Mike Pollock of Greenkind Builders
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The Con
How could we be so stupid and fall for Mike’s con? With the help of North Carolina's loopholes, Mike has been perfecting his scam for years. He is incredibly sneaky and conniving. Mike knows exactly what to say and do to gain trust and compassion and avoid accountability for reckless and abandoned carpentry. He charmed us with a story of lies and deception. He explained how he loves building tiny houses and focusing on small owner builds, so a General Contractor’s license was unnecessary. Mike shared our love and excitement over modern and Scandinavian-style cabins. I am a 51-year-old artist trying to make ends meet with my paintings, graphic design, photography, and candles. My husband worked incredibly hard since before age thirteen, including handwashing semi-trucks, to save and build a bicycle business. We dreamt of building a quaint forever home nestled in the Blue Ridge mountains and enjoying the outdoors, instead of working six days per week. After feeling hopeless from builders being out of of our budget and dealing with a hellacious HOA, Mike sold us on the idea of saving 20% with his labor and me (Jessica) becoming my own general contractor. Mike was referred by a friend of a friend and supposedly worked for a successful builder, so we believed his story. Mike fraudulently used images of 104 Woodrow Ave as advertisement of his finished work. That is one of the Asheville, NC properties he was sued for failing to build. To this day, only positive Google reviews appear when searching Mike and his business names, even when entering GreenKind Builders. He is recommended on well-known websites, like Houzz, and praised for creative work. If you lack the knowledge of how to dig deep and search court portals with the exact name and lower and upper case letters, you may be fooled into hiring a Mike.
GreenKind Builder’s General Contractor’s license (L.77234) status is “archived” (placed in storage) and lists nothing negative, but was actually permanently revoked under Michael Pollock (Qualifier # Q.31504) for complaints and charges.
Having no general contractor knowledge or experience, Mike promised to help and coach me through the owner build process. I was clueless that the coaching was to prevent Mike from assuming any liability or fines. Mike seemed like a genuine, knowledgeable and talented carpenter who wanted to help the underdog. He never disclosed his bankruptcy, revoked license, lawsuits, or liens. Contractors should have to disclose those details. Mike lied to us about never having any complaints and claimed he had nothing but happy clients who ended up being his friends. We would have never hired Mike, if we had known the truth.
October 31, 2023
Unaware of the hellfire about to ignite, I was excited about what I thought would be a forever slice of heaven. It turned out to be a defective and moldy structure from hell that aged me 20 years.
In addition to a 20% upfront fee, Mike required weekly payments every Friday. Then, he failed to perform the weekly 40 hours of work agreed upon. Mike promised to make up missed hours, so we would not deduct from his checks. He arrived late and left early often. Mike claimed he would not charge when rain or weather prevented him from working, but never subtracted the rainy or shorter days. Even though Mike received thousands of dollars per week between the fee and weekly payments, often Mike said that he would not be able to buy food or gas waiting for checks to clear. What happened to the stolen funds the state allowed Mike to keep and hide in his wife Tiffany Helton's name? We went out of our way to accommodate Mike insisting on local checks that could be cashed immediately. As soon as Mike cashes checks, he deposits the money into Tiffany's separate account to protect it from victims and the government. We naively gave Mike cash, money orders and Zelle payments too. With almost every payment, Mike assured us that he would never abandon a client and his reputation meant everything.
Mike missed over 24 days of prepaid work at $800 per day/$100 per hour. Overwhelmed by keeping up with Mike's broken promises and unreliable schedule, we installed a site camera and created a Remaining Work payment plan. Mike would be responsible for completing missed and future work while receiving installments. Mike noted the timeframe for each aspect. He agreed to receiving the final installment after completion of the house and garage. Later, Mike insisted he would not be able to afford traveling to our job site or feeding his four children waiting for that final payment. What in the world happened to all of the money we gave Mike between June and November? By the beginning of December, Mike demanded we pay the final installment and even more. He barely made any progress on our house since that September 17th Remaining Work agreement. The demands for more money and threats of not returning to work came before Mike made up even one hour of missed prepaid work. December 12, 2024, Mike abandoned the build and stole our money. For weeks, Mike pretended he would return.
Before breaking ground and throughout the entire build, we asked Mike if he wanted the job and could handle each aspect, like the floor system. We altered our professional dream plans into a very different dwelling, so Mike could manage the build and save us at least 20%. Fearful of upsetting Mike and being left with an incomplete job, we walked on eggshells while expressing concerns about his unreliability and inability to manage funds and schedules. And, this was before we had knowledge of Mike’s history of fraud and theft. Mike promised he would never run off with a client's money and the build would begin progressing quickly. We reassured ourselves that Mike was highly recommended, so we could trust him.
November 5, 2024
Still not dried-in with windows, doors or proper taping and roofing
Mike took at least two weeks to incorrectly install just the little bit of roofing seen here. Then, we had to hire a crew to remove what Mike installed and complete the entire roof project.
Mike never served a day in prison for his thievery. He continues to be rewarded for destroying lives as he keeps stolen funds. North Carolina District Attorneys view Mike’s crimes as civil matters. Therefore, the only option is to lose even more money filing a civil lawsuit in which Mike will declare bankruptcy again and never refund anyone. NC allows Mike and other criminal contractors to harm consumers by declaring bankruptcy for financial crimes, starting new businesses after dissolving fraudulent ones, and conducting construction with records of building defective, dangerous and not up-to-code dwellings. The NC Licensing Board of General Contractors will not penalize Mike, as long as he pretends to operate just as a carpenter. To escape the GC Board requirements, Mike manipulates clients into being their own general contractors (owner builds) and pretends projects cost less than $40,000.
To request charges and complaints against a North Carolina builder:
NC Licensing Board of General Contractor's Website
Email complaints@nclbgc.org or call (919) 571-4183 x 219