SAN ANTONIO – A Linda Drive homeowner said he will have to live in a hotel and learn how to fix his tornado-ravaged home after contractors stiffed him and made his home worse off than it was.
"It's a drastic change. I know it's something you'll never forget,” homeowner Mark Medina said.
Ten months after tornadoes touched down in San Antonio, the rebuilding continues for the Northeast Side man.
Medina’s one-story home had severe structural damage. He said he had to take out a loan and hire contractors. Not far into the project, however, he had to call the job off because they ended up making the house worse and purposely destroying things to get insurance money.
"I noticed that they cheated me on my tar paper. I showed up in the middle of the day and noticed they only replaced part of it," Medina said.
Medina said contractors stole tens of thousands of dollars, forcing him to learn how to make the repairs himself.
"The construction company I hired ended up taking $40,000 and taking off and leaving me with nothing,” he said.
With no previous experience in construction and a drained budget, Medina took on a challenge, reading books and watching do-it-yourself videos to get the job done.
"I started doing the work myself. I replaced all the water lines,” he said.
With much more work to be done, Medina knows he won’t be home for Christmas.
Medina said he's already spent an additional $40,000 of his own money to repair the home and said he'll be lucky to move back in by March.