SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KGTV) — Employees who worked at a national renovation company that had operations in San Diego say they were blindsided and abruptly let go from their jobs before the business filed for bankruptcy.
“It's extremely stressful. They did not pay us at all,” said Matthew Silva, a sales manager who worked for Dreamstyle Remodeling.
Dreamstyle’s parent company, Home Renew Buyer, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Nov. 3, according to federal court documents.
The Dallas-based company operated under the brand Renovo and owned several regional renovation companies, including Alure Home Improvements and Reborn Cabinets, which operated in San Diego.
Up to $500 million in liabilities
The bankruptcy filing indicates the company has up to $500 million in liabilities and only $50,000 in assets.
Silva and other employees told Team 10 installation teams were abruptly pulled off jobs during the middle of their workdays at the end of October.
The former staffers are unsure if they’ll ever get paid. They said they received their last pay stubs, but didn’t get checks or direct deposits like normal.
“We're getting calls from all of our clients that are out of money. The clients were left, you know, during their installation, like their demolition of their current bathroom, and they were supposed to put a new one. They just walked out,” Silva said.
Dreamstyle has not returned emails and voicemails from Team 10 asking for comment.
2022 private equity deal
Renovo was created in 2022 through a private equity deal that merged Dreamstyle, Remodel USA, and Alure Home Improvements. According to Bloomberg, BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, held most of the company's $150 million in debt.
Ashton Silva, who also worked in sales for Dreamstyle, said the San Diego division of Renovo appeared to be rapidly growing.
"We had so many companies, there was the performers, the profitable companies, and then there was the non-performers, unprofitable companies. The unprofitable ones kind of dragged us down in a way," Silva said.
Silva said he's been telling clients to put stop payments on uncashed checks to save their money.
"There's a few that definitely got screwed over, you know, got left with some pretty bad, like open walls, all that stuff," he said.
Barry White, a California Employment Development Department spokesman, told Team 10 the state did not get a WARN notice about the employee layoffs.
The WARN Act requires employers to give 60 days’ notice before a mass layoff, plant closure, or relocation.
A spokesperson for BlackRock said the firm had no comment.
