LYONS, Mich. — Each time Mike Discher glances out at his backyard in Ionia County, he sees a set back.
The green grass and wide open space serves as a reminder of a job Discher wants to forget.
“We’re looking at the prospect of losing money,” said Discher. “We don’t have that kind of money to throw around.”
The former Calhoun County sheriff’s deputy explains that in July 2022, he hired Bay to Bay Building Concepts in Hastings to put in a pole building at the end of his driveway.
He paid them $17,500 for it, but the work never started according to a lawsuit his attorney filed more than a year later in August 2023.
It goes on to claim that the company used fraudulent tactics to get his business, including false advertising methods.
“As we were heading toward the fall, I contacted them [last year], and they said there were minor supply chain issues, but they intended to have the concrete poured before winter,” said Discher. “It started to get set back a little bit at a time, a little bit at a time.”
He went onto add, “By the time winter came around, there were several email exchanges [and] nothing had occurred.”
READ MORE: PROBLEM SOLVERS: State suspends Hastings construction company's license amid consumer complaints
Discher’s complaint is the latest made against Bay to Bay to FOX 17.
The Problem Solvers first reported on the company in August, after the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory (LARA) suspended their builder’s license, and the one that belonged to its corporate officer, Jerold Saeman.
In the license suspension complaints, LARA claimed Bay to Bay failed to complete jobs and perform up-to-code work that cost homeowners tens of thousands of dollars in 16 cases.
The company reached a proposed settlement with LARA on Friday, but details of the agreement remain unknown.
READ MORE: PROBLEM SOLVERS: Hastings construction company reaches tentative settlement with LARA
Discher says he saw the original story, and found himself upset that the same thing allegedly happened to other families.
“It’s sad,” said Discher. “I was actually disheartened when I found out how many people, either through shoddy workmanship or no workmanship, have potentially, at least seemingly, been harmed.”
Raymond Morris, who lives in Battle Creek, did too and felt similarly.
“It’s a slap in the face,” said Morris. “It’s a slap in the face for any consumer.”
Morris hired Bay to Bay this past summer to fix parts of his roof. The company finished one job, but he says the owe him $1,250 for another project.
According to Morris, he cancelled it after realizing a leak in a section of his house stemmed from the air conditioning unit.
Text messages show Morris requested a refund in early September and again last week. An employee responded then and said that Saeman knew about the issue, but could not send a check due to a project in the state of Wyoming.
“I’m basically the common man who made it to the ugly house and put all his savings into the house to make it something for his wife and family to enjoy like most people would do if they like work hard, work hard, work hard,” said Morris. “I don't have a lot of money just to throw away.”
Discher meanwhile says that he tried to get his money back too. Bay to Bay gave him $5,000, but he wants the rest, which is why he took legal action.
“Do the right thing,” said Discher. “It’s sad commentary.”
Saeman did not respond to FOX 17’s requests for comment about the allegations outlined in this story.
