Conrad Helmuth

Do you work for this business? Unlock this free profile to update company info and see who's viewing your profile.

• By Rebecca

  May 19, 2023

  Build tiny house with garage

  $91,000

  Conrad Helmuth built a tiny house plus garage (barndominium) for me beginning in July of 2022. I am a single woman, knew nothing about construction, and was new to the area. Conrad was recommended by my realtor, and I was told he had a good reputation. She will no longer be recommending him and is highly disappointed as she has now seen what he did to me. Conrad did the entire build by himself, with the exception of the metal exterior in which he brought another person to help for 2 days. Most likely Conrad built my house as a side project as it was supposed to have only taken him 2 months but took him about 6 months and still he hadn't finished when I finally fired him! I was being charged the very top of the price per square foot for this area ... for the highest quality build which my house is far from. I fired him a bit too late, after spending 90k and was left with an extremely basic, incomplete and faulty product that I am having to completely re-do. Luckily, I took many pictures while the home was being built so we can view how it was built, the stability and all hidden issues. Below are just some of the problems.

  Loft - the loft is built on beams that run vertically with the walls instead or perpendictular (meaning it could sag in the middle/unsupportive) and header beam is only nailed in from the sides without joyces. My new contractor will be ripping off the front of the loft and ripping through the drywall to add joyces and better support for the loft to avoid a future collapse. There is also a corner between garage and tiny house on the west side which will need further support after cutting into the drywall to access it.

  Wall studs are more than 16" apart throughout house and garage... most at around 23". 

  Roof- Trellises are 4' apart instead of 2' standard. It also has no "rat runs" and my new contractor will be adding 8 of them. Rat runs are the beams that run perpebdicular to the trellises and go all the way across the roof, so I've learned.

  Floor in tiny house is not level and is uneven throughout. I assume this may be due to the fact that Conrad did the concrete all by himself when it was poured. I have since learned it takes more than one person if you want to do it right. Because of the uneven floor, the flooring creaks when you walk and I hope i don't have future problems as it sits on an unlevel surface. Also when the flooring was installed Conrad did not use any underlayment nor did he leave the 1/8th" space between the flooring and the wall. I noticed this when it was being installed as I had read the instructions on the back of the flooring box. I brought it up with Conrad and he said it was not needed. He had a young man installing the floor for him and he was jamming it up against the wall even after I had asked him to leave the 1/8" space using spacers. As it turns out, a space was left for part of the floor but he and Conrad continued the rest of the floor and loft while I wasnt home. As we have had to rip off molding, we saw that he jammed it up against the sides throughout most of the home. This can be a huge issue as it fluctuates between cold amd hot seasons and the flooring can start to buckle.

  Foundation - There is no footer around the house. It is sitting on a concrete slab on small gravel that isn't packed down. You can easily dig out the house with exposed corners on two sides! My new contractor has added a concrete slab patio to support the foundation of the house, allowing the concrete to get underneath the house. We are adding an exterior footer on the another side to provide further support to the faulty foundation. Later on, I may add to the third side as well.

  Windows- Two of the windows are extremely bowed, not plumb or square, and don't shut or open. It appears Conrad failed to use a level and ruler when building and installing the windows. The other windows are a bit better but still have other issues.

  Windows, exterior doors and garage door - No flashing used, no j-channel or rain guard, and no caulking around the cut metal edge that is open to the elements. I am still waiting on quotes to repair all the windows and metal work.

  Toilet- Conrad hadn't finished when i fired him, having left with no water lines installed and the toilet drain right up against the wall. We had to jackhammer out the toilet drain ... and of course, with that, the molding and wood floor needed to be removed and replaced in that part of the bathroom.

  Garage Door- No 2x6 framing to support the extra large garage door ... it is fastened directly to drywall and the sheet rock wasn't even flush with edge making the garage door seal not lay flat.

  Stairwell - Conrad's workmenship was amature-like and sloppy. My contractor ripped much of it out to make it safer, smoother without rough edging that may have caused someone to trip, and added the doors to the stairwell storage area (something Conrad agreed to do but then said it couldn't be done).

  Outdoor lighting - installed incorrectly with the box outside of the wall (Conrad hired the electrician, Rooster Electric). The wind had knocked over one of the lights in a short period of time.

  Electrical - 5 receptacles were not working as they were installed improperly. Grounding rod was sitting 4' above ground level. We hope there aren't other issues as it appeared quite obvious the electrician Conrad hired was not good. Not to mention Conrad billed me 10K plus just for the electrical work on a garage with 350sq ft tiny house! After firing Conrad, he tried to get me to pay him more for what was owed the electrician after I had already been billed 10k for electric... if that was indeed the true price for electrical as it seems all Conrad's invoices were excessively padded! Also my new electrician noticed one of the bozes inside the electrical panel looked old and used (I don't remember what it's called).

  There is no attic entrance so we will be creating one to check out the workmenship of the trellises and struture to address any needed repairs.

  This list is far more extensive than this, not to mention the poor workmenship of every single thing Conrad touched. Besides these things, I was overcharged for the size and quality and he did what he wanted rather than listening to my needs. Unfortunately, I didn't notice problems until it was too late. He was given the opportunity to correct his mistakes and refused. Luckily, I was able to cancel the last check for 13K before Conrad cashed it, but at that point I had already spent 91K. Conrad's billing was inconsistent without any itimization and when I asked for itimizations, he came up with a few vague "new" billing invoices that all contradicted previous bills. I then asked that he itimize the actual invoices rather than giving me new ones, and that was fruitless, leading to a bunch of added on figures that all contradicted themselves with only a few receipts. The most disenchanting part of dealing with Conrad was the fact that he would outwardly lie and deceive to cover his tracks. In his attempt to justify what I had paid for, he even stated I had also been charged for all his gas going to and from my property. This guy is a dishonest crook who hides behind his family's reputation. Not only did he swindle money from me but he took 6 months to build instead of 2, leaving me with multiple issues and an incomplete project, I am now loosing money that I would have been collecting as the place was supposed to have been a daily rental. I may decide to take this to court although that is a long road. Unfortuately, I trusted Conrad before knowing his "fruit."This has been devastaing for me as the money I set aside for my retirement is now exhaused and I am having to pay for these corrections and to complete the project that had alreasy been well paid for. I have also lost rental money that I should have started collecting ny at least November of 2022. It is now June of 2023 and my tiny house is still unlivable with much work remaining.

  Read more