Denise Richards Sues Contractors Over Nightmare Remodel

Calling in a contractor, electrician, plumber and/ or handyman can be a dicey proposition. Even with good reviews or positive endorsements from friends, you never really know how good of a job they’re going to do, and you never really know how much higher the price might creep beyond the estimate. I had a guy out the other day to fix the air conditioning unit, and he was extremely nice and was done in thirty minutes. Unfortunately for Denise Richards, her recent dealings with maintenance men haven’t gone nearly as well.

According to TMZ, Richards hired a group of contracts to do $1.6 million worth of renovations on her home. To date, they’ve allegedly racked up more than $3 million in charges and have done an incredible amount of damage to the house. If she’s to be believed, the workmen allegedly destroyed her air conditioning system, ruined the ventilation in her house and accidentally let sewer gasses into her attic. Beyond that, they allegedly did work on areas of the house they weren’t asked to, mistakenly screwed up the electrical wiring and caused roof damage. Now they’re reportedly asking for the $3 million, and Denise is obviously having none of that. Instead, she filed a lawsuit this week asking the construction crew to pay her $1 million for all the damage to her house.

Right now, there’s five people living inside the home in question. In addition to Denise, her two children from her marriage to Charlie Sheen reside there, along with Sheen’s two children from his marriage to Brooke Mueller because of her ongoing substance abuse issues. On the hottest of days, the inside of the home is reportedly reaching ninety degrees without air conditioning, though one would imagine the actress has loaded up on plenty of fans and other ways to stay cool.

Remodeling a house and changing the layout a bit always seems like a good idea. I’m not sure I’ve ever known a homeowner that doesn’t deep down fantasize about knocking out at least one wall, but sometimes opening that cage and inviting a construction crew into your house can be way more trouble than it’s worth. In addition to the cost, you just never know whether you’ll ultimately be happier with the end result than you were before you started. After all, there’s no way Richards is hiring cheap designers or maintenance men. She clearly has, or thought she had, the best of the best.

We’ll keep you updated on this situation as it continues to progress. More than likely, some kind of compromise will be reached in which the guys finish the work and she pays a reduced rate, but it’s certainly possible all involved will wind up screaming at each other in court.