The Viral Colorado Bathroom Sledgehammer Story
Unless you’ve been locked in a monastery with no wifi, it’s hard to believe you wouldn’t have seen a story on the Colorado contractor that took a sledgehammer to a bathroom in the home of Amber Trucke.
Note: There’s been an update to this story you can see here
This story was so popular that it made such news outlets as
- New York Post
- Newsweek
- LADbible
- UK’s Daily Mail which had the most thorough coverage of the story.
- This Reddit thread, on r/publicfreakout, has nearly 10,000 comments on the subject
- Along with numerous posts all around the Facebook meta-sphere-verse-world
He claims he was “repossessing” his tile work since the homeowner wasn’t paying. It should be noted that I didn’t see him carry one tile out.
The Fallout
Dream Home Remodels is the very ironic and unfortunate name of the company that did the renovation work in the Colorado Springs home.
After falsely accusing the homeowner of non-payment they stormed into the home and took a sledgehammer to the shower that they built thereby guaranteeing that they would never get paid the full amount.
Trucke’s neighbor took video of the destruction in progress, Amber posted on social media, and it blew up from there.
Stoneman to the rescue
After seeing the viral video, Jason McDaniel, contractor, Certified Tile Installer 1273, and founder of the Facebook group Global Tile Posse took the lead, contacted Trucke, and made plans to rebuild her bathroom. The posse that he assembled included:
- Jeremy Johnson, Colorado Home Revival; a local contractor
- Matt Coppo, Set in Stone Tiling; a local contractor
- Steve Sells, Precision Home Repair; a local contractor
- Ardex with local rep William Alan White
- Rapid Recess and rep Bill Parker
- Unique Mosaics with Angie Halford Re’
- The Tile Shop
- Rubi Tools
- Jason McDaniel, Stoneman Construction, Portland-Metro area of Oregon
A Happy Ending for Trucke
Currently, the bathroom has been beautifully rebuilt. See finished photos in the gallery below.
Here is some more news that transpired between destruction and rebuild:
- Jason McDaniel interviews Amber Trucke to get more details on what happened
- KRDO Fox 13 reports that work begins on rebuilding bathroom
- TileLetter has a detailed write-up on the progress and the finished product
The new bathroom is rumored to have new tile donated by The Tile Shop, a curbless shower using the Rapid Recess system, heated floors and a fully waterproof shower using products from Ardex, and some custom scribe work because come on, it’s Stoneman.
A not-so-happy ending for the Colorado Springs Contractor
KRDO Fox 13 Reports that arrest warrants have been issued for both Terry Gregory and Jordan Cazares of Dream Home Remodeling. The charges are:
- Class 3 Felony Burglury
- Class 6 Criminal Mischief
Additionally, they report that the contractor did not secure the proper permits to perform the work and consequences have yet to be determined.
Potentially, Trucke may take legal action, as well.
Photo Gallery of the Colorado Springs ‘Sledgehammer’ Bathroom
Contractor and homeowner payment disputes
It goes without saying that payment disputes should never come down to violence, destruction of property, or threats of such things.
Recently, a contractor in Spanaway Washington that was threatening to destroy his own work was shot and killed by a homeowner.
As a contractor, you need to learn and understand the lien laws in your state and know how to protect your rights to lien property and collect payment.
This post will continue to be updated as new details come out.
Want more GTP? Check out my comparison of the two biggest Facebook tile groups: Tile Geeks vs Global Tile Posse.
Inside Edition segment of Sledgehammer Bathroom in Colorado
Just wanted to let you know I’m really enjoying news updates man, great work Jim
Thank you, John!
Actually Jeremy and Matt contacted the homeowner first. Jason contacted her later on in the process, and eventually took over. He claimed this was for the industry, but it was really all for his ego seeing as he has not mentioned any of the local contractors that actually helped with this project. One of the people involved sent me screenshots of a conversation that he had with Jason where he called him out for being an egomaniac and only doing this project to float his ego.