A Washington County family says their dream home has become a years-long nightmare.
In 2022, the Miklavics hired Regis Seng of Seng Enterprises to redo their foundation, but the work is still not done. With nowhere else to turn, they reached out to 11 Investigates.
“When you wanted the money, we didn’t hesitate,” Tom Miklavic said. “We gave it to you on demand.”
The Miklavics can’t sue because Seng filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which puts an immediate stay on the collection of debts.
However, Tuesday morning, hours before our story was scheduled to air, we were made aware of a major update - Regis Seng returned to the job site and said he would make it right.
We went out to the home to see the condition for ourselves.
“If you look over here, you can obviously see daylight coming in,” Miklavic said.
In Miklavic’s basement, you can see through the concrete walls. Cinderblocks are stacked like Jenga and there’s a beam running through the house.
“You can see where the water is all coming in here,” Tom Miklavic said.
There’s an entire ecosystem of bugs in all that standing water. There are literally millions of them. Mold dots the surfaces of everything and name a critter - it’s stopped by.
“Oh yeah, we’ve had cats, bats, probably rats.”
The Miklavics, by no fault of their own, have been living for the past three years.
“It’s just a never-ending nightmare of what do we do.”
In 2022, they signed a contract with Regis Seng to redo their foundation and gave him the first $15,000.
“He came out, dug up the backside and also this side of the house and then disappeared,” Tom Miklavic said. “We went through the winter with everything exposed. The water line, the septic. Everything would freeze. We went weeks without water.”
In 2023, they say Seng was back on the job, tearing down a side and back wall.
“And he was able to build back up those walls within days,” Miklavic added. “We’re thinking great, we’re back on track again, we’re going to move forward.”
They paid him another $15,000, but said that over the next year and seven months, Seng came out twice for roughly four hours each time.
“I said, look, we’ve got to have a plan - this can’t go on for a lifetime. Our foundation is exposed; the sewage is leaching out because it was never sealed properly. Our water is right next to it, so our water is probably not usable anymore.”
Their gas line was also left exposed and dangling. The gas company says it’s a danger and if not fixed, they’re going to have to shut it off.
“If we don’t lose the house because we have no way to heat it, we’re going to lose it because of black mold. Where do we go from here?”
No contractor will tie into the work Seng has done and they can’t afford to start from scratch.
“This was life savings that went into this.”
11 Investigates learned the Washington County District Attorney’s Office is investigating Seng and detectives have been out to the home to gather evidence.
But since Seng filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy, there is a stay on all civil cases, so the Miklavics can’t take him to court right now. And since he’s still technically working, even if it’s once a year, a criminal case is hard to pursue.
“If this is the laws we have, it’s a shame. Homeowners need to know you have very little protection, especially if the contractor knows what they’re doing.”
Just before this story was set to air, the Miklavics reached out, saying Seng and another worker showed up at 8 a.m. We got a camera out there to get video of the work being done.
The Miklavics say they’re asking for the bare minimum.
“He doesn’t even have to complete the other walls - just make it livable.”
Seng tells 11 Investigates he has no legal obligation to finish the work and that he’s closing the house up for the winter as a moral obligation.
The District Attorney’s Office is still investigating.
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