"I trusted him. He was someone I went to school with:" Waukesha homeowner frustrated with contractor

WAUKESHA (WITI) -- Take a look around your house. Do you need some repairs? Would you like to save money on home remodeling projects? Hiring a handyman could be cheaper -- but as FOX6's Contact 6 discovered, it can also be a headache!

All she wanted was a home she could be proud of.

My hope was to get this all nice so I could invite people, have dinners here," Missy Lussier said.

That won't be happening now.

"The most frustrating thing is seeing the huge gaps between my wall and my floor," Lussier said.

Forget the gaps. How about the gaping holes?

"Especially this one because that's so open to people that walk from my living room to my kitchen and it just looks like crap," Lussier said.

Lussier has a right to be angry. She hired a high school friend named Jeff Baum to install a new kitchen floor and open up the wall to the living room.

"On Facebook he was on there showing pictures of other jobs that he did, so I'm like 'oh, you know, he does pretty good work.' He came over, gave me an estimate of what he would charge me and go from there," Lussier said.

Baum wrote up a contract on some scrap paper. The price was right -- but the work was all wrong.

"I see a ton of it. It's scary for me to tell you how much of it I see," Nick Kerzner said.

Kerzner is on the board of the Better Business Bureau and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry - Milwaukee chapter.

"If you just pick that countertop up a little bit, you could actually unplug that iPod. By lifting that countertop -- because it's not attached to the cabinet here -- see what I mean? So that's a problem and a safety hazard," Kerzner said as he took a look at Lussier's home.

Kerzner also saw a problem with the cut-out in a load-bearing wall.

"If you look at the way it was cut, he never put a header in here, so we have a support issue here. Permits were never pulled. An inspector never looked at this, so that's a problem as well," Kerzner said.

The worst part: Lussier says she already paid for the work and the appliances Jeff Baum promised -- which haven't come.

"I trusted him. He was someone I went to school with, you know? How could he mess me up?" Lussier said.

Kerzner and Contact 6's Katrina Cravy wanted to know too -- so they paid Jeff Baum a visit.

They heard people inside -- but no one came to the door.

When Katrina Cravy made a phone call, Jeff Baum answered, and Katrina Cravy explained that Lussier isn't the only one dissatisfied with his work.

Katrina Cravy: "There is no reason for them to want to hire you. You've got an F-rating with the Better Business Bureau and some of these things in CCAP, it doesn't look good."

Jeff Baum: "Right, right. I wish I could get rid of them, but they are always going to be over my head."

Katrina Cravy and Jeff Baum made a plan to meet at Lussier's, so Kerzner could show him what needs to be done.

Katrina Cravy: "Hopefully we'll see each other on Monday, Jeff."

Jeff Baum: "Oh, we will. We will. Don't worry about that. I won't let you down."

Monday comes -- and Katrina Cravy gets a text from Jeff Baum. He's in Dodgeville.

She tells him it's going to look like he's dodging the interview unless he shows up at FOX6. Days later, he did.

Baum told Katrina Cravy it was actually Lussier and her husband who wanted the cut-out in the load-bearing wall -- and the counter top over the outlet.

Katrina Cravy: "Why did you let the homeowners tell you what to do when you knew it wasn't up to code?"

Jeff Baum: "That's what they wanted to do..so that's why I didn't fill out another form or anything like that. They said 'that's what we want. It's our house. Just move it over.'"

Jeff Baum doesn't have a contractor's license, so he can't pull permits. He says he just does work for family members and firends.

Jeff Baum: "What I do then is make it out to me, Jeff Baum, as a sole proprietorship."

Katrina Cravy: "It's actually not, because I've checked you with corporate records and you don't have anything registered with the state at all."

Baum does have a delinquent tax warrant though, and admits he's not a good businessman.

"You've broken a number of codes in the house. You may make the house uninsurable for them down the line.
A lawyer would have a field day with you," Kerzner said.

"Everyone makes mistakes, and this is the mistake that I think was the last one," Baum said.

Baum is scheduled to clean up the work at Lussier's house on Monday, August 4th. FOX6's Contact 6 will be following up on this story.

This story illustrates a great lesson for all homeowners: Even if the person is a friend -- see if they have a contractor's license. Check whether they have any small claims court issues. Are there complaints with the state's Better Business Bureau?

CLICK HERE to check whether a contractor is licensed with the state of Wisconsin.

CLICK HERE to check complaints filed with the state's Better Business Bureau.

CLICK HERE to access Wisconsin's Circuit Court database to check contractors for small claims issues.