DES MOINES, Iowa — Over the last couple of weeks, two different families shared with WHO 13 News the issues they had with Davis Custom Homes.

Similar to the previous two families, the Collins family experienced the same: slow progress on work, subcontractors not being paid and a family wondering where their money went.

“We signed the contract in August,” said Michael Collins. “Essentially from the get go, they missed milestones and deadlines right off the bat from what they were telling us.”

Collins lives in Nebraska with his wife Katie and their three kids. The house was being built in Honey Creek in Pottawattamie County, that is where the family bought property. The Collins family sold their home after signing the contract with Davis Custom Homes, expecting that they would already be moved in. But now the family, with a week-old newborn, lives with family an hour away from where they are building.

As Michael said, work started slow but eventually got going. Early in 2025, the couple realized that some subcontractors had not been getting paid for their work. And to the family that was extremely concerning; as they took out more than $400,000 in a construction loan and approved the transfer of funds to Davis Custom Homes when a project on the property was completed.

“It’s panic mode, I mean we really didn’t know what to do,” said Michael. “We were just running around trying to figure out what they heck we’re doing. Because, the funds that we’re releasing after, which is fine because we signed the contract, but we released $55,000 for plumbing and HVAC it turns out that the total bill for that was only $20,000 between the two. So we’re double, plus and they’re (subcontractors) aren’t getting a penny of that. So where’s the money going?”

Both Michael and Katie were both hoping to have their newborn baby after they moved into their new home. But their new baby boy was born this last week, and work on the property is at a complete stop. Communication stopped with Davis Custom Homes in May, leaving the family in the dark and about $125,000 in mechanical liens placed on their property.

“That was one of our biggest stressors because we didn’t find out we were pregnant until November…so we kept pressing like this baby’s due in July, like can we get into the house by then. But when May started happening and communication was lost (with Davis Custom Homes), I’m surprised the baby didn’t come at that point,” said Katie.

The Collins family decided to get their legal team involved, and luckily for them the bank froze some of the funds while investigating for fraud.

Michael and Katie joined a Facebook group with other families from Iowa who have been left with incomplete homes and mounds of debt by Davis Custom Homes. That is where they started learning about the similarities with their story and others. Members of the group that live in Iowa shared information with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. The Collins family shared their information with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office and are hoping for help on the legal side of things.

With no word back from the company, there are a couple of options for the family, who thought they would already be moved in by now.

“Maybe we have to file bankruptcy to clear this from us. If we have to pay to solve the house, we just can’t do it. We don’t have an extra $300,000 to finish this house. The bank is not giving it to us, we don’t have that in the bank and I guess our final option would be to finish the house on our own with bank funds or our own cash and then we wait for litigation to see if they’ll pay the subs through the legal system,” said Michael.

Michael and Katie’s daughter starts kindergarten at the beginning of the school year. They already enrolled her in a district near Honey Creek, as they thought they would be there already. Now the couple will be driving an hour to and from school as they try to figure out what to do with their home.

34 total properties in Omaha, NE and Iowa were contracted with Davis Custom Homes over the last calendar year. The Facebook group of people impacted are still finding more families struggling after signing a contract with the company.