Unfinished Business: The scrutiny surrounding a Kansas City area contractor
An open records request revealed several consumer complaints involving Louis Aubrey and his businesses.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Area homeowners say they are out hundreds of thousands of dollars and accuse a contractor from Eudora of not completing his work.
Lawsuits and state consumer complaints tell a story of shoddy work by Louis Aubrey, spanning nearly a decade – and the system might be partly to blame.
When Dan Gilio and his wife started building their dream home in Bates City in 2022, they wanted a backyard pool to be the focal point of the 3.5-acre property. What they got was far from an oasis.
“My wife can’t even look out the back door,” Gilio told KCTV5 anchor Zac Summers, while looking at the overgrown backyard. “The entire house was built to every room on the back of the house had direct access to the pool.”
Gilio hired Louis Aubrey, owner of KC Pool Solutions, to deliver on his vision: a 37x16-foot pool with a depth of 8 feet. It’s the company’s “Tulsa” model The Air Force veteran paid Aubrey around $45,000 to start excavation. Work began but then, it just stopped.
Gilio said Aubrey was full of excuses.
“He’d say, ‘Hey it’s too wet, it’s hot, it’s too…I can’t have my people out there,’” Gilio added.
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The huge hole Aubrey had dug sat untouched for months. It was so dangerous, Gilio and his family couldn’t even enjoy the back patio. They were afraid it would collapse.
Gilio said he tried reasoning with Aubrey.
“[I go], ‘Hey, if you can’t do the job, just let me know and I’ll find somebody else to do the job,’” he recalled.
Gilio said Aubrey assured him he would finish the job. He did not. Instead, the Gilios paid someone to fill the hole with dirt and then they contacted KCTV5.
“What do you call Louis, his nickname?” KCTV5 anchor Zac Summers asked.
“Screw us Louis,” Gilio replied. “It’s a very fitting name.”
KCTV5 started its investigation into Louis Aubrey by first checking the status of KC Pool Solutions on the Kansas Secretary of State’s website. We quickly realized Aubrey has a history of opening and closing contractor businesses.
Records show in 2016, Aubrey formed Anything Is Possible Contracting Inc. He lost that license in 2018. In 2019, he started Kill Creek Post & Beam LTD. That license was forfeited in 2023. In 2021, Aubrey founded KC Pool Solutions. That license also expired in 2023.
“These people have to be stopped,” said local businessman Mark Muller.
Muller sued Louis Aubrey and his wife, Laura, for $200,000 in 2022, over a barn they never built on his property in Paola. At the time, Aubrey was operating under Kill Creek Post & Beam.
“I thought it was just incompetence and I learned quickly that it was not incompetence,” Muller said. “He just dug a hole and that was it.”
The parties settled out of court and Muller paid someone else to build the barn. He said he has never gotten a dime from the Aubreys.
“If it was just me, OK,” he added. “But it’s everybody. It’s person after person, company after company. It’s unbelievable.”
That would appear to be the case. KCTV5 found Deonne and Scott Hobson through an online review they left when Aubrey was running Anything Is Possible Contracting. The couple said Aubrey was a charmer at first.
“He seemed charismatic,” said Deonne Hobson. “He seemed like he knew what he was doing. He talked a really good talk.”
The Hobsons hired Aubrey in 2016 to renovate a bed/bathroom at a house they were trying to sell in Gardner.
“He would show up sporadically, maybe once a week,” Hobson said. “Then he’d be gone for a couple of weeks. He quit returning our phone calls.
Like with Gilio and Muller, Aubrey started the work but never finished it, leaving the Hobsons out nearly $40,000.
“He’s just taking advantage of the system that allows him to keep on doing what’s easy for him,” Hobson said. “It seems like the system should be able to say, ‘Oh no, this guy, that’s not OK.’”
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KCTV5 filed an open records request, asking the State of Kansas for consumer complaints involving Louis Aubrey and the three businesses linked to him. We found at least nine complaints, from 2016 to 2022. Most of the complaints were from homeowners in Johnson County, ranging from $19,000 to $130,000.
In all, Aubrey was accused of taking nearly half a million dollars from customers. He and his wife have also been named in several civil suits, some of which are still ongoing.
While looking through those suits, KCTV5 learned that in March 2024, a Douglas County judge signed an order of injunction, prohibiting Aubrey from doing contractor work in Kansas.
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When KCTV5 reached out to Aubrey for comment, he declined an on-camera interview. He also denied all wrongdoing, saying he never abandoned any jobs.
“They quit me,” Aubrey insisted.
“It’s frustrating,” said Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe.
Howe pursued criminal charges against Aubrey in 2018. However, he was forced to drop the charges following a ruling, from the state’s court of appeals, limiting prosecutors’ use of criminal statute in contractor disputes.
“The court came down and said if it’s a contractual dispute between two parties, there had to be more than me just giving you money,” Howe explained.
Howe’s office is now investigating Aubrey and KC Pool Solutions under the Consumer Protection Act. He said it’ll likely be a lengthy investigation since they must show proof of some kind of deceptive commercial practice.
“Shoddy workmanship is not covered under the Consumer Protection Act, and so it’s a grey area and it allows individuals like [Aubrey] to continue to operate and continue to cause problems for consumers,” Howe added.
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Whether it was work on a house, a barn or pool, the Gilio, Hobson and Muller families said Louis Aubrey turned their dream plans into nightmares. They don’t expect to ever see their money, but they do share this warning:
“If you see this guy and he’s sitting in your living room, telling you what a great job he’s going to do, run,” Muller said. “Don’t call him. Don’t do business with him.”
Surprisingly, as KCTV5 was investigating Louis Aubrey’s business practices, he registered a new business with the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office. The business name is Kill Creek Spec-Bilt LLC. Aubrey told us it is for a “personal home build.”
KCTV5 contacted the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office, and a spokesperson sent the following response:
When KCTV reached out to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, the agency that filed the injunction against Aubrey, a spokesperson sent the following response:
If you believe you have been the victim of consumer fraud, the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office wants to hear from you. You can contact the consumer fraud hotline at 913-715-3003 or click here.
The Federal Trade Commission offers the following advice for consumers working with contractors:
- Consider only contractors who are licensed and insured.
- Check with your state or county government to confirm a contractor’s license and ask the contractor for proof of insurance.
- Get contractor recommendations from people you know and trust.
- Check with the local Home Builders Association and consumer protection officials.
- You want to see if they have complaints against a contractor. Also search online for the company’s name with words like “scam,” “review,” or “complaint.”
- Read reviews with a critical eye.
- Read customer reviews to find out more about the contractor and use online rating websites you trust to see what others are saying about the contractor.
- Get multiple estimates.
- A written estimate should include a description of the work to be done, materials, completion date, and the price. Don’t automatically choose the lowest bidder. And ask for an explanation if there’s a big difference among the estimates.
- Read the contract carefully.
- Contract requirements vary by state. Even if your state doesn’t require a written agreement, ask for one. Before you sign a contract, make sure it includes the contractor’s name, address, phone number, and license number, an estimated start and completion date, and any promises made during conversations or calls related to issues such as the scope of work and the cost of labor and materials.
- Don’t pay the full amount for the project upfront.
- Some states actually limit the amount of money a contractor can ask for as a down payment. Contact your state or local consumer agency to find out the law in your area. And never make the final payment until the work is done and you’re satisfied with it.
Do you have a story idea? Email Zac Summers at zac.summers@kctv5.com.
For more KCTV5 Special Reports, click here.
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