Norse Custom Homes, LLC, Norseland Construction, Liljegren Enterprises, Jon G. Liljegren How to verify your contractor's past with a detailed sample. Gig Harbor Washington
â–ˆ Norse Custom Homes, LLC can be a difficult company to review since, after my background check that included an often required "prior direct experience with the business" in the form of contacting "owner" JL, I wasn't about to foolishly hire him...a firm requirement at many (but not all) review sites. This rewrite is to meet most review do's and don'ts so simply at JL's request, my verifyable review won't be deleted on a technicality like providing names from public record, hence, JL, EL, M ect.!!
â–ˆ Originally, after looking over the Norse website, I looked for what others thought with a search on the phrase "Norse Custom Homes". Of 20+ with Norse info, I found a single nice posting that wasn't clearly just a company "good guys" or other comment and an A+ rating by another. Great! But obviously not based on issues I list here! If you're beginning to consider this contractor, read on! My next checks produce results I didn't find anywhere else...a raw list of many extremely serious issues. More than enough to motivate me to post this review, making this critical, verifiable information likely to be found.
â–ˆ Public records (next paragraph) show JL has conflicts that are increasingly severe with the IRS & many more. Condensed for review limits, in April 2015, I found: [a.] of 255 Liljegren Auditor records listed, 4 in 2011-12 are "FEDERAL TAX LIEN" (at "Sort by:", choose "Date...Descending" to easily find) on their heavily 2010 mortgaged house showing JL and his wife additionally owed a total of $94,435 to the IRS. Another record there shows "RELEASE FED TX LIEN" on only the $14,490.79 lien leaving a total of $79,944 still due. (What underwater/judgment proof, even to the IRS, looks like.) [b.] at the Courts site, 25+ records that list JL or his wife (including the various misspellings but clearly them) as "defendant" since 1995, [c.] at the Auditor & Courts sites, many judgments and liens often against both JL and his wife, with many not shown as resolved and [d.] the "M" Courts search finds King Co Superior Ct. records showing a 45 item, 3+ year process including item 19, a "Petition For Removal Of Pr" to successfully remove JL from the Personal Representative (Pr) control of the 2011 estate. (This is a forced removal requiring clear and compelling evidence of wrong doings.) All these findings tell me this SOB has the balls to try to fight the IRS, subcontractors, suppliers, lenders, his siblings and more! Biting a lot of dust doing it doesn't seem to have improved his ways! It seems the Pierce County Parks, Peninsula School District and a few others were lucky to get JL to pay up though Auditor records do show it took more than 2 years. Bottom line, is THIS the guy to trust to properly account for of hundreds of thousands of your dollars while building your home?
â–ˆ Verification...per his website, JL currently is Norse Custom Homes, LLC. Per L&I, JL was formerly Liljegren Enterprises dba Norseland Construction. Go to three references: 1. *Pierce County Auditor* (there Search Documents link at the page bottom, then "click here..." then Recorded Documents gets you to Name:), 2. *Washington Courts name search* and 3. *Washington L&I verify a contractor* (there at "I want to search by" choose "Name"). Search each *phrase* to get to each reference. Search the Auditor and L&I sites with only LILJEGREN in only the labeled "Name:" box. The Courts site makes it harder by additionally requiring at least the first name initial. Of the full alphabet, clearly JL related information showed only when first initial J, S and M were added to those 3 separate LILJEGREN searches. "J" found 15 listings for JL, 4 for John (JL misspelled but clearly him), and 4 for Jane Doe (his wife's name apparently not known but these listings also include a JL/John G.L.) "S" found 3 for his wife "M" found his mom's estate with JL as the removed 1st PR. Of course, this doesn't find likely misspellings of Liljegren.
â–ˆ The L&I site shows JL is NOT the "owner" OR "governing person" of what is presented at the Norse and many review sites as JL's one man Limited Liability Co. His required bond "protecting" you is the minimum $12,000! EL, listed by L&I as the "owner," is not mentioned anywhere on the Norse website and returns not one public record in the Auditor search, perhaps because a separate search shows he also lives a long way from Pierce County! JL's new company with new "owner" EL's A+ rating? Why completely dump Norseland?
â–ˆ Do check all this out first hand. It's all there and useful to know how it works. For more, look at complete records for the details of what the above searches only list. With potentially reams of documents, it is most efficient to view them at each of the offices. Also get a professional background check to find some of what the government doesn't tell you. Remember, this lists only what makes it to recorded public records. I leave out much more where verification is not as easy. Good luck!
4 Updates & Rebuttals
A final update…the 4 missing screen shots.
#5Author of original report
Tue, April 12, 2016
Unknown technical issues continue preventing all 9 screen shots from appearing at one time in the prior posting (below?) titled “A final update? This time with all 9 screen shots.” Hopefully below are all 4 that failed to post there as intended. There may be an unknown post size limit at Ripoff Report too that was exceeded!
Screen shot 4:
Screen shot 6:
Screen shot 9:
A final update? This time with all 9 screen shots.
#5Author of original report
Mon, April 11, 2016
Now about a year later, I see it is possible to include current screen shots of much more of the actual evidence to help insure you, a potential customer, can more easily review it! Not much has changed since the last post here. It is nice to see this one star Ripoff Report posting is still posted and even easier to find. While Jon was able to remove anything negative about him at all other “highly ranked” review sites, as you will see below, Jon's poor public record has changed little if at all. It is also nice to see that a number of the 5 star reviewers have apparently decided to remove their reviews that Jon requested last May. Of the few remaining, at least 1/2 are by Jon, family or friends, not recent customers. Given the readily available and undisputable ugly facts available to them then vs. the only "beautiful" opinions they offered, who’s best interests are they looking out for? It seems rather Bill Cosby-ish. Mountains of evidence yet still those few supporters who “just know” it couldn’t possibly be true.
If you choose to ignore these cautions, do fully expect Jon to be ready for you with "an amazing story" why his public record and more really won't matter to you! Be sure you thoroughly and independently verify whatever he says. He is apparently skilled at omitting and removing details critical to an honest evaluation. In this situation, trust is not your friend. He could have been a "great" politician!
The instructions in my first post here on how to uncover the truth were written to conform to largely unwritten rules many review sites have, including just fitting a 5000 character limit that apparently doesn’t exist at Ripoff Report. It was too much critical information to reasonably fit the limit. With this post, 9 current screen shots of webpages are included that were only referenced before (but don’t trust me either, confirm their truth yourself!) Choosing only a few document types to search followed by a sort by date now fits the worst of the Pierce County Auditor issues to one web page instead of eleven. If you check firsthand, you will see I cropped out 3 unrelated listings for someone else.
Basically they show a very small sampling of the last 20 years of a much longer “train wreck”. Many more "failures" never made it into these records. Jon's IRS $79,944 debt remains unchanged since 2012. Note per the name and date that the RELEASE FED TX LIEN can only show the $14,490.79 is settled…of what totaled about $95,000! Note too, Jon's 7606 address is also referenced as LOT 29.
The following Auditor Search results, in screen shots 1 and 2, are for items [a.] & [c.] of the first post here at Ripoff Report. (Do note the “Criteria:” near the top of the screen shot 1 that includes name, document types, sort method and date.):
Screen shot 1:
Screen shot 2:
Listing #11 above shows "Lot 49" sold for failure to pay over $160,000 in debts due and additional amounts to underlying lien holders on this property. (Click on View at the Pierce County Auditor website to see the document yourself!)
Screen shots 3, 4 and 5 below show Washington Courts “LILJEGREN J” search results for items [b.] & [c.] of the first post here at Ripoff Report. (25 of those 31 listings are relevant. Only the six lines 1, 2, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in screen shot 3 below are for unrelated “J’s”. Note clicking on the blue “Available” on many of these listings that include “Jane Doe”, “John G” and “Susanne” confirm some of who and what is involved.) Look yourself up to see how “normal” looks different than this! (Defendants are typically not the "good guys"!)
Screen shot 3:
Screen shot 4:
Court search results in screen shots 6 and 7 for item [d.] of the first post here at Ripoff Report:
Screen shot 6:
Lines 5 & 9 – Show Jon starting as the Personal Representative.
Line 19 – (above & below) Petition For Removal Of Pr (Pr is short for Personal Representative…at this time Jon.)
Line 26 – Jon’s personal attorneys filing a lien on the estate for fees Jon personally owed them but was unable to pay!
Line 31 – Jon forcibly replaced as Pr. “Interesting” how the listing sanitizes this.
Line 40 – Jon’s siblings become the Pr and, five lines later…
Line 45 – Probate completed.
Screen shot 7:
When you are a builder, getting permits is a basic part of the job. Yet there appear to be no permits by Jon or his company recorded on Gig Harbor's online permit center. At Pierce County (search "Pierce County permit search", there enter LILJEGREN or NORSE or NORSECH938LJ in the appropriate box.) Since 2000, there are only permits on maybe 3 separate addresses. None are after 2009! On that last one in 2009, in screen shot 8, here is what Pierce County thought of the plans Jon submitted! Not too professional. Obviously not remotely keeping up with current practices. But, nothing you get sued for. It only costs a client more time and more money.
Screen shot 8:
With the one exception of Ripoff Report, it is far easier to post a bogus 5 star review that will stay posted than it is for a well documented 1 to 3 star review. Even the following screen shot 9 of "3 star" commenting on significant problems with Barbara's original 5 star review didn't stay up at Yelp. Within about a week, that post was removed with no explanation. Joe and Barbara then edited their review removing their last name (that allowed anyone to confirm the age of their home) and the line that contained "unflattering...reviews that are not true." Not the slightest explanation of what Barbara's opinion of the review was based on! Facts apparently didn't matter to her!! Yelp’s “Your trust is our top concern” noted below just isn’t so!
Screen shot 9:
As I recall, the rest of Barbara's review was off the bottom of the screen and I didn't save that in a second screen shot. You can still see her edited review today.
None of the other "reviewers" or even Jon attempt to dispute the truth of this post. Except for Ripoff Report, you would never know to be exceptionally careful how you view this company. Like the many stories we do hear about in the news, Jon has a rather twisted view of what is fair game in life. Not a good place to be to be as he turns 70. But, hey, he is not in jail…yet?
"...replaced a fixture that failed", as most of one now missing 5 star Google review mentioned, is nothing but a quick phone call. The manufacturer and plumber would have covered that cost. Try getting Jon to pay for fixing a major (expensive) issue on your home that is Jon's fault. Not going to happen unless you keep significant hold backs to completely cover you. And, for example, what if an injured worker on your project successfully sues Jon for more than insurance covers? Oops, Jon also didn't keep up with current safety requirements on your job? That likely leaves only you with relatively deep pockets. If to date, the IRS still can't collect from Jon, do you think you can? Can you really trust someone in apparent dire need of cash to be directing your many hundreds of thousands?
Unless there are important changes, this will be the last update. Good luck! You now have more than enough info to help with your decision. Use these methods to check your other choices too.
What is it "worth?"
#5Author of original report
Wed, June 10, 2015
With amazing brevity Jon attempts to variously discount documented truth due to 1. "estranged," 2. "posing", 3. "worth", 4. abruptly quadrupling his 5 star review count over a few days in May 2015 and 5. getting as many of my posts removed as possible. When truth is that ugly, what else can you do?
On "estranged," public records indicate that's a sizeable group, way more than only the renegade one Jon suggests.
On "posing," what can Jon tell us about his "3 years ago" "good guys" Google review and the amazingly similar recent yellowpages one signed Jim W. It's "interesting" that neither remotely mention theirs or any Norse project they were in any way involved with but both gush specifically about how Jon is “honest” and the best builder you could ask for. How is it they each volunteer so much undocumented and untraceable five star BS while offering no clue why they review Jon's business? "Posing?" As Jon's first and only and critically important review during 1 to 2 very slow construction years, I think we can all reliably guess who the anonymous Google reviewer is JON but how many would bother to find the public Pierce County marriage index that just so happens to show a Jim W. in your family? And what happened to my 1 star review that Jim's replaced? Screen shots below for proof. Similar with Yelp, Porch, Google and more. Hypocritical reputation management? Relatively speaking, a minor issue here. Nothing you could go to jail for.
On "worth," it is too bad that liens, judgments, etc. don't show "worth" like the IRS and estate public records do. Perhaps Jon can tell us just how each support his self-proclaimed "reputation as a builder above reproach for 39 years." It sure looks like you standing on a pile of "reproach" to me. Is that what you mean by "above?" Didn’t even get any on your shoe? Perhaps too, Jon can tell us what it was "worth" to his parents and particularly to his mother shortly after his dad passed away. Listing some of his widowed mother's retirement assets that siblings had discovered while settling the estate, public estate records (available at the court house) say Jon "sold off two apartment buildings for approximately $392,200", "sold property located on Decatur Island for approximately $171,000", "borrowed approximately $92,000" secured with her house and "acknowledged receipt of...$140,000 from [his mom] ...in 1997 or 1998, when [she] was 87 years of age. This [$140,000] constituted essentially the balance of her liquid retirement funds. Jon G. Liljegren has declined to account for disposition of these funds...” And more recently, his mom's $4,000 and $5,500 Jon actually paid back when caught writing checks to himself around the time of his mom's death. Tell us too "good guy" Jon, who provided 24/7 elder care your mother could no longer afford during much of her last 12 years? (Hint, not you!) But of course, Jon is "above reproach" here too. Check your shoe!
In legal response to the estate petition to remove Jon as PR, why is it that all Jon said then about the $140,000 was "denies the allegations"? A family member was kind enough to let me see Jon and listen to Jon in a copy of an estate meeting video where even after talking about just coming from a meeting with his lawyer, Jon G. Liljegren, precisely said "...Because I have been able to go thru some things that I have still have records for at home and oh, OK, yeah, I kind of remember what happened there now and ta-da-ta-da. And and that was that, you know, that was the money the money that, um, the $140,000 that I used and I’m pretty sure I used on the on the spec house. Basically Mum gave me that check book at the end and just handed it to me, as if to say, and I can’t honestly say, maybe she did say it, you know, I don’t want [the siblings] to see it. And I don’t know. So, I mean. And this, this..." [Sibling response: "When did she do that?"] "I,…it probably was…..early 2000’s. Obviously she was still lucid….,you know, still knew what she was doing….so….(sigh)"
Huh??? Jon cleaned out his mom but he’s only “pretty sure” what for? At the end of what did she (according to Jon) “basically” give him the checkbook? When she was then 90+ years old, why would Jon's mom (again according to him) not want siblings to see her checkbook if it was still worth that original $140,000? How does anyone "basically" give Jon $140,000 funded by Jon helping them liquidate their remaining retirement investments while Jon still has a loan they can't pay, secured with their house? "Lucid...knew what she was doing..."??? Jon’s way of being “honest?” WTF!
When I Google *elder financial abuse*, I find..."Financial fraud is the fastest growing form of elder abuse. Broadly defined, financial elder abuse is when someone illegally or improperly uses a vulnerable senior's money or other property. ... Elder financial abuse is tough to combat, in part because it often goes unreported. Many elderly victims are often too confused, fearful, or embarrassed by the crime to report it. One recent study ... estimated that there are at least 5 million cases of this financial abuse in the United States each year, but law enforcement or government officials learn about only 1 in 25 cases." "By far the most disturbing abuse is by family members themselves. Kin who seem reliable can turn bad from greed or desperation. They can coerce an older relative into giving up money or control of assets..."
"Factors Predisposing to Financial Exploitation: Advanced age (> 75), Female, Recent loss of a spouse, Dependence on abuser, Middle- or upper-income bracket, Fear of change of living situation (ie, transfer from home to institution), Elderly person subject to deception (misrepresentation/concealment of information for selfish gain), Elderly person subject to intimidation (perpetrator induces dependency with fear of rejection if demands not met, or creates fear by threat of physical or emotional harm or abandonment)."
Google *Kenneth D. Sharp sentenced to 43 months* for a sample of a surprisingly similar case. Biggest differences...."irregularities" were discovered by siblings in time to prosecute, critically just before Ken's mom died, statutes of limitations offered Ken no "excuse", Ken likely took much less cash, Ken finally accepted responsibility for his actions, apologized and went to jail! Again, differences. On 1/22/15, "Ex-Kent City Councilman Ken Sharp on Thursday morning received the maximum sentence of 43 months in prison for stealing more than $470,000 from his 93-year-old mother." And Ken was "honest" enough to get elected while his truth unfolded! Seriously!
Original records that siblings found clearly show Jon's total from his parents was "worth" at least $1.6 million before calculating present day value. The incomprehensible magnitude and lack of payback all hidden from Jon's siblings. Jon's "grand" total is much more when you include all his victims! There are many beyond what public records confirm. The insanity needs to stop. Is there anyone who can help Jon truly understand? He just doesn't seem to get it. Sorry that some of what I say this time has no easy public documentation. I hoped to avoid that. Does anyone really think I make this disgusting crap up? Let's see if this will generate another disclaimer and a few more 5 star reviews! Please take it for all it's worth. Thanks for reading this.
In case anyone wonders...could this be SLANDER? From nolo.com "A defamatory statement must be false -- otherwise it's not considered damaging. Even terribly mean or disparaging things are not defamatory if the shoe fits. Most opinions don't count as defamation because they can't be proved to be objectively false." To be very clear, in all I say, truth is clearly and mostly publicly documented, the necessary text that connects those “dots” is my opinion that I personally believe to be objectively true. The picture it clearly paints is about as ugly as it gets. Not the sort of person I would knowingly ever associate with. Your mileage may vary, especially if you blindly trust Jon’s “math.”
Google "good guys" “honest” review...
Jim W's similar yellowpages “honest” review...
Is Jim W family? (Sorry Jim. Your intentions were good. Perhaps all you knew was Jon’s version of the truth. You’re not alone! Feel free to now remove your “review.” Thanks for your help. Screen shot used to keep your full name unsearchable this time.)
Google listing my now missing one star review at yellowpages...
Jon
gig harbor,Washington,
USA
Estranged family member
#5REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, May 13, 2015
This Norse Custom Home review is from an estranged family member posing as a potential client attempting to damage my reputation as a builder above reproach for 39 years. Please take it for what it's worth. Thanks for reading this.