WINTERSET, Iowa — Early this last week, the Johnson family told WHO 13 News about their legal action taken against Davis Custom Homes, and on Sunday, another family shared their experience with the company.

Adam Ray had a conversation years ago with his father about buying land and building a dream home for his wife, his father, and himself to stay in. After signing a contract with Davis Custom Homes in September, and construction work starting in December, everything was going smoothly.

“Everything was going fine at that point. You know, there was a few hiccups, but they made them right at the time,” said Adam Ray, who currently lives in Polk City with his wife Leah.

There was nothing that seemed wrong about the progress of their home construction until the couple discovered several mechanic liens placed on their property.

“So I called the owner, Ken Davis, and he said ‘no, they have the right to do this, that’s how they protect themselves’,” said Adam. “So, are you going to pay that? He’s like ‘yeah I’ll get it paid’.”

A lien is placed on properties by subcontractors when a payment has not been made for the work that was completed.

“They had like a certain date set for when things were to be happening,” said Leah Ray. “We were following along with what they were actually doing and it started not lining up very well. So that kind of started freaking me out.”

Adam and Leah had already signed off on the transfer of funds from the bank to Davis Custom Homes for the work. Once Adam heard from a few more unpaid subcontractors and saw the unfinished work himself, he knew something was wrong.

“I mean, I’m just rotating calls through just to get a hold of somebody: text messages, nothing, nothing, nothing,” said Adam, explaining how Davis Custom Homes “ghosted” him when he was inquiring about unpaid subcontractors. “And then that Saturday, I finally called the police.”

Adam and Leah filed a report on July 12 with the Polk City Police Department, and the department got back to them, informing the couple that the case had been upgraded from civil to criminal. The officer cited possible misappropriation of funds and fraud. The Rays have shared all financial information with the department and shared information with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.

The couple is in a Facebook group with more homeowners who have the same issue with Davis Custom Homes, an unfinished construction project, and families left in debt for work they have already paid for. The group all shared information with the Attorney General’s Office, as they try to manage what comes next.

“Sickening, heartbreaking,” said Leah when describing what it is like for her to be standing in her unfinished home. “I mean it was probably a over a couple million dollars that is involved in all of this. And they (Davis Custom Homes) think they’re just going to up and walk away with it.”

“I’m hoping the bank will help us out, you know, help us finish the home. If they don’t I don’t know what the future holds. I mean, we are going to have to foreclose on it, which really sucks, it’s not something we want to do,” said Adam. “But when we can’t afford a $1.2 million house, otherwise we would have asked for that money upfront for that.”

The $1.2 million number is Adam’s estimation of the worth of the property, fixes that need to happen on some of the work, the construction that is left remaining, and the money that still needs to be paid out to subcontractors for work completed. Adam and Leah were supposed to move in last week.

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office urges anyone that believes their contractor committed consumer fraud to reach out to the office to report.