Dave Daughenbaugh is what you might call a partial performer.

The Des Moines general contractor has been accused several times of taking customers' money and walking away from jobs before they're done. The estimated cost of work he left incomplete on three house projects this year: $214,700.

This fall, the owner of Daughenbaugh Construction and Remodeling quit communicating with a Van Meter couple after they gave him $220,000 to build a new home south of Indianola.

Krystal Armstrong estimates her family is out $70,000 to $100,000.

"We were slated to move in the third week of September, and this is what we're left with," Armstrong wrote Reader's Watchdog. "We have exterior walls that are swaying, interior walls that aren't attached to anything and a million other faulty builder issues — Not to mention a lien on our home from them not paying the subcontractors."

Daughenbaugh did not return recent phone calls seeking comment.

Reader’s Watchdog has shared story after story of homeowners who said they were left in the lurch by contractors who took their money and ran.

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But Iowa's limited state law fails victims of such fraudsters on a regular basis, with bad contractors regularly finding new victims even after they've been caught.

Alan Ostergren, past president of the Iowa County Attorneys Association, says change may be coming, however.

The association’s legislative committee intends to work on a measure for the 2019 legislative session that would make it easier to convict those who take customers’ money and disappear.

Iowa's No. 1 consumer problem

Contractor malfeasance and home improvement scams consistently rank among the top complaints made to the Consumer Protection Division at the Iowa Attorney General's Office.

Last year, 224 of the 3,000 written complaints Iowans logged with the division were about contractors, making the issue the No. 1 consumer problem in the state.

Daughenbaugh physically threatened one customer in 2016 after the client refused to hand over more money on a basement remodel, according to a complaint filed with the state.

No-show on a half-done house

Rusty and Krystal Armstrong hired Daughenbaugh in May to build a house after selling their current home in June.

"His cousin has been my best friend since first grade. I just assumed he was good," Krystal Armstrong said. "We gave him $100,000 to start, then another payment for a next phase of $70,000 on June 23. Then we gave him $50,000 in August."

Armstrong says the project started "going sideways" in July, so they asked for weekly reports on progress. Daughenbaugh, she said, gave them a number of excuses about why work was being delayed and fixes weren't done.

"When the lien came in from the concrete person, we contacted an attorney," she said. "The attorney sent a demand letter asking for financials on what had been spent. He refused."

Then, she said, Daughenbaugh sent a text telling the couple to stay away from his work property.

Krystal Armstrong said a consultant she and her husband hired determined that the work Daughenbaugh and a crew of subcontractors performed at their job was incomplete, leaked water and failed to meet building code.

The couple filed a complaint with the attorney general, but the investigator sent the same response given to hundreds of Iowans in similar circumstances:

“Our office will not be taking further action regarding your complaint. We made this decision in part because contract disputes such as this one are very difficult to sort out and, there is no Iowa law for this office or any other office to enforce with regard to contract and factual disputes and the quality of workmanship in such matters.”

To which Krystal Armstrong responded: “This isn’t a case of misunderstanding. … it’s a clear case of fraud.”

Iowa's troubles holding contractors accountable

The attorney general’s office holds a few of the worst contractors accountable every year. But enforcement under Iowa’s consumer fraud law only goes so far.

Several contractors featured in Watchdog over the years have ignored legal agreements they signed to stop swindling and make past customers whole.

County attorneys also face a tougher battle prosecuting contractors who take down-payment money and run.

Iowa law defines theft as an individual who takes possession or control of another person's property.

But Iowa’s Court of Appeals and Supreme Court have held that down payments for construction are given outright by customers and are not held in trust.

That means losses do not necessarily qualify legally as taking the "property of another." To prove theft by deception, a prosecutor has to prove the contractor intended to make off with the money, which is difficult.

Moreover, under state law, just about anyone can be a contractor as long as they register with Iowa Workforce Development.

And even if they don’t, the $500 fine they are supposed to receive is reduced to $250 if they pay within 20 days, a state official said.

The registration is "basically to protect employees hurt on the job and track those who try to skirt worker’s comp and unemployment," said Iowa Commissioner of Labor Michael Mauro. "It certainly doesn’t guarantee that they are reliable contractors."

A lack of accountability

Used-car dealers who hand over titles to $500 jalopies can’t sell cars in Iowa without posting a $75,000 surety bond, guaranteeing they will comply with statutes that regulate motor vehicle dealers and the auto industry.

But there are no such requirements for contractors such as Daughenbaugh, who take hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers with little more than a signed contract.

Ostergren said that while requiring surety bonds would help, county attorneys are more focused on making sure the state's criminal theft law allows them to go after the true fraudsters.

Ostergren and others are hoping the proposed legislation they come up with will be broadly supported and nonpartisan, given so many Iowans are affected.

“The people who are doing it right are getting unfair competition from people who aren’t,” he said.

Until then, more Iowans likely will suffer.

After Ankeny resident Donna Wheeler couldn’t get Daughenbaugh to return her phone calls this year on the bathroom remodel he abandoned, the 70-year-old did what consumers are supposed to do: She complained to the attorney general and Better Business Bureau.

Daughenbaugh didn’t respond, she said.

His business is no longer accredited with the BBB.

And yet, he and dozens of problematic contractors like him continue to get more work. And more Iowa homeowners risk getting taken to the cleaners.

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Contact her at lrood@dmreg.com, 515-284-8549 on Twitter @leerood or at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.

Correction: Alan Ostergren's name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.