Local News 8 investigates – Eastern Idaho homeowners and local non-profit say contractor took their money and ran

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Homeowners out thousands, and a local non-profit out hundreds of thousands of dollars. Local News 8 is getting answers; investigating a local contractor who left jobs unfinished, and then shut down his business.

On Jan. 12, Local News 8 received an email from Jennifer Bennett, one of 10 Idaho Falls homeowners who say are owed money by Re-Lived Construction.

Jennifer hired the company after seeing an ad on social media.

She admits not doing her homework to background the company, which is one of the seven steps I'll walk you through in this series of reports to help make you a more savvy consumer.

Jennifer's story dates back to February 2023, when she hired Re-Lived Construction.

The company was owned by Shelley resident, Brandon Cook. Jennifer paid him $10,000 upfront to redo her master and guest bathrooms.

By April 2023, Re-Lived Construction still hadn’t finished the job.

"I ended up being left with a demo bathroom," Bennett told me as we toured her still-unfinished home. "No working bathroom in the house, open walls."

Bennett ended up hiring another contractor to complete the unfinished project. But even then, she still had to deal with the aftermath.

"The new contractor immediately brought in a plumber who immediately brought in an inspector who said that a lot of the plumbing and electrical was not up to code," Bennett said.

"He (the original contractor, Brandon Cook) cut structural beams... you could see sagging in those beams. So he tried to shore them up, but he didn't do it properly."

Turning back to Facebook, Bennett came across nine other people who had hired Re-Lived Construction.

She went to the police to find out what her options were, but when trying to get help, she told me she hit a roadblock.

"It just doesn't seem like there's a lot of recourse," Bennett said.

"After talking to the police department...even if you get a favorable judgment (in a civil case), going down that path is very complicated and not straightforward and not very likely to produce anything."

And she's not alone.

Bennett put me in touch with Shelley homeowner Cody Hawker.

On Feb. 28, 2023, he told me he paid Cook $33,000 upfront for Cook to renovate his basement, and like Jennifer, the work was never finished.

"We did all of the concrete work and then he was supposed to come in and frame it," Hawker told me above the gaping hole outside of his home.

"...The only work that he did was he removed the siding underneath that window, it was maybe an hour that he was here."

For nearly a year, he's had to board up this hole in his basement, an eyesore he says also creates problems in wet weather.

"You can hear the pump running," Hawker said.

"I have to come out like I have to set an alarm on my phone every 2 hours and come out and make sure that it's pumping the water out. Otherwise, it floods our basement every time.

"It's just been a nightmare, absolute nightmare."

After hearing similar stories from Cody Hawker and Jennifer Bennett, I began researching the owner of Re-Lived Construction, Brandon Cook.

According to court documents, Re-Lived Construction has been involved in several small claims disputes that are all now resolved.

After an online search, I've confirmed that Re-Lived Construction was never licensed by the State Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses.

I did, however, discover a license for B & B Customs Painting, a company owned by Brandon Cook which expired in October 2023.

“Even getting his license revoked, that's just a slap on the wrist and won't stop him," Bennett said.

"He'll just go file under another business name and he's done that. So and you know, the state's aware some of those business names have been administratively dissolved, but it's not stopping him. It's not enough. So that needs to be looked at."

I also discovered two additional complaints against Cook filed with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.

But, according to the Attorney General, they do not have the jurisdiction to prosecute Cook.

The first complaint was closed because "Mr. Cook was facing a grand theft charge in Bingham County and the Idaho contractors board had an open investigation."

The second complaint was closed as unresolved because the Attorney General was unable to contact Cook for a response.

In my investigation, I also discovered an Idaho Falls non-profit, Life a Center for Independent Living, that paid Cook more than $200,000 for a project that was never finished. 

They told me they trusted Cook after he completed a previous work, repainting one of their office spaces. Afterward, they hired Cook to do a large renovation project on their building in Idaho Falls, because of their positive experience on the first project.

More than $200,000 later, they say the work was left unfinished, and Cook was nowhere to be found.

Even though they and the Attorney General were unable to contact Cook, Local News 8 was able to track him down.

On Thursday on Local News 8 at 6 p.m., I take these complaints directly to Cook.

What he said may surprise you.