Dispute over construction work leads to state contractors board | News

STOCKTON, CA - A dispute over months of work on a Stockton home has led to an investigation by the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB).

"Things that were being done weren't being done correctly, like the concrete work outside," said homeowner Leslie Campbell, who hired Zion Construction, of Stockton, to lift part of her home's foundation and related work.

Wednesday evening, Campbell squatted in her home's backyard, lifting broken pieces of concrete from a recently laid slab.

"The concrete's just not mixed right," she said.

The work began nearly a year ago, and after about six weeks, Campbell said she began to have her doubts.

"I'd come in a few days later and there'd be a different crew and he'd say, 'Oh I fired the other crew because' of this or because of that," Campbell said.

Campbell had to move out of her home as the work began and has been forced to live with friends and family ever since.

Campbell recalls telling the workers to stop one day when contractor Jose Garcia, owner of Zion Construction, asked for more money to continue the work. She said painters finished her house anyway.

Garcia remembers things quite differently.

"No, she stopped the job because she lacked funds," Garcia said Wednesday night.

He said the job wasn't finished and that he's prepared to abide by an investigation by a CSLB inspector. That investigation is expected to get underway within the next month.

"He's gotta go and do the investigation and whatever they say, then we'll just go back and fix it," Garcia said.

In the meantime, a friend of Campbell's is trying to get area contractors to each pitch in to help with materials and labor to get her back in her home by Christmas.

"I think there's a great case against the contractor. But that's not gonna do anything for Leslie to get her house back," said Tiffany Gomes, president of Classic Design, an interior design firm in Lodi.

Campbell, who recently discovered she has a life-threatening illness, just wants to be back in her home.

"It's all in God's hands. Whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen," she said.