Lifestyle

Adele Put Her 401(k) Into Two Rental Units So She Could Retire. Then the Contractor Walked Off the Job: “I Don’t Have a Safety Net”

By Curtis Jones · November 14, 2026

Adele Sheets had a plan for her retirement, and it was sitting in her own backyard.

The El Cajon, California, retiree wanted to turn two garages on her property into accessory dwelling units, the small rental homes often called ADUs. The rent would add to her Social Security and a small pension. “So, this was how I could retire comfortably,” she told ABC 10News San Diego reporter Austin Grabish in a Team 10 report this May.

To pay for it, she used her retirement savings. “My 401(k) was my savings,” she said.

In the spring of 2022, she hired general contractor Benjamin Wiatrak and his company, Top Tier Homes and Remodeling, according to the station. After an initial 1,000 dollar deposit, she made several more payments. She says she was told that paying in advance for materials would save her a lot of money. “He kept asking for progress payments, even though very little had been done,” she said.

According to California’s Contractors State License Board, Wiatrak abandoned the project in December 2023. State investigators listed missing roofs, uninstalled doors, electrical fixtures and basic weatherproofing among the unfinished work, 10News reported. “So, when he left, it was just a frame. There were no walls,” Sheets said.

State documents described in the report show Sheets had already paid 301,730 dollars. An inspector estimated she would need to spend another 173,145 dollars to correct and finish the job, and the board put her financial loss at just over 128,129 dollars. The state revoked Wiatrak’s contractor’s license last fall after a months-long investigation.

“I’m trying not to cry. Very stressful. So I’ve drained my 401 (k). I don’t have a safety net financially,” she told Team 10.

Court records cited by the station show Top Tier Homes and Remodeling filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2024. Wiatrak later filed for personal bankruptcy, listing the Sheets family as creditors. Sheets said she received 25,000 dollars after filing a claim with the contractor’s bond company but is still owed the rest. 10News said Wiatrak did not respond to its requests for comment.

Katherine White, a spokesperson for the license board, told the station the board found the contractor asked for excessive payments, well before work was completed or supplies were delivered. “Contractors cannot request any money that exceeds the value of the work that’s being done,” she said.

That rule is the heart of the lesson here. On its home improvement contracts page, the board says a down payment on a home improvement job in California can be no more than 1,000 dollars or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less. After that, payments should match the work completed or materials delivered. Many other states have their own rules, so it pays to check with your state’s contractor licensing agency.

White’s advice for anyone hiring a contractor is practical. Get at least three bids from three different contractors. Ask for proof of previous work and references, and talk to past clients about whether jobs finished on time and on budget.

For retirees, the stakes are higher, because money drawn from a 401(k) usually cannot be earned back with decades of work. Before using retirement savings for a building project, it can help to talk with a fee-only financial adviser and to keep some cash outside the project as a cushion.

Sheets has her own summary. “The biggest lesson is do not pay upfront,” she said.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. Adele Sheets’ story and quotes are from ABC 10News San Diego’s Team 10 report and video; contract rules are as stated by the California Contractors State License Board. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.