Hilton Head man charged with accepting $90K to renovate homes but doing no work
A home renovator on Hilton Head Island faces charges after accusations that he accepted $90,000 from two clients to fix up their homes but did no work, while also having a revoked contractor’s license.
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office charged Garland Wright, 56, of Hilton Head on Wednesday with two counts of obtaining money under false pretenses and two counts of operating on a revoked license, according to jail records.
In August 2019, Wright presented himself as a licensed contractor and was contracted to remodel a Hilton Head man’s home, according to arrest warrants.
Wright was given $84,396 for the job but never completed the work. The Hilton Head man would later discover Wright’s license was revoked as well, the warrant states.
His company is called Wright Home Services.
Wright’s license was revoked in 2017 due to another renovation incident. Two years earlier, he was paid $51,158 to remodel a Hilton Head home where he “ruptured two water pipes,” according to a public notice revoking his license by the S.C. Department of Labor License Regulation.
The client later noticed “peeling paint, leaking shower fixtures, damage to interior surfaces, and other problems,” the order states. After the client filed a complaint and the state agency inspected, SCLLR revoked Wright’s license.
Wright was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center on Wednesday morning and was released on bond a few hours later.
Obtaining money under false pretenses, a felony, could mean up to five years in prison, S.C. law states.
