Underwood says from that point on Coles gave him regular updates and completed the homes according to the contract. “I find the guy just incredible,” says Underwood. “The best thing for him to have done financially was to walk way from everything. I know that; I’ve been in business myself.”

Frank Giuffre and his wife had also contracted with Jade to build two homes in North Port. The New York City–based couple was moving to Florida, and planned on living in one of the homes and renting out the other. Though they weren’t in the area yet when the shutdown occurred and construction on their homes was halted, Giuffre says the Jade team did a good job of keeping him informed and in the end assured him they could get the job done.

“A lot of jack-of-all-trades–type guys were saying, ‘I could finish your home,’” says Giuffre. “Those aren’t exactly the guys you want building your house. Andrew personally called me with Mike and said, ‘This is what happened, here’s the plan, here’s what we’re looking to do.’ They said they would complete [the homes] to the same specifications they would have before, with the same extras. That was really something I was impressed with.”

The couple had paid for $40,000 worth of extras in their homes, and Giuffre says everything was completed exactly the way they wanted it with the quality they expected. “We went with Jade from the beginning because they were one of the best-quality builders and they had a very good reputation,” says Giuffre. “Unfortunately, they got caught up in what everybody got caught in. Although the homes took longer than expected and there were some expenses on my side that weren’t expected [the couple sold their New York residence before their North Port home was finished], I felt they really stepped up to the plate and did the right thing for homeowners.”

By now, customers should be in possession of the 57 homes, just about a year after Jade reorganized and resumed construction following its August 2006 shutdown. “I applaud what they did; they did a great job,” says Larry Anderson, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Sarasota County. “The right thing happened for all concerned.”

Of course, not all of Jade’s customers are happy, and some lawsuits against the company are still pending. Though she did not file any legal action against Jade, Joyce Castro was one of the seven buyers who did not have Jade finish her home. She says the company never offered to complete it for her; she had to find another builder and obtain money from her family to finish the job. (Coles says Jade tried contacting Castro via phone and mail with no success, and that she never contacted the company herself.)

“They were good, a first-class builder,” Castro says. “That’s why I hired them in the first place; they came highly recommended. To me, they should have seen this coming a year before, even six months before. They need to think of what can happen for the customer’s sake. If you don’t think of the customer your reputation doesn’t mean anything.”

Castro has also had to deal with a lien that was placed on her home. “I don’t think it was right for them to leave me holding the bag with the lien on house,” she says. “Andrew should have taken care of [the lien].”

“Any homeowner who chose not to have us complete their home would have to have dealt with any liens on their home themselves,” says Coles. “On homes we did not complete we had no future draws [cash flow] to satisfy them. Some homeowners thought that they would be financially better off to complete the home themselves. Some may have profited from that option. It may have cost others more money, but that was the choice they made.”

Looking back, Coles says, “If I had known that the market was taking a major dive instead of just a slowdown, I probably would have reacted a lot quicker and scaled down the size of the company to reduce our monthly overheads. But every month you think it is going to get better and sales will pick up. After the first six months of the year had passed, I knew the market was not going to get any better. Unfortunately, it was too late at that point. I was devastated by the whole experience, I have learned a lot from this whole process, and I believe it has made me a better person.”