Angry contractor with sledgehammer smashes shower he remodeled, Colorado video shows

A raging Colorado contractor armed with a sledgehammer smashes a bathroom remodel after accusing the homeowner of non-payment, a viral video shows.

“This is how we need to take it back,” a worker with the contractor tells a neighbor who asks him to stop the destruction in the video.

Now the district attorney’s office is considering whether to charge the Colorado Springs contractor in the incident, KKTV reported.

Homeowner Amber Trucke, who was not home when her roommate let the Dream Home Remodels of Colorado contractor inside, told KCNC that she paid $3,300 of the $7,500 remodeling bill and planned to pay the rest once she was happy with the work.

“You don’t go into somebody’s home and destroy it,” Trucke told the station.

In a statement, Dream Home Remodels of Colorado told KCNC that “communication broke down and resulted in our company repossessing the tile shower. It has never happened before and that it’s not something that is a regular practice.”

Jason McDaniel, a certified tile installer in Oregon who has offered to repair the damage, told KRDO that Trucke “did the right thing” to withhold final payment because the job wasn’t done.

The video shows the contractor hammering tile off the walls, angrily telling onlookers that it belongs to him since he hasn’t been paid. “Is somebody going to pay me?” he demands as a neighbor begs him to stop.

“No contractor in the state of Colorado will fix that when they found out I took it back,” the contractor says.

The Colorado Springs Police Department told KKTV that a report on the incident has been turned over to the district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to proceed with charges.

Also, the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department told KRDO the remodel work was done without a permit, which could cost the company its license.

This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 9:28 AM with the headline "Angry contractor with sledgehammer smashes shower he remodeled, Colorado video shows."