Complaint Review: Steve Laursen - Orono Maine

In April 2012, I paid cash for a mobile home owned by Steve Laursen. I'd heard about the home from his sister, whom I had worked with a few years back. She shared photos of the home on her Facebook page stating that her brother was selling it. He also had an ad on Craiglist.

Both the description of the home, and the photos, were fraudulent. The photos were old; they had been taken about a year prior to the sale date, when the place was newly remodeled. However, Laursen continued to live in the home for months after he originally fixed it up. With him were his girlfriend, his own kids, and her kids. Between the time of his redecorating and the time he sold it to me, they trashed the place.

The other area of fraud relates to the description. The place was supposed to have been full remodeled with the only stated exception being that the master bedroom "only needs sheet rock." The master bedroom needed much, much more than sheet rock. It consisted only of studs holding up a few layers of insulation. The insulation must have been recycled from other customers of his, because it had gaping, fist-size holes throughout. He also removed all the windows from one side of the master bedroom without replacing them. In addition, the room also lacked a ceiling and flooring (the floor consisted of bare wafer board).

The parts of the house he did claim to have fully "remodeled" were either unfinished or riddled with shabby work. The bathroom vanity outlet was bare and uncovered; it came out of the wall entirely the first time I used it. The tile surrounding the tub is uneven and there are cracked tiles. The opening for the shower head is uncovered; it's just a square, bare hole with a pipe protruding from it. The bathtub fixtures are mismatched, and the handle for the faucet isn't the right one; it falls off every time it's used. There is no access panel for the jacuzzi.

In the kitchen, the tile counter is uneven and tiles are missing from the backsplash behind the sink. The floor tiles stop two feet before the floor in the refrigerator area; he spread adhesive to lay the tiles but never put them in place. The cabinet doors are all cracked. The breakfast counter is a painted piece of wafer board with water damage that has warped it in spots.

He put wainscoting around half the walls but didn't finish. When he moved out, he tore gaping holes in the living room walls and painted over them with primer (the walls were dark mauve). Some of the surround sound outlets were bare holes because he removed the boxes and just left the wires dangling.

The house was supposed to have a deck and steps. I was assured by both Steve and his sister that it did and that my husband, who was disabled, would find it easy to use the steps because they were broad and not very steep. We wouldn't know because Laursen came back months after we bought the place and removed the steps and the deck both--yes, despite the fact that they were supposed to be included in the sale.

If you need work done on your house, choose anyone in the state other than Steve Laursen. He sometimes works under the name 1st Choice Carpentry, but he also does business as Roofing Pros. I urge you to avoid both companies.