OKC Contractor Allegedly Owed Thousands By Tulsa Concrete Company

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma City contractor claims he’s owed thousands of dollars by a well-known concrete company out of Tulsa. He’s not alone. In fact, he’s among a growing list of contractors voicing their concerns against the company for nonpayment, incomplete jobs and shoddy work.

“You take pride in your work and then you turn up with this, people not paying you,” said Samuel Sauceda, owner of SS Concrete, LLC.

Earlier this month the Better Business Bureau and Home Builder’s Association put out a joint warning about doing business with Engineered Concrete Systems. For Sauceda, though, that warning came too late.

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“This job just turned into a nightmare,” he said.

Wanting to grow his business, Sauceda said he started taking on jobs for Engineered Concrete Systems out of Tulsa.

“It started off good but it's not finishing off great,” said Sauceda.

He says the first three jobs with the company went well, but the fourth one he started in August, is still in limbo.

“You don't expect somebody to do that to you because they're in the business as well,” he said.

He says he started work on a patio for a homeowner in Drummond, who had already given the Tulsa company thousands of dollars in a deposit, which in part, should have gone to Sauceda to do the job.

“It hurts me because I’m using my money from other projects to pay concrete, pay my guys,” he said.

Sauceda had to put the project on hold until he got paid for work already completed.

“I have had a hard time trying to get in touch with him,” Sauceda said. “He does not answer the phone. I leave voice mails, send him text messages.”

After numerous calls and texts over a six-month period to the owner, Bill Holcombe, he was finally given a check for $13,765, which he said bounced.

“It just makes me feel frustrated that people actually try to do that to people, people out here working trying to get their money, make a living,” he said.

Now Sauceda is working with other contractors in the same boat to file a lawsuit against the company.

“It just hurts us,” he said. “We missed out on other projects to go do that one.”

According to Holcombe’s attorney, Oliver Arbogast, “Mr. Holcombe’s always been a man of his word.”

Arbogast also said he is standing behind his client and his client’s business practices saying that, “he did three million dollars in work last year and some of the projects haven’t been finished yet and some he admits will have to be redone.”