Dozens of homeowners, subcontractors out $75K by landscaper filing bankruptcy

Dozens of homeowners and subcontractors in London, Ont., say they're out more than $75,000 after a landscaper allegedly took full payments from clients without completing lawn maintenance and didn't pay workers he hired to do the jobs.

More than 60 people claim they've waited several months for both the money and work they were promised by Aaron Henderson, owner of Lawn Craze Landscaping, and recently learned the company will soon file for bankruptcy.

Those from the group who spoke to CBC News say the ordeal's financial impact has been significant on their businesses and families, and they're seeking legal recourse.

"It's definitely taken a toll on our business because of the quantity of properties we took care of for him and the overhead [cost] that's associated with running multiple crews to deal with that quantity," said Robert Robb of Mutuacions Construction Corp., who is owed almost $11,000 and has launched a small claims lawsuit against Henderson.

Robb said Henderson contacted him on Facebook Marketplace in February, offering snow removal jobs, and his employees worked at roughly 175 houses. He said Henderson initially paid invoices in full but that tapered off into smaller weekly payments a month later.

"We were very consistent with asking him what's going on with payments, and he kept hitting us with the excuse that he will have it paid in full and kept making those promises every single time but never followed through," said Robb.

"He was only ever sending us $100 to $150 at a time, beating around the bush and every time we would reach out it was the exact same response of 'I'm sorry, it wasn't supposed to go this way. I will get everything resolved'. Then over the last few weeks we were absolutely left in the dark."

That was also the case for Elijah Sherrer, who was approached by Henderson on Kijiji to help with massive influx of snow last winter. Sherrer said the reduced payments became sporadic and eventually completely dried up, but Henderson assured him things will improve by spring.

"I was very forgiving and understood his grass cutting season is when his business picks up so I let him have some time," Sherrer said, adding that Henderson owes him $4,500. "I worked on a plan to promote my spring services for him so that 20 per cent of each invoice would go toward the balance that was still owing by Aaron, so I could help him pay that down."

When contacted by CBC News, Henderson profusely apologized and said he didn't intend to withhold money or services from people, but last winter proved to be difficult and his expenses outweighed his income.

"Majority of the money went to subcontractors, refunds and for a while, I didn't even have a truck to work on my own. It was non-operational with thousands of dollars worth of repairs that needed to be done, which is one of the factors that led to this entire situation," he said.

"I just ran out of funds and still have subcontractors to pay and refunds. I've done my best to keep up with everything but it's added up so much that going the bankruptcy route is really my only option at this point."

Henderson, who permanently closed his business in May, hasn't formally filed insolvency paperwork as of yet, but said he's consulting with firms.

While he declined to answer how much he owes people, Henderson said he has managed to pay subcontractors more than $50,000 and refunded nearly $10,000 and counting to clients. He admits his prepaid business model was flawed but argues he wasn't trying to defraud anyone.

"I'm definitely no scammer. I never intended for my business to fail. I was collapsed from the trickle effect of this past winter and having to permanently close was best for everyone."

Taylor Peach hired Henderson for weekly grass cutting from April to October of this year, but said the work kept being delayed each week and was only completed once. Peach has also served Henderson with a $25,000 small claims suit on behalf of 18 other group members, which include young parents, small business owners and seniors.

"He was going on about overbooking, weather and then it was just, 'Be patient with me,' but I got fed up with waiting —and then it came to him filing bankruptcy," said Peach, who is owed $1,700.

"It's not a big impact on me, but I understand it from the perspective of others. Not everybody has that chunk of change in the bank so of course it's a big upset for a lot of people."

The group is speaking out in hopes they can recover more of the money they lost. Meanwhile, Henderson hasn't indicated whether he will file a statement of defence.