She saved for years. She picked out every material. She was packed up and ready to move out during the renovation. Then the contractor went quiet — and $52,500 of Johnnie Coletto’s money went with him. The Tempe, Arizona homeowner’s story, featured in an azfamily “On Your Side” report this week, has become the human face of a contractor collapse now rippling across the Phoenix metro — one that ended with four companies filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
“I’m like, ‘Hey! I’m ready to get started,'” Coletto told azfamily’s consumer team. The response: they’d submit a permit. When the Tempe-based contractor asked for more money, she paid. Then, she says, she heard nothing about her project — a kitchen and bathroom remodel that was supposed to include raising the ceiling in part of her home — until a few weeks ago.
$48,000 and $4,500 — then silence
According to the azfamily report, Coletto signed contracts with Holtzman Remodeling and paid two deposits: one for more than $48,000 and another for more than $4,500. She kept saving, picked out materials, and was finally ready to move forward this summer. Instead of a construction crew, she got a permit promise and then silence.
She is far from alone. FOX 10 Phoenix’s investigation found that between just three customers interviewed this week, more than $800,000 had been paid for abandoned Holtzman projects. One couple, the Finleys, say communication stopped entirely on August 19; calls to a number associated with owner Brandon Holtzman went to voicemail, and a visit to the company’s brick-and-mortar location found nobody at the door. Subcontractors are hurting too — the owners of A&M Electric say they’re owed $36,657 across roughly a dozen jobs.
Data from the Arizona Registrar of Contractors shows more than 150 complaints filed against Holtzman companies since 2010, with 45 filed since 2024 against Holtzman Construction alone. As of September 29, both Holtzman Construction and Holtzman Remodeling are listed as inactive on the ROC website — their licenses voluntarily canceled.
Bankruptcy: the $52,500 problem
Here’s the brutal financial reality Coletto and the other customers now face. Four Holtzman companies have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy — liquidation, not reorganization. In a Chapter 7, customers who paid deposits become unsecured creditors, standing in line behind secured lenders. The bankruptcy attorney representing Holtzman described the collapse as the result of “a unique and unexpected challenge,” but for homeowners, the translation is simpler: getting that $52,500 back through the bankruptcy is a long shot.
Arizona does have a safety net: the Residential Contractors’ Recovery Fund. But the net has holes. Payouts are capped at $30,000 per customer and $200,000 per contractor — and with $800,000+ in claims from just three customers against a $200,000 per-contractor cap, the math doesn’t come close to making anyone whole. Homeowners must also win a court judgment first before the fund pays out, which means more legal fees on top of money already lost.
The Arizona Attorney General’s office has declined to say whether it’s investigating the Holtzman companies. The ROC says its investigative process continues regardless of the bankruptcy filing.
The red flags worth $52,500
Consumer advocates say contractor collapses follow a recognizable script, and this one hit nearly every beat: large upfront deposits, requests for additional money mid-stream, communication that thins out and then stops, and a company that keeps signing contracts while the business is already failing. The 150 prior ROC complaints are the detail that stings most — the warning signs were public record long before Coletto signed.
The defenses cost nothing: check the ROC license status before signing (it takes two minutes online), never pay large deposits upfront — tie payments to completed milestones in writing — and search the contractor’s complaint history. A deposit of $48,000 before a single permit is filed should stop any homeowner cold.
Coletto did what responsible homeowners do: she researched, she saved, she signed a contract with a licensed company. The system still failed her. Her $52,500 is now a claim in a bankruptcy file — and her cautionary tale is the most valuable thing to come out of the wreckage, if it stops the next homeowner from wiring five figures on a promise.
