Stiffed Subs Get The Squeeze As Foreclosures Leave Them Little Chance Of Getting Paid

In Pleasant View, Utah, the Standard Examiner reports:

• House foreclosures along the Wasatch Front are claiming more victims than just investors, developers, builders, real estate agents and lending institutions. The slump in Utah's housing market has also put subcontractors -- like Dean Hennefer, of Hennefer Plumbing in Pleasant View -- in a crunch. He has gone unpaid for work already completed on area homes. Cutting his six-member staff in half and using reserves set aside for future expansion has allowed the small-business owner to avoid being pulled under by the crisis.

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• Hennefer estimates he has done $150,000 worth of work in new homes from Sandy to Box Elder County that he will likely not be compensated for because the homes have gone into foreclosure. The cost to pursue legal action -- with only a remote chance of capturing a portion of the loss -- prevents subcontractors like himself from pursuing that remedy, he said.

For more, see Subcontractors going under (More and more aren't being paid because of foreclosed homes throughout Wasatch Front).