Do NOT use this company! I had to hire a lawyer to stop him from overcharging me by thousands of dollars and remove a lien he placed on my home.
Ken installed USED and DAMAGED materials without my knowledge and tried to tell me he was doing me a favor. When they broke, he tried to charge me to repair them. His contract is vague and he refused to give me a fixed and firm price, but his character references were good, so I mistakenly trusted him. No change orders were made, which means he didn't pay any attention to my budget and ending up exceeding it by 15k. That meant I had to eliminate multiple items from my project--things that are still not completed.
He also tried to recoup a deposit I made to a subcontractor (at his request) who ended up cheating him out of work. He will say this whole ordeal is my fault because I approved all his work; however, Ken Tarlton was woefully negligent in performing his basic duties as a managing contractor to work within my budget, install working appliances, and communicate how each phase of the project affected my overall budget.
Reply from the business · Mar 10, 2026
I have been building for over 30 years and have owned my own company for 20 years. My jobs come from referrals based on a reputation of integrity, honesty, experience, and high-quality work. This garage ADU conversion was done as a favor to a referral after her previous contractor left.
It is correct that she was given gently used materials at no cost to her because her budget was so slim. All work and products were approved ahead of time. When a crack appeared in the shower pan, I personally paid for the damage to be repaired, which came with a lifetime warranty. After her third claim that the damage had returned, the owner of the repair company personally checked it out because in all his years in business, he had never encountered this. In his expert opinion, it had been intentionally damaged. The crack had not returned. The paint had been scraped off. There was no benefit to me in giving her used product for free. I don’t make money on material, and new products have the manufacturer’s warranty. I never would have offered them if I didn’t think they would help her.
There were changes made to the original plans that were discussed even during the first meeting prior to signing a contract. The original plans had the ADU entrance at the driveway facing the street, and the on-demand water heater by the front door of the main house. I moved the door to the side so the ADU had a private entrance with hardscape off the main house walkway. The water heater was moved to the garage attic so it was not an eyesore for her parents who reside in the house. We also leveled the garage floor of the ADU, added a closet, drywalled the garage, and put in a door to the main house since the garage was split. The cost, options and reasons were all discussed and agreed upon prior to being completed, and she was provided with proposals from the sub-contractors. I tried everything I could to work with her budget while still building a functional and aesthetic ADU for both her and her parents. There were no change orders because I did not increase my cost.
It's a shame she's trying to damage my reputation because I had to lien the property so my sub-contractors could get paid, which was a first for me. I have built over $10 million custom homes and done one-of-a kind remodels. This was one of the smallest jobs I’ve done, and it ended up costing me money, time, and slander against my business.