"As you can see, he didn't finish," said Wackerly.

Wackerly signed a contract with Steven McGregor, owner of STM Builders, in November 2005 to build a two-story addition to his home. In the middle of the project, a storm came through and turned one construction project into two.

"It tore west wall to pieces and broke windows," said Wackerly.

With the addition still not complete, he says McGregor asked him for more money for that and to fix the storm damage.

"He said, 'Lowe's is going up 50 percent tomorrow. Can you give me the rest of the contract money and insurance money and I will build the car port for free,' and I thought, 'Well I trust him.'"

That was his mistake.

"He didn't do any more after that."

All told, Wackerly says he paid McGregor $78,000 for two unusable rooms. Other neighbors say McGregor also walked away from their damaged homes. Wackerly was the only one who filed a complaint with the Missouri attorney general's office, however.

Wackerly received a letter last week that said "Further state action is not appropriate at this time." A representative of the attorney general's office says it's because they didn't see a pattern of problems.

Wackerly has now made it his mission to warn others.

"Make sure the contractor has done work before you give any money."

He says he can't afford a private attorney so instead will focus his efforts on saving enough money to complete the addition. He also filed a police report in hopes that the Taney County prosecuting attorney will press charges.

A reporter couldn't get a comment from McGregor because his whereabouts are unknown.