'I saved like crazy' | Kentucky woman says she paid thousands to contractor who never finished the work | Business

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A local woman said she's out thousands of dollars after she hired a contractor to renovate her basement, and he never finished the work.

Now, Lindsay Kokai said she's working three jobs to fix his mistakes.

"None of the walls were finished," Kokai said. "The framing that had been done was level, or square, so we had to redo a lot of that stuff."

The contractor she hired didn't renovate up to code. She learned that the hard way after hiring another contractor to clean up his mess.

"I saved like crazy," she said. "I worked multiple jobs, and I really felt like I was at a point, COVID had happened, the building supplies had started to go down, so I felt like I could finally renovate."

That's when she said she found Inside and Out Home Improvements, a business run by a father and son, John Upshaw Sr. and Jr.

They took $7,000 from her, did some work — which she later found out wasn't right — took another $10,000, and then never showed back up.

"I tried everything in my power to sort of find a solution," Kokai said. "I filed a complaint with Better Business Bureau first, and that didn't go anywhere. I contacted the police because he took a check and stole from me."

She ended up suing, and won. In May of 2022, a judge said the company owed her more than $22,000. But she still never got her money back.

According to the Secretary of State's Office, the company was dissolved in October of that year.

"With all of the fees that I lost, it was all of the money that I had spent 10 years saving," Kokai said. "It was any type of savings I had on top of that to live. I now work three jobs to try and just get basic bills paid ... and there's nothing that anybody can do."

John Upshaw is listed on the Secretary of State's website under at least two other companies, Upshaw Trucking and J. Upshaw Construction. Both of those are also inactive.

J. Upshaw Construction has negative reviews as recent as 8 months ago. Those reviews share similar stories.

WDRB News went to the addresses listed, which are homes, not businesses. He doesn't live at either location anymore. Phone calls went straight to voicemail and have not yet been returned.

As for Kokai, she said she wanted to share her story now so that no one else falls victim.

"I don't want anyone to ever have to go through the violation I felt like I've gone through," she said. "I can't do anything else. I'll never get my money back. I'll never win anything back, but I can help other people."

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