They promised to build tiny homes and help families weather the housing crisis, but prosecutors say some California builders instead diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars of customers’ money.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s office filed a 35-count criminal complaint against Austin and Colton Paulhus, the brothers who co-founded Anchored Tiny Homes.
“I cried. But it was a good cry,” said San Leandro resident Katie Lucas, a former Anchored Tiny Homes customer.
Online, Colton Paulhus boasted that his Sacramento-area company was putting ADU’s in tons of Northern California backyards and raking in serious revenue in 2023. “I can tell you right now a $100 million business,” he said at one point on his defunct podcast.
But now, the Sacramento District Attorney alleges the Paulhus brothers conspired and repeatedly violated state law when they “billed customers and received payment of approximately $1,046,433… despite performing no work and supplying no materials.”
Bay Area customers like Lucas came forward in 2024 to tell NBC Bay Area that Anchored Tiny Homes had abandoned their projects after taking tens of thousands of dollars up front. Soon, the business failed and the state revoked its license – forcing many families who’d prepaid Anchored Tony Homes to find a new contractor and pay for some work a second time.
Lucas says she’s been waiting for criminal charges. “It’s a relief to know that something is happening. [And] that somebody’s going to be held accountable for what they’ve done,” she said.
On page after page of the “Felony Complaint,” the district attorney alleges Austin and Colton Paulhus “did wrongfully divert” money that more than 30 customers had paid them to build an ADU.
Count 21 involves Alan Miller in Oakland. “We’re all holding the bag,” Miller said in 2024. When NBC Bay Area visited his abandoned, half-built ADU, he said his family was out $80,000.
“For us, it’s just catastrophic,” he said in 2024. “They haven’t told us where our money went.”
The complaint says the Paulhus brothers took more than $653,000 from company accounts “for expenses and activity unrelated to company projects.” However, the complaint does not lay out a money trail.
Colton Paulhus has said his customers’ money is gone. Currently, he and Austin Paulhus are seeking bankruptcy protection in federal court. Lucas is eager to see what evidence the DA presents in state court.
“I’m hoping they are somehow able to uncover where all that money is,” she said.
We asked the Sacramento District Attorney’s office for an interview. A rep said, “We do not discuss pending cases.” We also reached out to attorneys for the Paulhus brothers, but did not receive a statement.
Back when Anchored Tiny Homes closed its offices, Colton Paulhus sent me a text message that said, “It was a failed business and I hate that it happened.”
Lucas winced. “He’s right, it is a business that failed. But it was never going to succeed because of how they ran it.”
The Paulhus brothers’ case is on the docket in Sacramento Superior Court next week. NBC Bay Area plans to be in the courtroom.
A reminder for you: State law is clear, the maximum a contractor can take from you up front is $1,000.