Oceanside Homes & Remodeling LlLP (cbc)

Rod Kimberley and Willy Groff are con men who pose as builders to swindle their victims. They open and close corporations at will to evade any liability and avoid honoring warranties (Country Club Homes of Florida, Arthur Rutenberg Homes, Oceanside Homes and Remodeling LLLP to name just a few).

They are very convincing in their scams. They will wine you and dine you. They will hug you and pretend to be your best friends. They will hint at their good deeds, church attendance, etc. They're so good, you will only realize you've been taken to the cleaners long after Willy Valentine Groff, Rodney Kimberley, and the gang have spent their ill-gotten gains.

All the while, Rod Kimberley poses as a "dumb builder" (his words) to get you to let your guard down. We compared notes with other victims and a pattern emerged. Here are some of the ways they scam people:

- They will offer to sell you a lot they own at a cut-rate price. Don’t believe it. It’s a lot they can’t get rid of and it’s way overpriced.

- “Because they like you”, they will offer to build your house for "cost plus" instead of for a fixed price. Cost plus means they will charge you their cost plus a percentage for their profits. Rod will pretend they are sacrificing a big chunk of their profits to give you this amazing deal. In reality, they will make you incur countless delays and cost overruns because it’s coming out of your pocket, not theirs, they will charge to your account labor and materials used on other customers’ homes, and they will inflate the "costs" so they will make a secret profit on those costs, in addition to the agreed-upon markup.

- They will offer you a warranty but by the time you discover the construction defects, they will have closed the company you did business with and reopened under a different name.

- They will lie about what comps in the neighborhood are worth so you will pay for one of their houses many times what you would pay for a comparable house.

- They will lie, cajole, threaten, cheat, and in general, do anything to make money at your expense. By the time you wise up, they’ll have moved on to their next victim. If you are new to the new or from out of town, you are ideal victim because you haven’t been warned about them.

If after reading this, you still want to do business with them, ask them for a personal guarantee. If they refuse, find another builder.

You should also ask around and hear what people in the community think of Willy and Rod. They have a nickname for them which will tell you everything you need to know.

In all their scams, they are aided and abetted by a scummy law firm. Ask them who their law firm is and then look into that firm's reputation.

If you think the Arthur Rutenberg name they license will protect you in any way, you are sadly mistaken. If you are still tempted to get in bed with these lowlifes, call Arthur Rutenberg first and ask them to put in writing what they will do for you in case something goes wrong with the deal. Yeah, good luck with that. My husband and I drove all the way to Clearwater to sit down with Arthur Rutenberg. He made it clear he didn’t give a damn as long as he got his licensing fee from these crooks. He told us to work it out with them and washed his hands of the whole thing.

Willy (or, more appropriately, Wily), Rod (aka the “shaft”), and their wives Barb Kimberley and Susie Groff will lie with a straight face, cheat, threaten... Anything to make a buck. If you ask them why they do all this, they will answer "it's just business." Not in my book. I know plenty of honest businessmen and women. These individuals are not among them.

They have no mercy. We lost everything because of these scammers, including our dream home we were going to retire in. My husband attempted suicide because of what they did to us. They never showed any remorse. Sooner or later these scoundrels will get what they deserve.

We are working on a class action and have hired a large law firm to identify the victims and file suit. If you are victim, please let us know.