Ronnie Cochrane

Mr. Cochrane was hired to build our home in 2009. He submitted a bid and did not honor that bid. He did not have adequate funding available or a line of credit to keep building on schedule or if he did he did not make it available. Instead he constantly asked for more and more money up front until he finally had enough to just walk off the job which he did after 10 months of working on a home he said he would build in 4-6 months. He used mostly unskilled labor and though he performed the plumbing and electrical himself, he did not have a license to do either, which is required on new construction. After six months he let the builder's risk insurance lapse which could have been catastrophic had there been a fire or tornado. Even though he walked off the job he still placed a lien against us making it very costly and difficult to close on the home. We filed a law suit in February of 2010. We won that lawsuit completely but it cost over $25,000.00 in legal fees. Immediately after that judgement, Mr. Cochrane filed bankruptcy with a Plan that would have us removed as an unsecured debt. To prevent that action we went back to court and, after another $10,000.00 so far, that was stopped but Mr. Cochrane has still refused to pay any of his debt. This is not the only dispute Mr. Cochrane has had as a businessman or individual (reference Smith County Civil Court Actions). I encourage anyone that deals with him to verify all information he provides independently and require all work to be done satisfactorily BEFORE he is paid. If there is a contract, have an attorney review it closely. The Tyler Area Builder's Association does not require anything of their members beyond the membership fee so don't look at that membership as an endorsement of any builder's qualifications. Of course, my real advice is to not let this person into your life much less near your property. He is very good at explaining away everything someone says about him. Just don't believe him. We did and paid dearly for that misplaced trust. UPDATE: it is now July 2014. Mr Cochrane has now hidden all his properties behind a family member and LLCs under various names are used for new purchases of land. When scamming people is your profession, you get really good at it.