Becki and Steve Mravunac paid a contractor nearly $300,000 for a home renovation that hasn’t been started — and may not ever be, considering the builder declared bankruptcy two weeks ago.

As bad as that is, the Mravunacs consider themselves relatively lucky because their home is at least still intact. Other customers of The Remodelers are unable to live in homes left unfinished when a bankruptcy trustee took control of the company and its assets.

So far, 15 homeowners have filed complaints with Service Alberta, alleging they paid a total of $3 million to contractor Bruce Hopkins, who owned The Remodelers and starred in his own home renovation TV show for several years.

“We’re still in shock,” said Becki Mravunac, who signed a contract for a $600,000 renovation to their northwest Calgary home and paid a 50 per cent deposit five weeks before Hopkins filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 24.

But the Mravunacs said Hopkins’ decision came too late and has caused them additional heartache after the recent death of Becki’s mother. The couple said they conceived of a basement renovation as a way of getting past their grief and “making new memories” in their house. It was Hopkins’ urging that prompted them to take on a more ambitious, $600,000 project that included exterior renovations, said Becki.

Looking back, Becki Mravunac said she has doubts whether Hopkins ever intended on following through on his promises.

“Why take more people down with you?” she asked.

Bankruptcy records obtained by the Herald show Hopkins’ company has total liabilities of $5.8 million and assets of $1.3 million — the latter of which are now in the hands of the trustee, who is scheduled to meet with creditors next week to start determining how the property will be liquidated.

Reached Thursday, Hopkins said he is prepared to put it all on the block, along with a separate media company that produced his TV show and corporate videos, to repay former customers left in the lurch.

“I’m not going to fight to hold onto things when people are hurting,” he said.

“I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

The bankruptcy is the end of a company that had been, until recently, a successful, award-winning renovation business, Hopkins said. The TV show came in 2008 — and while it brought in new business and gave Hopkins profile, he said running two companies began to pose challenges.

Hopkins said he hired a CEO to run The Remodelers last year so he could focus on the media business, but the arrangement didn’t work and ended after only a few months. When Hopkins retook the reins of The Remodelers in mid-2014, he found several renovation projects behind schedule or in disarray, he said.

“The problem wasn’t a lack of jobs — it was getting jobs done on time,” he said.

At the same time, less money was coming in: Some clients “screwed” the company on some major projects, said Hopkins, who estimated the company was owed more than $400,000 in uncollected accounts receivable.

Hopkins said he tried selling The Remodelers and its divisions — renovations, cabinet making and design — to raise cash, but all the prospective deals fell through.