KILLEEN, Texas — In light of a recent indictment against Premier Metal & Construction Services' Christopher Michael Tardif, whose company has forfeited existence, yet another customer has filed a complaint against the embattled contractor.
Matthew Nesby was in the market for a new workshop in his backyard near the beginning of 2023 and said Tardif and Premier Metal & Construction services came in around $3-$4,000 less than other companies.
"He seemed decent, he drew up a contract and everything seemed fine," Nesby said.
Nesby said Tardif drew up a contract that required half of the payment for the shed and labor upfront, so Nesby cut him a check for $22,850. Then, slowly but surely, work slowed to a halt.
"He came back a couple of times, messed with the dirt, didn't even finish the dirt work that he laid and then disappeared," Nesby said.
Text messages and calls went unanswered, and after months of no communication between July and October of 2023, Nesby said Tardif finally came back with an ultimatum after providing excuses why the work could not be finished over that span of months.
Nesby said Tardif proposed giving back $3,000 of the original payment he received "to pay for the dirt work that he accomplished."
"I wasn't ok with that," Nesby said. "That was only about $500 worth of work that he finished."
Nesby said Tardif agreed to send him a check for $19,850 within 10 to 15 business days, but that check never showed up.
As the excuses piled up of why Tardif could not finish the job, Nesby alerted Tardif that he had filed a report with the Bell County Sheriff's Department for theft, later finding out it was not the first time Tardif had been charged for halting work on a contracted job.
"Every single time he's been picked up he's posted bond and he's out to swindle the public even more," Nesby said. "That's my biggest issue, he continues to be allowed to be out to continue to rob from our community."
In recent months, Nesby contracted out the remaining work on the shed to Four Hills Construction, although two tries to complete the job have cost him roughly $80,000.
"I should have done my due diligence on this guy," Nesby said.
Similar charges against Tardif were filed in both 2018 and 2023 in both Lampasas and Coryell County.
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