GREENSBORO, NC - We recently told you the story of Councial Glenn, a Greensboro unlicensed contractor facing a state investigation, impersonation allegations and customer complaints.
Now, a family says Glenn owes them over $40,000.
In June of 2016, Timothy Simmons and his wife hired Glenn, on the recommendation of a family friend.
“He {friend} recommended him as a new and upcoming young man who was trying to get his feet planted in the construction business,” said Timothy.
The Simmons family needed a contractor to add two rooms to their home; rooms for Timothy’s handicap mother-in-law and Timothy’s disabled daughter.
“We said we’re going to give him a chance and he {Glenn} assured us he could do the work in a timely manner.”
Glenn and his company, C Glenn Construction, began the project in summer of 2016. Timothy said everything went smoothly at first and the project moved along. Pictures posted to C Glenn Construction’s business Facebook Page show progress on the addition to the Simmons home. (Glenn's personal and professional Facebook page have since been removed.)
But, after a few weeks, red flags were raised.
Timothy explained, “Just didn’t see any progression with the work and that raised some concerns. {Then we} started seeing inspection not passing so that really ramped up our concerns.”
According to a Permit Inspection History with Guilford County, work by Glenn on the Simmons home failed inspection, multiple times. And Timothy added Glenn started becoming harder to find.
“He would be, I guess the word is lackadaisical in his contact. He said he would contact us on certain days and times and we wouldn’t get a call. He said I will call at this time or come by and he wouldn’t come by.”
Soon, a subcontractor working on the project for Glenn, contacted the Simmons family, wondering why they weren’t getting paid.
Timothy said the subcontractor even came to their home, asking for payment. Timothy said, “I told him no, we paid the contractor who is Mr. Glenn. And then, we had a nice long conversation that day and that’s when we started looking into things and found out he wasn’t licensed.”
The Simmons family discovered Glenn wasn't licensed and therefore not legally able to do the work. In North Carolina, general contractors must have a license to do work over $30,000. The Simmons project was almost triple, at the cost of nearly $90,000, according to an estimate sent to them by Glenn.
By the time the family discovered Glenn was unlicensed, they already paid him most of the money.
“It was well over $60,000.”
The Simmons contacted Glenn, to discuss their findings. Timothy said the young contractor was apologetic.
“He apologized and said reassured us that he would get the job completed. We had conversations with him about making sure we could get reimbursed so we could get someone on the job to complete it.”
Timothy would later let Glenn go from the job in November of 2016. A breakdown of a reimbursement payment plan was sent to the Simmons, according to emails obtained by 2WTK between Glenn and Joretta Simmons, Timothy’s wife. A portion of the plan included a $400 per month payment to the Simmons, but Timothy said he hasn’t seen most of the payments.
“Mr. Glenn owes us well over $40,000. He has made some small payments but at this point, it would take well over 20 years before he paid us back.”
The Simmons family filed two complaints against C Glenn Construction. One with the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors and one with the NC Board Examiners for Electricians. Both agencies already have investigations into Glenn.
The family eventually hired someone else to finish the job, but say their trust can never be put back together again.
“We have a daughter in 24-hour care,” said Timothy. “She had to live in our living room in a hospital bed for several months. That put a lot of stress on her and a lot of stress on the family. It was very heartbreaking because it was a big financial stress. Mr. Glenn needs to be held accountable for what he has done to our family. What he has done has really hurt us deeply. We wouldn’t want what happened to us to happen to anyone else.”
2WTK reached out to Glenn, who said he was trying to make good on payments to the family. The balance remains outstanding but the Simmons said Glenn recently made a $400 payment to the,. Glenn has not responded to our question of why he took a job he wasn't legally able to do in the first place.
