Southern California residents say ADU contractor took their money, never completed the work

Aracely Reyes found Next Generation Builders on Instagram and hired the company to convert her Whittier garage into an accessory dwelling unit or ADU. 

Reyes is caring for her 88-year-old mother, and her family needed more space. 

“I don’t have to worry about the stairs in her room, whether she falls or she doesn’t,” said Reyes.

But her mother is now sleeping in the family’s living room because Next Generation Builders ditched the job. 

Reyes paid the company $84,000 -- just $20,000 short of the total contracted amount -- and she got a skeleton of a home.

She said workers framed the unit, poured the concrete floor, installed rough plumbing and then never came back. She said the workers told her Next Generation Builders stopped paying them. 

“It was my family’s savings. My account is zero. I have nothing. They took all of it,” said Reyes.

Twenty miles away in East Los Angeles, there’s a similar story.

Lily Rodriguez paid Next Generation Builders $200,000 -- nearly the entire price of her project -- for a two-story ADU. But workers abandoned the project long before it was complete. 

“I think these people are in it for money. They’re doing it just to see how far they can go and how many people they can get money from,” said Rodriguez. 

The I-Team talked to other homeowners throughout Southern California who are also out thousands of dollars. 

We tracked down two people tied to the company: Angelina Gorbaseva, CEO and a 2018 graduate of the University of Southern California, according to her Linkedin page; and Esteban Araya, who also once claimed to be the CEO on social media, but his recent posts show him traveling the world. 

Gorbaseva didn’t return our phone calls and texts.

In a phone call with Araya, he told us to “be careful of putting out wrong information.” Later, in a text message, he accused us of defamation. 

The company’s website is now down although a new one has popped up that links back to the company’s Instagram page. 

“What was supposed to be a great experience is definitely not a great experience. It’s been a nightmare. Very stressful,” said Rodriguez. 

The I-Team also had questions for the Contractors State License Board.

Many homeowners we talked to had filed complaints with the board although none of them showed up on the board’s website.

After the I-Team asked the board about this, it posted the complaints. It also suspended the company’s license because its bond has expired. 

But those actions by the board are too late to help many homeowners. They’re now trying to scrape together money to finish their projects. 

“I’m going to have to use my credit cards. There’s no other way. Those people took my savings,” said Reyes. 

Here are tips for hiring a contractor

• Check the contractors license online.

• The contractor is only allowed to collect upfront either $1,000 or 10% of the cost of the project, whichever is less.
• Your payments should not exceed the cost of the materials used and the work performed.