Courtney Scott had a vision in mind for her St. Johns County home.
“We were wanting to upgrade our outdoor area. We wanted an outdoor summer kitchen that was covered and also a fireplace and all of this covered in an enclosure,” Scott told News4JAX on Tuesday.
So Scott started getting recommendations from neighbors on who to contract with to bring her vision to life.
She eventually came across Brandon Keith Franklin, 49. According to SunBiz, Franklin is the registered agent for Summit Outdoors Inc.
“He was very charismatic. He was very confident that he could deliver what we were wanting,” Scott said.
In September, Scott said Franklin told her he needed 20% of the total cost of the project to buy the materials, about $29,000.
Then in November, Scott said he came back and told her he needed an additional 30%, so they gave him a check for about $43,000, or about 50%, just to start the project.
“To us, that sounded reasonable at the time, and we agreed to it,” Scott said. “It was very exciting to get the work started and everything, you know. From our perspective, it looked very good and exactly kind of how we had envisioned it.”
But Better Business Bureau (BBB) representative Tom Stephens said that’s way too much money for such a big project.
“Our sort of mantra has always been that you don’t pay more than a third,” Stephens said. “And then a third as the job progresses. And then the third one when the job is finished.”
Then, just as the work started, it came to a stop.
An order from the county said the work violated a provision of Florida building codes. There were no permits for the work because county officials said Franklin wasn’t a licensed contractor and they were familiar with his “antics.”
Scott dug deeper and learned Franklin was actually on probation for contractor fraud.
But by this time, she had already paid more than $71,000.
“I knew at that point that we were in big trouble. We had given him a large sum of money. I knew that that money was probably already gone,” Scott said.
Franklin’s records show bankruptcies, writing bad checks, theft and more under different versions of his name.
Scott later sent a letter to Summit Outdoors demanding a refund. After 30 days with no response, she got law enforcement involved.
“I never ever wanted it to come to criminal charges. I just wanted our job to be done,” Scott said.
Franklin was arrested on May 11 and is being held without bond.
Scott said next time, she’ll do the digging before paying anything.
News4JAX went to Franklin’s address and saw a truck parked out front. The truck had a number on it matching Franklin’s number on the arrest report but it had a different company’s business logo and design on it.
Anyone who thinks they may be a victim of Franklin’s is asked to call the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.