06:40 PM PDT on Wednesday, May 24, 2006

By LINDA BYRON / KING 5 News

If you hire a contractor to work on your home, you expect him to show up, especially when you pay him in advance. But the KING 5 Investigators discovered one Seattle-area contractor who was taking deposits and never coming back. Linda Byron tracked him down.

KING

Craig Hoffman

Usually when we go after a contractor who's taken peoples money and not done the work, they run. Not Craig Hoffman!

When he heard KING 5 was looking for him, he came to us, admitted his wrongdoing and promised to fix it.

When Justin Williams needed to replace the doors and windows on the Issaquah home he's remodeling, he turned to Service Magic, a home improvement Web site had used before.

Service Magic sent him several "prescreened" contractors, including Craig Hoffman of Superior Doors and Windows.

"He seemed like a nice guy. He came out here with himself and another employee and presented himself very well, and via the Web site I could see he did have a license, and I could see via the Web site that he was bonded," said Williams.

Actually it had all been suspended seven months earlier after a Lakewood homeowner, Don Jutilla, hired Hoffman and he didn't return to do the work.

Jutilla says Hoffman had been referred to him by a man who was doing some painting in his home. He had a good feeling about him and wrote him a check for $1,900.

"That was supposed to cover 50 percent of the job," said Jutilla.

Jutilla realized something was wrong when Hoffman didn't come on July 8 – the day he was supposed to install the windows.

Jutilla sued and collected the money Hoffman had put up as bond. That's when the state suspended Hoffman's registration.

Of course, Justin Williams didn't know that when he gave Hoffman a $3,500 deposit in February.

Like Jutilla, he realized something was wrong when Hoffman didn't come back.

"Started to get nervous, called him every other day, wouldn't return my phone calls," said Williams.

Williams called police and Labor & Industries, where he learned Hoffman was not only operating illegally, he'd been told to stop last October.

"Superior Doors & Windows was notified at that time that they were a suspended contractor and doing business would be an infraction," said Tim Cleary, Labor & Industries compliance inspector. "I made it very clear to Mr. Hoffman."

We figured it would be hard to find Craig Hoffman, but after going to his office and his home, he came to us.

He agreed that trust is everything in the construction business. So we asked: "How can you take the money, not show up to do the work and not return their phone calls?"

Hoffman's reply: "Believe me, I don't feel good about it. I got it screwed up and I'm trying to get it handled now."

Hoffman acknowledges he took money and never did the work, but says, "I never intended to steal anybody's money."

So what happened to it?

Hoffman says: "I had too many obligations to handle and it was kind of like they say, robbing Peter to pay Paul."

He says he's trying to sell his Tukwila office building to pay his state fines and reimburse his customers.

"If I put myself in their shoes I would not be a happy camper, I would be really upset," he said.

We asked Hoffman if he realizes that it's a crime to take people's money and not deliver the services.

"I understand that and I'll have it fixed," he said.

We'll see if he lives up to his promises. Meantime, Labor & Industries has forwarded one case to the King County Prosecutor's Office, and Issaquah Police are investigating a second case.

How could that referral site call him a prescreened contractor?

Service Magic told us that Superior Doors and Windows was prescreened and had a valid bond and state registration at the time they were listed. But information can change or expire over time.