Complaint Review: MoMax Builders

Here is a current article out of a large local Chicago newspaper:

Builder's court date eases built-up anger

By Sean D. Hamill
Special to the Tribune
Published February 8, 2005


A Waukegan woman who said she was scammed by a building contractor drove nearly an hour Monday and waited about two hours to watch a court hearing that took less than a minute.

Andrea Leonard couldn't have been happier.

After spending, she said, an extra $12,000 to finish and repair work she had paid Fred W. Resnick and his company, MoMax Builders, to do at her family's Waukegan home, Leonard simply enjoyed seeing Resnick in handcuffs, wearing a tan prison outfit.

"The people he has scammed over the past couple years, he has put us in our own financial prisons that we've had to fight to get out of, so it was nice to see him locked up," said Leonard, who was joined by five other homeowners angry with Resnick.

The Cook County Criminal Court hearing Monday in Skokie took just long enough for Resnick, 44, of Highland Park, to be told that he was indicted last week on two counts of theft and three counts of home repair fraud and that he is due back in court Feb. 24.

Resnick has been held in the County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail since Jan. 28 after he was charged in cases out of Skokie and Hoffman Estates. He also has been sued by the Illinois attorney general for allegedly not completing or doing work for which he took money.

All five felony counts are related to a case in which Resnick and his Northbrook company are accused of agreeing to build a second-floor addition on a Skokie home but never beginning the work.

Resnick's legal troubles could escalate, said Assistant State's Atty. Rosanne Pulia.

"There are definitely several other ongoing cases that may result in criminal charges," Pulia said.

Exactly what happened to the money homeowners gave Resnick "is the big question," Pulia said. "We just don't know yet."

The homeowners in the Skokie case were not in court, but Leonard and the five other homeowners came from all over the Chicago area to catch a glimpse of Resnick.

Brian and Karen Stuchl drove 90 minutes from Bolingbrook to see Resnick, who allegedly cost them $18,000 when he didn't finish a kitchen and second-floor addition MoMax started in 2003.

"We knew all along we'd probably never get our money back," said Brian Stuchl, a mechanical engineer. "But at least seeing him now with guards all around him, we know he can't do it again."

The attorney general's office obtained a temporary restraining order Jan. 28 prohibiting MoMax Builders from doing any more work or moving assets.

At least 31 people allege they have lost a combined $2.1 million on work Resnick and MoMax were supposed to do over the last two years, according to the attorney general's office. The homeowners who were in court Monday claim nearly $100,000 in losses.

An Internet site Stuchl created for disgruntled MoMax customers counts more than 45 alleged victims, "and we're getting more and more every day," he said.

Cook County property records show that Resnick's wife, Dori, sold their Vernon Hills home for $279,000 in 1998 before buying their current home in the 1300 block of Hilary Lane in Highland Park in early 1999, paying $630,000 for it with the help of a $345,000 loan. Fred Resnick's name was later added to the deed on the new home.

They used the Highland Park home as collateral to take out a $200,000 line of credit in 2002, a loan for $341,000 in 2003 and another loan for $799,200 on Jan. 6, records show.

Knowing Resnick has a nice home "means he has assets," which might be sold to pay back losses, said Karyn Okon of Mt. Prospect. She and her husband, David, allegedly paid $39,000 toward a $75,000 addition to their home that is still a big, muddy hole in the yard.

"I just wanted to see him with my own two eyes, so he'll know we're going to be here," she said.

It's good to hear that this company is on it's way out. I also had a terrible experience with them remodeling my kitchen. It was my first home, and my husband and I thought it would be a good idea to have the kitchen done before we moved in. We were promised that the job was going to take about a month and a half, two months tops.....It took four months until I finally kicked them out. They screwed up so many things so many times I just couldn't take it anymore. We were paying both rent and our mortgage for two months longer than we expected, and unfortunately didn't have the money to hire a lawyer.

Now, eight months later, the wood floor (which they had to resurface 3 times) is buckling and splintering, the ceiling looks like its seperating where it was taped, my sink and garbage disposal leak, and we have terrible drafts coming in because I'm assuming they didn't insulate properly. Oh, and the wood stain and polyuerthane that is splashed all over my walls, woodwork, cabinetry, and appliances is another daily fond reminder of how stupid I was to hire them. I'm just happy that something is being done about them. I'm only 24, and didn't have the courage or means to do anything about it at the time.

Here is the text from an article published in the Arlington Heights Post on 1/13/05:

State investigates local builder
Lawsuits, customer complaints spur Cook County probe as well

BY IRV LEAVITT
STAFF WRITER

Karyn and David Okon say they gave a Northbrook contractor $39,000 toward an addition to their home early last year, and all they have to show for it is some new siding and a big hole in their backyard.

The Okons, of Mount Prospect, are among more than a dozen people who complain that MoMax Builders, 3605 Woodhead Drive, has taken their money, and then done shoddy work or none at all.

Spokeswoman Marcy Jensen of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office confirmed Tuesday that the office is investigating the firm.

Gail O'Connor, spokeswoman for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, said that office has also mounted an investigation, after receiving a dozen complaints about MoMax since 2001, including eight in 2004.

"In the past few months we've received a flurry of complaints," she said. "The large number of complaints has caused us to open up an investigation. We are urging any one who has had similar complaints to call our Chicago consumer fraud hotline, at 1-800- 386-5438."

Jensen said they should also call her office at (312) 603-8700.

Company owner Fred Resnick did not return three phone calls placed this week. His lawyer, Don Segel, denied any of the allegations.

Okons' problems

Karyn Okon hopes action comes. "We just don't want anyone else to suffer from this," she said Tuesday.

She said that when she signed a MoMax contract late in June, Resnick asked her and her husband, David, for a 10 percent down payment, plus a 25 percent startup fee. Then he offered them a discount on the $76,000 job if they gave him a total of about $39,000 upfront, part of what she said he billed as the MoMax Advance Payment Plan, she said.

She and her husband said they had confidence in Resnick because he had good references, was friendly and helpful, and had a clean Better Business Bureau record.

That record is no longer without blemish. The bureau has now listed nine complaints against MoMax in the last 36 months, and only lists one as having been resolved.

The Okons have filed a police report with the Mount Prospect Police Department and complaints with the county prosecutors and Madigan's office, and have retained an attorney to try to get their money back.

"An investigator has been assigned to the case, and is currently working with the state's attorney," said Mount Prospect Officer Dirk Ollech, a department spokesman.

Permit woes

MoMax applied siding to the couple's house in August, but progress on the planned addition was another matter, the Okons say. They say MoMax stalled in getting permits for the work, and a check bounced for one of those permits, Mount Prospect Building Commissioner Bill George said Tuesday.

George said Resnick repaid the permit fee in cash, but the project couldn't proceed because workers pouring the building's concrete footings failed three inspections in early November.

George said the first two times the footings were too narrow and shallow. The third time, after the footings were re-poured, MoMax failed to provide an engineering report proving the underlying soil was dense enough to support the building, George said. That report still hasn't been received, he added.

In mid-December, the Okons told MoMax they want all their money back.

The four-foot-deep hole in the couple's yard remains. "My kids wanted to play in the snow over the weekend, but I had to tell them they couldn't, because I'm afraid they'll fall in the hole," she said.

"His Web site says 'Helping make dreams come true,' but he's making nightmares happen," she added.

Lawyer: Bogus complaints

Segel, said that "these complaints are bogus, without any merit, and we're in the process of trying to work them out." He also said that his client has offered to complete at least one of the jobs in question.

Tim Strevell of Kildeer filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court on Dec. 17 to get back some of his money. He said he gave Resnick more than $17,000 toward the cost of converting a screened-in porch into a family room. Work was supposed to have started on Labor Day, but the job he thought would be completed in a month was far from finished in November. He said numerous calls to MoMax finally brought Resnick to his home. Resnick looked at the job for three hours, then asked for a $2,000 check to complete work, Strevell said.

Strevell said that instead he'd be glad to make out the check to the cabinet company that needed a six-week lead time to complete furnishings needed for the room's wet bar. He said Resnick didn't want that.

"Within about 30 seconds of saying we weren't going to give him a check that day, he was out the door," Strevell said. "We have not seen or heard from him since."

Strevell and several other MoMax customers said one of the key reasons they chose the firm was Resnick's claim that all work would be done by his own employees, and a Web site that claims he has 100 workers.

The Better Business Bureau lists MoMax as having only two employees.

Lawsuits

Strevell is among at least four customers who have filed lawsuits in Cook County against MoMax since 2001, seeking to recover a total of more than $115,000.

Customer Teresa Backes of Arlington Heights said, "My husband and I are under the realization that we will probably never get our money back. But this man needs to be stopped."
She said she considers herself lucky, because unlike other disappointed MoMax customers she's spoken with, her $78,000 second-story addition was never started, so her home has no unfinished work.

She said after she gave MoMax $20,000 in late September, she got cold feet about having the work done.

She said she found that the company wasn't applying for Arlington Heights building permits, and she got really worried when in November, her insurance provider told her MoMax's certificate of insurance was invalid.

Debbie Schultz, a spokesperson for Schultz Insurance Services of Mundelein, said Tuesday that Resnick is a long-time customer of the firm and that he currently does have insurance.

Late last year, Backes asked for her money back. Segel said Tuesday that Backes is unreasonable, and his client is "willing and able to do the job."

Backes said Segel wrote her that his client had done nothing to violate his contract, and that it would cost Backes half her down-payment to terminate the contract. She said she refused, on the advice of a Cook County assistant state's attorney.

"Why should he get $10,000 just to not do my work?" she asked.

My wife and I have sent out the complaints to both the Attorney General and State's Attorneys Office. I read the comments about the insurance situations. At this point I have been in contact with 3 out of 6 (electric, plumbing and framing) of the known subs on our job. All three are incorporarated companies in good standing with the state. All are willing to verify their insurance coverages with me and sign Mechanics Lein Wavers. The framing contractor will be bringing me the names of the companies that did the siding and roofing so that I can speak with them. I will be contacting the material companies and the concrete company to find out their situation with Momax regarding payment as well as the HVAC contractor. Hopefully we can get all to sign the lein wavers.

Interesting find:
The plumbing contractor listed on my permit did not do the work on my house. Fred just used their name because they had a licenced plumber in good standing. I phoned the company and spoke with the owner and he stated that he has not done any work with Momax since last fall due to nonpayment back then. He wants no more dealings with Fred. He is very upset at this situation since Fred still owes him almost $8,000. He was very cordial toward me and let me know that he would be willing to come by and look over the job and be my "licenced supervisor" for homeowner installed plumbing to help with inspection. I have also contracted (in writing with very strict stipulations on payouts and a clause stating that any future restitution received from Momax for this job in the future is MY money and will be owed to me!) the remaining rough electric to the original Momax sub, who has always been very up front with us about his desire to complete our job. They will complete today, as scheduled, and THEY called to have the village inspector come out at 2:00pm today to get rough electric inspection behind us. Any problems found today will be corrected today.

What we have found is that most(not all) of the subs are good quality craftsmen trying to earn a legitamate living like the rest of us.

We are concentrating on getting all of the paperwork needed to negate the possibility that a lein can be put on the house. The last thing we need now is a lein holding up the refinancing we need to get this project behind us.

My wife just called and told me that WMAQ channel 5 contacted her via email and wants supporting documents sent to possibly start an investigation into our alligations. Looks like we hit a nerve. Go to:
http://www.nbc5.com/contact/index.html
and give them some info about each of your accounts.

Brian-
Our stories sound almost identical. We sustained major water damage this summer also due to not having our roof tarped. It happened twice. Who were your actual builders that didn't tarp? We had two Polish men, Martin and Tom. We are filing with the state's attorney and have contacted a lawyer. I have spoken to Teresa on the phone and would love to get in contact with the rest of you. Teresa got my name and number through the Village of Evergreen Park. I tried to contact Fred's attorney, but his number has been changed to an unpublished number. I agree Brian, Fred is coming into peoples homes destroying them and then stealing our money. This is not okay. We have a good group of us and I am hoping together we can get some justice. Fred is a criminal. He owns a million dollar house, and is destorying peoples dreams to live in it.
I will keep checking in!

Brian

Did you get in touch the company that insures Fred? I don't know what kind of policy Fred has/had with them at that time, but I would think it would cover some of the damage.

Fred hasn't even started the work yet because he's delaying the issuance of the permits, so in some respects we're lucky although Fred thinks he's entitled to keep $10,000.00 of our deposit. We've tried communicating to him and his attorney that Fred has a pattern of taking people's money, starting a job and not finishing and we do not want to become his next victim.

Brian

Did you get in touch the company that insures Fred? I don't know what kind of policy Fred has/had with them at that time, but I would think it would cover some of the damage.

Fred hasn't even started the work yet because he's delaying the issuance of the permits, so in some respects we're lucky although Fred thinks he's entitled to keep $10,000.00 of our deposit. We've tried communicating to him and his attorney that Fred has a pattern of taking people's money, starting a job and not finishing and we do not want to become his next victim.

Brian

Did you get in touch the company that insures Fred? I don't know what kind of policy Fred has/had with them at that time, but I would think it would cover some of the damage.

Fred hasn't even started the work yet because he's delaying the issuance of the permits, so in some respects we're lucky although Fred thinks he's entitled to keep $10,000.00 of our deposit. We've tried communicating to him and his attorney that Fred has a pattern of taking people's money, starting a job and not finishing and we do not want to become his next victim.

Brian

Did you get in touch the company that insures Fred? I don't know what kind of policy Fred has/had with them at that time, but I would think it would cover some of the damage.

Fred hasn't even started the work yet because he's delaying the issuance of the permits, so in some respects we're lucky although Fred thinks he's entitled to keep $10,000.00 of our deposit. We've tried communicating to him and his attorney that Fred has a pattern of taking people's money, starting a job and not finishing and we do not want to become his next victim.

Teresa, let me know when you get the info you requested from the State. I realize that our information will not be there, however, if the info is what you expected I will request the same. That way we all will be able to communicate a little easier.

Our saga is as follows:
We signed a contract on 10/31/03 with Momax builders to add a new kitchen on the main level and a new master bedroom/bathroom over the main level. We were very foolish and gave them alot of money up front because they seemed like such a reputable company. Jean Danecker, Luke Roseland and even Fred for that matter seemed like good hearted people.

Everything started out slow, however, we didn't push very hard since the last thing we really wanted was no roof in January! The architect took longer than expected but the results were great. The permit cycle was somewhat lengthy and we were finally awarded a permit around the beginning of May. The crew showed up the third week of May and started demolition of the roof over the garage. The job continued to progress well, however, there were spirts of time that no one would show up for 3 to 4 days. During this time, as most of you remember, Chicago experienced HEAVY HEAVY rains. Our house was not tarped correctly and we sustained thousands of dollars worth of damage to our main floor living space. Most of it will need to be replaced. We also have a few thousand dollars worth of damage cause by carelessness of the workers. Ceilings and walls with holes in adjoining rooms, the bathroom tile in our current master bath was ripped away by careless workers(we now shower in a tub with a black garbage bag taped over the hole that at least now is inside space. They even knocked our mailbox down at the curb!!! With much patience my wife and I endured through the beginning of the summer with sporatic work. All the while making phone call after phone call to MoMax to try to keep things moving. Things have obviously gone from bad to ugly for us. At least the outside of the house is 99% complete and is water tight. Inside we live in a bare framed house with little or no insulation to keep the heat in and the cold out.

Since the very first day of work I have kept a daily log as to what was done each day and who I spoke with. I also have 400-500 digital pictures that were taken to help document the log with photos of each days work progress. At this point we are stuck between a rock and a hard place because our house is not complete enough to get a good deal on a refinance and we don't have enough money on hand to hire contractors to finish all the work MoMax was contracted to do. I have been doing alot of the work myself to try and finish up. I even flew my Dad up from Arizona to give me a hand. Anyway, this is only a very brief synopsis of everything we have been through. I can only pray and hope that we are not to late to get back what Fred Resnick and the employees at MoMax Builders have taken from us.

I have always told my children that I live by three rules:
1) Don't mess with a man's family
2) Don't mess with a man's home
3) Don't mess with a man's money
Break any of these rules and you could pay dearly. Fred has broken all three.

Sorry about the soap box.

We will be in touch.

I'm anxious to hear all the details of your saga. I (through my attorney) am working on a way to get in contact with you and the others in the same situation. Hopefully in the next few days we'll get that worked out. This website has been (and still is!) a great resource. Of course, with each complaint that is posted, it becomes apparent that Fred is deeper and deeper in debt (and trouble). I'm not so sure what the chances are that any of us will ever see our money again...

Brian

Have you filed a complaint with the Attorney General and Cook County States Attorney? When Fred was working on your house, did he ever give you proof of insurance? I spoke to Fred's insurance carrier, Schultz Insurance and was advised that his insurance was cancelled in October. Did you check with your bank to see where Fred was depositing your checks (into his personal or business account)? Fred took a $20,000.00 deposit from us and hasn't done anything; he hasn't even secured the permits (he doesn't return the Village of Arlington Heights calls).

We have sent emails to the investigative teams at ABC, NBC and CBS to see if they would be interested in doing an investigative report on Momax Builders and Fred Resnick.

I think the more people that file reports with the government agencies available to us and with the investigative teams at ABC, NBC and CBS someone will listen to us and see what Fred has been doing. As we posted in an earlier message, Fred has 6 complaints filed against him with the Attorney General's Office. We should be receiving copies of those complaints later this week and will keep you updated on what those complaints were and what the outcome was.