A Penticton-based construction company facing multiple legal battles, has been ordered to pay some of the debt claims against them, all while another local business adds claims they have recently been stiffed.
Okanagan Extreme Home Builders (OEHB) has been served numerous lawsuits throughout 2024 to date, facing mounting claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars in allegedly unpaid bills.
Castanet first reported on the legal predicament in January. Since then, more allegations have been laid against the local business.
Local payout
Court documents show default orders have been submitted from four lawsuits filed by real estate company Remax in March, which claimed OEHB and its owner Jason Stutzke have a balance owing on their compensation agreement.
According to the lawsuit, Remax claims that OEHB was to pay three per cent of the construction cost of the home plus GST to Remax Penticton Realty.
They claim that in the agreements made in January and April of 2021, the buyer was referred to OEHB by them, who then entered into a construction agreement with the builder. The build has reportedly been completed, and Remax has invoiced OEHB and contacted them to collect.
"Remax invoiced the builder and made several attempts to collect and contact the builder for payment," their lawsuit reads.
According to the court records, OEHB has not filed a reply and Remax has proved the defendant has been served with the notice of claim, so the court has ordered OEHB to pay them roughly $75,000.
Homeowners claim “extra invoices”
TwinCon Enterprises filed a suit against Stutzke back in March, which included naming the owners of the land of six properties they allegedly worked on, seeking money owed.
The lawsuits claim that previous agreements stipulated that TwinCon Enterprises would supply Stutzke with excavation materials and services, and would be invoiced for payment. In all cases, they allege Stutzke has refused or neglected to make payment, despite demands.
TwinCon Enterprises has since caused a claim of lien to be filed in the Kamloops Land Title Office for all six properties, which under law means the company would have the right to "keep possession of property belonging to another person until a debt owed by that person is discharged."
In total, TwinCon Enterprises claimed they were owed roughly $189,000 from all six properties, plus potentially more due to contractual damages.
One of the homeowners filed a response in late March, claiming that they were issued “extra invoices” by OEHB, which equal the claim amount against them from TwinCon.
“Both invoices from OEHB were paid to OEHB by us,” they claimed in their response, adding that there is no outstanding balance owed and the claims against them should be dismissed.
Stutzke also filed a response to TwinCon in April, alleging that there has been conflicting information from various agents of TwinCon, which is “making it difficult to resolve the amounts owing.”
The response claims on multiple properties that the amount owing needs to be reduced, claiming instead they owe significantly less to TwinCon, and that instead TwinCon owes $45,000 OEHB due to extra work to replace an allegedly faulty pond liner they installed.
Local business stiffed?
An Okanagan-based drywall company reached out to Castanet after filing a Claim of Builders Lien with the Land Title Office, wanting to share their story as a warning.
JL Interiors' owner Joel Lesperance said that his company was hired to complete drywall work for a home by OEHB, starting on March 26, 2024.
The project took a month to complete, with full payment due by May 30. The documentation provided to Castanet shows the estimated agreement and lien filed for the amount owed of $33,505.
Lesperance claimed he had not received any payment from Stutzke or OEHB.
“Before we started the job, we talked to the owner Jason and told him that we were worried about the other allegations and he said, ‘Oh ... the news is lying. You guys don't understand, don't worry, you're gonna get paid for it’ and blah blah blah, and promised us that has nothing to do [with him] and his company's not going anywhere,” Lesperance alleged.
“We trusted him and I don't know, I had a bad gut feeling. I should have listened to myself.”
Lesperance alleged that in his contact with Stutzke, he was told at the start of June Stutzke was suddenly unavailable due to a medical procedure.
“So he basically said, ‘There's nobody that will sign checks, nor will I approve any payment until my doctor tells me I’m better,’” Lesperance said.
“I basically told him, ‘You're able to talk to me on the phone right now at the hospital, you're able to write a check, right?’”
A text exchange viewed by Castanet appears to show that Stutzke replied with a “F*** off!!! Blocked,” after Lesperance asked him what hospital he was at.
“I'm getting my money back no matter what. I know that there were a lot of other people in front of me,” Lesperance said.
“He has other houses on the go right now. I don't want him to be able to hire other tradespeople, so he can screw them more. You need to pay the trade before you move forward with other houses that [you've] got on the go.”
Lesperance claims that he has still not been paid by OEHB and the company will not return his requests for communication.
Lawsuits go both ways
At the beginning of February, Stutzke filed a civil claim against a Penticton homeowner, Randall Browning, seeking alleged unpaid invoices from him totalling $154,777.08.
Stutzke claims Browning initially hired him for a $500,000 project, but it grew to $1.2 million. A new agreement was made, but a key document outlining terms was allegedly deleted by a former employee.
Stutzke alleges that Browning fired his company before a kitchen installation, citing a dispute involving a former employee. Stutzke also accuses him of lying about installation dates for the kitchen and then refusing to pay further invoices or amounts owing on previous ones.
Browning filed a reply and counterclaim, denying the allegation of money owed by him and arguing that Stutzke's failure to pay his debts affected his home-building process.
He claims that their general services agreement did not stipulate that they had a flat fee of $500,000, but rather claims that was a quote provided by Stutzke for the work, should he require a bank loan.
The two continue to battle it out in civil court filings, through counterclaims and replies.
As of June 12, Browning filed an updated counterclaim, alleging unjust enrichment and claiming that Stutzke overcharged him and took deposits for work that was never completed
Trouble on the home front?
Court records from April show that Stutzke had been served with a foreclosure petition, having allegedly defaulted on his mortgage.
The petition is seeking an order that the lands and any personal property of Stutzke and OEHB be listed for sale by their own conduct.
According to the petition, demand has been made for the payment of the money owing, but this money has not been paid and to date totals more than $2.5 million, plus accruing interests.
Stutzke also has had liens placed on his property from TwinCon Enterprises and MGM Stone, according to court filings.
Stutzke filed a reply in April to the petition, claiming the fair market value of the lands exceeds the combined value of the charges on the lands, including the subject mortgage.
BC Assessment lists the value of the property at 148 Garnet Way at approximately $4.34 million.
He said that he is also in the process of refinancing so that the petitioner will be paid out in full.
Further, Stutzke denies that he owes over $2.54 million, and the principal cumulative amount borrowed was a flat $2 million.
Stutzke said he has made monthly payments towards the mortgage of $12,083.
According to the land title records for the property, there are still builder’s liens filed against his property and two active mortgages on Stutzke’s house.
Stutzke listed his property for sale on June 5 for $17 million.
The Cambridge Mortgage Investment Corporation also served Stutzke with a foreclosure petition, claiming he defaulted on his mortgage with them as well.
The petition, filed on June 25, is seeking an order that the lands and any personal property of Stutzke be listed for sale by their own conduct.
According to the petition, demand has been made for the payment of the money owing, but this money has not been paid and to date totals more than $2.26 million, plus accruing interests.
The petition claims Stutzke has been in default since April 2024 and a letter sent on May 7, 2024, demanding payment from Stutzke for payment was unanswered.
Pool mishap
In the middle of May, Stutzke filed a lawsuit against Timeless Developments, claiming work done by the company on his home’s pool was poor and had to be fixed.
Stutzke alleged in May of 2022, he hired the company to carry out the “installation of various membrane components of the pool as well as related tile and deck work,” for a quote of $150,000, plus or minus 10 per cent.
He claims that work was completed by Timeless Development in May and June of 2022 and was eventually issued an invoice at the end of June for the total amount of $152,649 (including GST).
Stutzke alleges he subsequently paid them approximately $110,000 towards the invoice.
Problems were noticed upon completion of the home and pool around October 2022, when Stutzke claimed he filled the pool with water and almost immediately numerous and significant water leaks occurred.
“The water leaks were caused by the [Timeless Developments’] shoddy performance of the Pool Work and failure to carry out all of the elements of the Pool Work in a professional, diligent, prudent and workmanlike manner,” the lawsuit reads.
Stutzke alleges that Timeless Developments’ agreed to fix the faults in the pool work by no later than the May long weekend of 2023, which he claims was never completed and as such, had to hire other contractors to repair it at his own cost.
He is seeking relief for damages, interest, costs and lost rental income.
Ongoing cases
Penticton Home Hardware Building Centre filed a claim against Stutzke back in January, alleging he owes an estimated $166,000 for construction materials, which has not received a reply or filed an update.
Burnco filed a suit against Stutzke in March, which included naming the owners of the land of nine properties they allegedly supplied materials for, seeking money owed. They claimed they are owed roughly $29,200 from six properties, plus potentially more due to contractual interest and solicitor and client costs. They also have not received a reply or filed an update.
Stutzke did not respond to Castanet's requests for comment.
An employee with Okanagan Extreme Home Builders did reply, claiming that some cases have “settled outside of court because the parties were partly guilty in their claims for the work done,” but were unwilling to provide documentation of such matters.
None of the allegations in the lawsuits have been proven in court, and all named parties have a right to respond with countersuits should they choose to do so.
