Troubleshooters: Update on Mark Saunders

In today’s Troubleshooters Report, we have an update on a story we have been following out of Brunswick County.

The North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors has dismissed the charges against a local developer for beginning construction on a waterfront home without a building permit.

Mark Saunders is the builder who heads Coastal Construction. His company began building Pam Resch’s home in Holden Beach’s Sea Scape community 3 years ago.

Between the time they started building, and the time they applied for a permit, the flood planes changed. Because Coastal Construction had not gotten a permit in advance, the bottom floor of the home had to be converted into storage space.

Resch said the mistake cost her about a quarter million dollars in attorneys fees, plus major changes to her dream home. She filed a complaint with the licensing board about a year ago. Its review committee recently dismissed the charges against the developer with a warning to get a permit in the future.

Resch said it is disappointing that the agency in charge of policing contractors did not take this more seriously.