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The entire frame martinez built had to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. scher estimates that correcting martinez's shoddy work has cost him two years and over $300,000. in serious debt and deep distress, scher is suing martinez but doesn't know if he can hang on to the house. we caught up with contractor richard martinez to try to get some answers. >> hi, richard martinez? i'm grace kwan from msnbc. do you remember we spoke on the phone and you wanted to sit down for an interview to tell us what happened with the brian scher and chris jackson? you told us you had a side of the story you ...

Lumber that scher had already paid martinez for. the company immediately put a lien on scher's house. what brian scher didn't appreciate at the time is the financial power of that contractor's license. the same license that is supposed to protect the consumer. because in california, like many states, homeowners are on the hook if their contractors buy materials or hire subcontractors and don't pay them. that's right. even if you can prove that you've paid your contractor, angry vendors can hold the homeowner responsible. in one last ditch effort to try to reason with martinez, scher phoned and...

>> chris jackson says he's also a victim of contractor richard martinez. >> he's a congenital liar. >> moved by the same sob story that martinez had given brian scher, the jacksons hired martinez to pour a foundation and build a frame for a house. >> he'd been in an accident where he had broken his neck and he's in a full halo bolted to his skull. and you know, your heart goes out to him. and you're thinking, boy, this guy could really use the work. >> fortunately, jackson says, he realized that the work martinez had done didn't look right. he had an inspector come to assess the project and le...

Didn't show up. >> you're chris jackson. how are you? nice to meet you. >> good. how are you? >> i'm brian. >> when we introduced the two men for the first time -- >> i'm so sorry, man. >> -- they discovered just how much they had in common. >> so that's why he disappeared from my project, because he started your project. >> yeah. collecting another 20,000-plus dollars in the meantime. >> oh, my goodness. and he told me because of me he lost his crew, and he was working with you. this is unbelievable. >> he's so rotten that he acts as though -- >> we were the ones responsible. >> -- he's the v...

Collar and they took advantage of me. >> okay. >> not only did they take advantage of me, they took advantage of my crew and everybody else, and they know they did. i have plans that prove that brian scher's project was wrong. i could take them to the city and show them. i am a certified building official. i'm not a crook. brian scher is. thank you. >> he says that you cost him $300,000, 18 months and did you shoddy work. >> nope. nope! >> will you sit down with us for an interview? >> chris jackson isn't surprised by martinez's denials. >> a burglar has a sense of shame about what he does. he...