Builder Probed By Consumer Protection Office Stratton Construction Target Of Complaints

Ron Stratton’s advertisement in the Nickel’s Worth paper says his construction company is licensed, bonded and insured.

Well, Idaho contractors don’t have licenses for the kind of work Stratton does, that being constructing pole buildings. As for being bonded, Stratton canceled his own bond on Aug. 1 that applied only to work done on manufactured homes - work he no longer does. He has no other insurance for his pole building work, according to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection Division.

“We are very concerned about that he is presenting himself as having qualifications that he, in fact, does not have,” said Brett DeLange, head of the consumer protection division. His office has received “numerous” complaints about Stratton Construction since issuing a consumer protection warning about the company on Aug. 9.

One former Stratton customer is Joyce Hillhouse, 63, of Hayden Lake. Hillhouse gave Stratton a $1,000 deposit in July 1993 to build a porch and a carport on a mobile home she was about to buy.

But when Hillhouse’s deal for the mobile home fell through, she was unable to get the deposit for the addition work back from Stratton. After a year of calls to Stratton and his Coeur d’Alene lawyer, James Atwood, Hillhouse still hasn’t seen a cent.

“It has been so frustrating because I didn’t know where to turn,” Hillhouse said.

She turned to the attorney general’s office, which may take Stratton to court for complaints like Hillhouse’s, DeLange said.

Stratton on Thursday faxed a letter to DeLange promising to call all of his customers and assure them their projects would be finished. He also promised to return deposits if the customers did not want Stratton Construction to continue the work.

Stratton did not return repeated calls to his business and home this week.

Stratton has been in this spot before. After numerous complaints about unfinished and shoddy work on mobile homes in 1988, Stratton’s pickup was seized and auctioned off for settlement in a building dispute in Coeur d’Alene.

Stratton paid a $300 fine and spent 30 days in jail in 1993 for failing to provide workers compensation for his employees.

After trouble with building regulators in Washington, Stratton moved his old company, Aul Points Construction, to Idaho as Stratton Construction. Complaints started rolling in, said Rick Ulveling, a state building inspector with the Idaho Department of Labor and Industry.

“In the last six months, I’ve had, maybe, 25, 30 complaints on him,” Ulveling said. Stratton has a number of unfinished pole building projects in Benewah County, and met Monday with county officials to sort things out.

“He says he’s going to fix everything,” said Steve Meshishnek, Benewah County building inspector, who has “redtagged” several Stratton pole buildings in the county because they “have structural deficiencies.” He also has cited Stratton “several times” for building without a permit.

Ulveling has followed Stratton from his Aul Points days and has often brought Stratton and his complaining customers together to resolve disputes.

“For a while it looked pretty good for him,” Ulveling said. Stratton continues to take on far more projects than he can finish, but has promised to hire more people and finish the jobs, Ulveling said.

“But it’s just the same old story,” Ulveling said. He said that once the state is notified that Stratton has pulled his $5,000 bond through Schedler-Ballou/Mountain West Insurance in Coeur d’Alene, Stratton will lose his license to do work on manufactured homes.

Agents at Schedler-Ballou did not return calls this week to confirm Stratton’s bond status.