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Subcontractor won judgement three years ago; builder won’t pay

Posted at 6:38 PM, Apr 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-08 18:38:24-04

WEST MICHIGAN — John Mangum said he believes in an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. However, he said the general contractor he worked for, Ed Ashbaugh, is anything but honest. The Problem Solvers have featured Ashbaugh before.

Mangum said, “This guy, if he’s not going to do what he’s supposed to do, should not be doing the work because it makes all contractors look bad.”

“There’s a lot of good contractors out there and they follow through and they give the homeowners what they expect, but you run into an occasional guy like him,” Mangum said.

There’s a chance Ashbaugh won’t pay his subcontractors, according to Mangum. He said Ashbaugh hired him to install windows at a home in Greenville in 2016, but once the work was done Ashbaugh disappeared.

“I kept trying to contact him over the next couple of weeks. He put me on ignore,” Mangum recalled.

Finally, Mangum filed suit in small claims court and won a roughly $900 judgement. He said trying to collect the money is another story.

“Then it goes nowhere because they cannot find the guy,” he said.

Three years later, Mangum said he still hasn’t received a single penny. He’s in good company with Pam Noles. The Problem Solvers interviewed her in March. Noles has a settlement of nearly $8,000 against Ashbaugh. He should have paid up by July 1, 2015, according to court records.

At the time of the interview, Ashbaugh told FOX 17 he was homeless and living in a van. He claimed he couldn’t pay Noles by the deadline because he closed shop. However, his Facebook business page indicates he was still operating into 2016 which is also when the work for Mangum’s judgment took place.

Now property owners and subcontractors who’ve done business with Ashbaugh Builders are left disheartened.

Mangum said, “You do what’s right. Right?”

FOX 17 called and left a message for Ed Ashbaugh for comment on this story. He’s not returned it, but last time he said he has no money and there’s nothing he can do.