired Workman after flooding damaged his basement in February of 2024.

"I gave him $10,000 in cash," Hetelle said.

In a lawsuit, Hetelle alleges he paid substantially more than the work completed and that Workman abandoned the project after working five days.

"For that $10,000? We got a laundry room and bathroom floor, a roll of insulation and one and a half sheets of drywall. We got our house demoed," Hetelle said.

Workman's attorney has not yet officially responded to this lawsuit, but said the claims are false, like Grogan's case. Workman said he had to do more mitigation work that consumers say other companies already were paid to do.

"What did he get for $10,000?" the I-Team asked.

"He got the contents packed out the basement, demoed mitigation, finished in the basement upstairs. The bathroom was demoed," Workman replied.

Hetelle also alleges in the lawsuit that Workman still has his items which he was storing.

"He has some of my kids' toys," Hetelle said. "He has clothes, coats, sentimental things."

"I'm holding his items because he owes me money... He owes me about $4,000," Workman said. "If he if he gets his contents back, he would owe me $4,000 for the storage fees that I that shouldn't have occurred."

"But you're holding the contents?" the I-Team asked.

"Right," Workman replied.

Hetelle said fees increased when he couldn't get his items back, after the dispute.

"We hired him to fix a flood in our basement," Mallory Cryder said.

Cryder said after that flood in May of 2024, she hired and then fired Workman, because she said he wanted to be paid directly through the insurance company. He did get $16,995 through insurance, but Cryder said it was for very little work. Workman said she was also charged for storage of items and mitigation. But she too said she had paid another emergency services company first.

"He came in and he demoed this wall because we had some mold," Cryder said. "And he demoed this shower."

All three consumers filed complaints with the Illinois Attorney General. Workman said in all three cases he had to do extra mitigation work that may not be plain to see.

"But they say they already paid companies to do mitigation. There you go. And they say you left them with unfinished work," the I-Team said.

"That's what I'm telling you. They're lying. This is not true," Workman replied. "What they showed you is unfinished work that I have not collected on."

The Better Business Bureau said consumers should always have a contract outlining the work, payment and schedule. These three consumers did not have contracts like that, but they had insurance estimates of what needed to be completed and work agreements.

All three homeowners said they hired new companies to finish the work.