Monmouth County Contractor Sued by NJ for Shoddy Home Improvement Jobs

Monmouth County, NJ - A Tinton Falls contractor who was arrested last week for allegedly scamming E-Z Pass has now been sued by the state of New Jersey for ripping people off with his home improvement work, the state Attorney General's office says.

Erich Niemann and his companies, Niemann General Contractor Builder and Restore the Shore Contracting, ripped off 17 customers across the state, says the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.

One of the people named in the state's civil complaint is Bridgit Mazza of Middletown, who says Niemann started a $25,000 deck job and then disappeared. She hired Niemann under his contracting business Restore the Shore.

"It wasn't even just finishing the job. There were some safety issues and bad workmanship that had to be taken down and done from scratch," Mazza told NJ.com. "There were other things we had to live with; otherwise we would have had to knock down the whole thing."

Mazza was not alone: Niemann would start patio and deck jobs and then vanish, sometimes for months at a time, say state prosecutors. Other times, he would demand clients pay him extra money to complete jobs or else threaten to file a construction lien against their home, prosecutors say. When customers refused to pay him for unfinished or badly done work, they would start getting calls from debt collections agencies for the money, the state said.

From 2010 to 2016, he worked without a contractor's license, says Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy, operating under at least half a dozen business names.

The state of New Jersey sued Niemann Monday.

Lougy wants Niemann to pay back those customers, pay civil penalties for each violation and he seeks to prevent him from ever owning or operating a home improvement business in New Jersey.

Left work unfinished for months, demanded extra cash outside of contracts, AG says

According to the civil complaint given to Patch, Niemann violated consumer protection laws by:

· Failing to provide consumers with home improvement contracts.

· Starting projects, then abandoning them and not returning for weeks, months, or at all.

· Performing additional work or using materials not specified in the contract and then charging consumers for the additional costs.

· Doing shoddy work that consumers had to pay other contractors to correct.

· Stopping contracted-for home improvement work, then informing consumers that they would not resume until consumers had paid Niemann additional money.

· Threatening to place construction liens on the homes of consumers who did not pay additional money.

· Failing to perform work according to contract specifications, then demanding and receiving money for unperformed work.

· Giving consumers the “run around” as to why home improvement work could not start, or had stopped.

Here are some of the names he operated under: Niemann Contracting; NJ Custom Finished Decks; NJ Custom Finished Basements; NJ Finished Basements; NJ Finished Basements & Decks; basementsremodel.com; njpatiopavers.com; and custompatiodecks.com.

Same man charged in E-Z Pass scam

According to the New Jersey State Police, Niemann is the same man who stole a license plate from a Delaware man and used it to rack up more than 140 violations for not paying E-Z Pass tolls. Taking 829 unpaid trips through E-Z Pass lanes, Niemann racked up nearly $50,000 in unpaid tolls and laid fees, according to NJ.com.

He has been charged with one count of third degree theft by deception and one count of receiving stolen property in that case.

Mugshot of Erich Niemann provided by the New Jersey State Police