“It’s a supply and demand situation,” says Coles. “If you have people buying houses, you keep taking orders. It would have been nice to have had a crystal ball and seen what was coming.”

Coles says he isn’t thinking about the future right now, but is simply focused on getting his customers into their houses. Though he was all but convicted in the court of public opinion, he says the “people who know me know the truth.” And if he does decide to stay in the home building industry, the actions he’s taken over the last year will be remembered by many.

“I would work with Andrew in a heartbeat if I were to build another house,” says Underwood. “You get to know people through adversity and to me his integrity is just incredible. If you’re interested in building a home, you need to look that guy up and see if he’s in business and let him do it, because he’ll do it right.”