Snohomish County contractor shutters, leaving dozens of unpaid customers

Published 3:14 pm Friday, March 27, 2026

EVERETT — An abrupt bankruptcy announcement from a local contractor has allegedly left more than 30 homeowners and subcontractors across western Washington out of a combined $1.6 million.

Now, former clients are calling for an investigation into the company and its owner after they say they were left scrambling to complete projects.

Lake Stevens resident Levi Stearns is the owner of Core Contractors LLC, a general contracting company based in Lynnwood that opened in 2024.

On March 17, Stearns informed the company’s clients he was filing for personal bankruptcy and closing the company, according to an email obtained by The Daily Herald.

“Core Contractors LLC is being formally shut down, and all operations have stopped,” Stearns wrote. “We are not able to return any funds currently held with the company due to being in an insolvent state. I am having to file personal bankruptcy and am in the process with my attorney. I am so deeply sorry that this happened, and for the negative impact it will have on you.”

As of Friday, Stearns had no recent bankruptcy filings in federal court. He has filed for personal bankruptcy twice, once in 2005 and again in 2016.

Stearns did not respond to requests for comment.

On March 4, about two weeks before the closing announcement, Core Contractors CEO Anna Holmberg sent clients an email obtained by The Daily Herald, offering a 10% discount if they paid for their projects in full within five days.

“Simply reply ‘I’m in’ and we’ll send over payment instructions,” Holmberg wrote. “Once payment clears, your project will move into priority scheduling and you will have an outline to completion within the same week.”

Holmberg did not respond to requests for comment.

On March 11, Stearns canceled one of the company’s $1 million insurance policies, according to the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. He canceled the other insurance policy on Thursday.

In 2025, Kirkland resident Robert Frank created an online group — Crooked Contractors of Washington — after having a similar experience with a different contractor. Frank previously served as city editor for The Daily Herald. Last week, multiple people started raising concerns about Core Contractors in the group. Affected clients — spanning at least five counties — started sharing their stories with one another and tracking their losses in a spreadsheet.

Because of the alleged scale of the losses, the group is urging Attorney General Nick Brown to launch a criminal investigation into Stearns and Core Contractors.

“The amount of money here is significant to some people,” Frank said. “It may not seem like a lot of money if it’s $40,000, but to some people, that’s a lot of money that they’ve spent a long time saving up for to invest in the one property that they may have. Their biggest personal investment might be their home. For somebody to just abuse their trust and walk away with their savings, that should be criminal.”

Several clients of Core Contractors said they chose Core Contractors because of the company’s positive reputation. In 2025, Marysville Business Connections named Core Contractors Business of the Year, according to a social media post. Marysville Business Connections did not respond to a request for comment.

Homeowners say they had good experiences with the company at first, but communication worsened over the past few months.

Caroline O’Neill was working with Core Contractors for a repair of her home in Tulalip. In December, she experienced a kitchen fire, and the smoke damaged her home. She had moved in just three weeks before, after selling her former house to her 27-year-old daughter. She had been looking for a smaller home that was easier to take care of, she said.

After some electrical work, drywall installation and removed tile, O’Neill stopped hearing from Stearns. On March 15, the electrician on the project told O’Neill that Stearns was filing for bankruptcy.

“It’s sad that he’s taking advantage of people,” O’Neill said. “You know when you’re going bankrupt. Why would you take advantage of anybody and take all that money away? It’s devastating.”

She paid Core Contractors about $50,000, half of the total project amount. Only about $14,000 worth of work was completed, she said.

“I bought my dream house, and now I can’t even live in it,” O’Neill said.

Jeff Nyamache, of Arlington, said Core Contractors closed before it completed an estimated $10,000 of work on his home, including an unfinished deck and fencing.

“I have no idea how I’m going to finish the rest of it right now,” he said.

Rogelio Samorano, owner of TRI Roofing in Marysville, said Core Contractors owes his company $54,000 in unpaid invoices.

“I had to pull a loan out just to keep my company afloat and to keep my family from falling,” Samorano said. “In five years of business, I’ve never had to pull a loan out, ever.”

Jennifer Hayden is the president of the Cedar Pointe Homeowners Association in Seattle and a certified fraud examiner. Core Contractors was working on multiple projects for the homeowners association. In one unit, Core Contractors had duct-taped a pipe with a leak, causing water to spray in the wall and drip down into the unit below. The duct-tape caused an additional $25,000 in damages.

A family in another unit had paid Core Contractors $5,000 out-of-pocket to repair a cracked drain line before work could begin on a bathroom remodel. No one ever showed up to fix the drain line. Shortly after, Hayden learned that Stearns had announced bankruptcy.

Washington State Department of Revenue records show another business license under Stearns’ name and Lake Stevens address. The department first issued Stearns the registered trade name “DTL Craftsman” on March 23, records show. On March 13, someone posted a Craigslist advertisement for DTL Craftsman, a fine finishing company in Lake Stevens.

“To say to all of your customers that there is no money, but to turn around and start another business … it almost feels like it was a scare tactic so that people wouldn’t take action,” Hayden said.

Since last week, five lawsuits against Core Contractors and Stearns have been filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.

In one lawsuit filed Tuesday, a Lake Stevens family paid a $19,000 deposit for work that was never completed. They alleged Stearns knew the company was experiencing financial distress at the time he accepted the payment. Another Lake Stevens customer filed a separate lawsuit after paying $21,000 without any work being completed.

On March 17, Peter Borreggine, a subcontractor, filed a lawsuit alleging that Core Contractors failed to return $20,000 he had advanced to resolve a plumbing issue for an Everett company’s project.

On Monday, Borreggine filed an amended complaint with statements from four additional clients that estimate a total of $221,000 in damages.

On March 19, an Arlington painting and drywall company filed a lawsuit, alleging that in late February, Stearns had asked the company to accept a payment plan and continue to work on projects. The unpaid invoices in Snohomish County totalled $43,750. The company filed a separate lawsuit in Skagit County, with unpaid invoices totalling nearly $27,000.

Hayden said she and several others have filed complaints with the Attorney General’s Office. An office representative said Friday they have not received any complaints against Core Contractors, but any complaints filed this week could still be awaiting intake.

On Friday, a Department of Labor & Industries representative said the contractor registration program had received 23 complaints against Core Contractors this month.

In addition, three wage complaints have been filed with the Department of Labor & Industries since March 11. A former employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect future job prospects, said they filed a complaint alleging the company never paid out their remaining vacation time. In an email obtained by The Herald, staff said the company intended to pay the employee for the remaining time.

The former employee said that when they were laid off in February, the company had about 70 active projects.

The employee said they knew the company had been struggling with its finances for months, and it was a frequent topic at staff meetings.

“I saw the ship sinking months ago,” the employee said.

Hayden is currently searching for a law firm to take on a class-action lawsuit, she said, but state law makes it difficult for consumers to get recourse, she said.

“There’s nothing in our laws that protects consumers from fraudulent contractors, and so long as the contractor is licensed and insured with the state, that’s what they care about,” Hayden said. “If that contractor is not carrying sufficient insurance to cover claims, then there’s no hope.”

On July 1, the state’s new Homeowner Recovery Program goes into effect. Under the program, the state will pay up to $25,000 if a homeowner has an unpaid court judgment against a contractor.

Frank and Hayden said they’d like to see a similar law to one in California, where contractors can only charge up to $1,000 for a down payment.

“We just don’t have those kinds of consumer protections in the state, and that’s really where the Attorney General prosecuting this and helping change things at the Legislature could help, but it requires people speaking up,” Hayden said.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.