Irkutsk photographer waits a year for house as contractor runs out of money

Videographer from Irkutsk Stanislav Tolstnev has been waiting for over a year for the contractor to build his house in Plishkino. The contract expired on September 1, but during this time, only the foundation has appeared on his plot. The developer — the construction company «Brigada» — has financial problems, due to which Stanislav, like at least 16 other clients of the company, risks being left without money and without new housing.

“We’ll Start Any Moment Now”

In September 2024, Stanislav sold a small old house to use the money for building a new one in Plishkino. He chose the contractor for a long time, but eventually settled on the construction company «Brigada», which some acquaintances recommended to him as reliable.

The company «Brigada» has been operating in Irkutsk since 2018. The owner and director is Sergey Tatarnov. In the counterparty verification system «Kontur.Focus», the company has shown revenue of 10,000 rubles (approximately $100 at current rates) per year since 2021, breaking even, but in 2024 the firm ended the year with a net loss of 2,000 rubles (approximately $20 at current rates).

At the same time, Tatarnov owns another construction company — «Udacha», registered in 2016, which has more impressive indicators. In 2024, the company earned 53.7 million rubles (approximately $537,000 at current rates) (in 2023 — 42.7 million, approximately $427,000; in 2022 — 24.7 million, approximately $247,000) and showed a profit of 2.3 million rubles (approximately $23,000 at current rates) (in 2023 — 406,000, approximately $4,100; in 2022 — 243,000, approximately $2,400). Sergey Tatarnov also has a sole proprietorship registered in the village of Ust-Ordynsky.

“Of course, I searched a lot online first. They have good reviews, of course, but I don’t really trust online reviews. What won me over was that real people know them. 10 years in the market, building without complaints. When we signed, it was a warm autumn, and the contractor promised to pour the foundation by the end of October to start quickly in the spring. We signed a contract for one year, until September 1, 2025,” said Stanislav Tolstnev.

That autumn, he had to turn down several projects — job offers for filming — to monitor the house construction. But the cold set in, and the foundation never appeared on the plot.

“They started dragging their feet already that year. ‘Right now, right now,’ ‘We’ll come next week.’ They dragged it out until the frost. Well, I thought, okay, maybe in the spring, in May, they’ll pour it right away and build it over the summer,” shared the Irkutsk resident.

“Singing the Same Old Song”

The contractor estimated the house construction at 6.5 million rubles (approximately $65,000 at current rates) and took a prepayment of 4.5 million rubles (approximately $45,000 at current rates) from Stanislav. In the spring, expecting the start of work, the videographer turned down several more job offers, for example, filming in Kazakhstan.

“In May, the story repeated itself. I came to the developer’s office, they told me the same thing: ‘We’ll start any moment now,’ ‘We’ll come next week.’ May, June, July passed. I hired a lawyer, started preparing a claim. After that, in August, they came and poured the foundation for 2.3 million rubles (approximately $23,000 at current rates). I must say, they did the foundation well. I was happy: work had started. They promised to build the house from aerated blocks in literally five days,” continued Stanislav Tolstnev.

September came, the contract expired, but nothing except the foundation appeared on the plot. The contractor even promised to build the house in November, but Stanislav Tolstnev no longer believes these promises.

“I have already gone to court. While publicizing the situation on my social media, 16 more people wrote to me who found themselves in the same situation with the company ‘Brigada’. And everyone has the same story — only the foundation was poured. As my lawyer explained to me, they did the foundation only to avoid falling under the fraud article. We filed a collective appeal to the prosecutor’s office, though not all, only six people. Many still believe that he will finish building,” says Stanislav.

The director of «Brigada», Sergey Tatarnov, does not hide from clients. On the contrary — he meets with them and sets new deadlines for handing over the houses. In his defense, the entrepreneur states that the company is going through difficult times.

“He sings the same old song: that times are hard, that escrow accounts were introduced, lending conditions worsened, interest rates changed. Although, for example, I gave him the entire amount in cash. He says that he put it into circulation but miscalculated, and with our money he finished previously ordered houses, and now clients aren’t coming to him and he had a cash gap. It turns out to be a kind of financial pyramid,” believes Stanislav.

In October, the contractor delivered 18 cubic meters of aerated blocks out of the 84 needed for construction (less than 20%). Every week «Brigada» promises to bring more, but it doesn’t happen.

If the house construction doesn’t get off the ground by spring, Stanislav plans to finish building the house on his own. Of course, he wants to sue for the 2.3 million rubles (approximately $23,000 at current rates) that «Brigada» still owes, but he’s not sure it will work.

“My situation isn’t the worst yet. Among ‘Brigada’s’ clients, there are many mortgage holders who might have their mortgage converted to a regular loan and interest rates raised if they don’t show a built house by some time. There, the bank might even take the plot. In general, there are terrible situations. There are many victims, it’s not certain that I’ll ever get my money back. The contractor has assets, but the economic situation in the country is difficult, it’s not certain that he can sell the already built houses,” says Stanislav.

“They Call Me an Information Terrorist”

At the same time, the man admits that the cases he knows about are not all. Therefore, he publicizes his situation on social media and appeals to the media.

“The contractor calls me an information terrorist, that I’m ‘sinking’ him, that I’m ruining his reputation. But, I think that he himself is ruining his reputation. I admit, and I’m even ready to believe, that he has difficult times and he can’t cope. But he behaves incorrectly, making a million promises that he doesn’t keep. If he had honestly said: not earlier than in a year or two, I would have even accepted the situation. But now there is no faith in him,” believes Stanislav Tolstnev.

On November 8, a kind of flash mob took place — everyone who found themselves in a similar situation sent letters to the presidential administration to create a mass of appeals that would be noticed in the AP. “Essentially, we already need to be granted the status of defrauded shareholders,” believes Stanislav.

The general director of «Brigada», Sergey Tatarnov, noted that the situation in the construction industry is currently difficult, the purchasing power of the population is falling, but the company is trying to solve its problems.

“I want to note that we are a company with an 11-year history that has never refused its obligations and will carry out all work, but, unfortunately, it will take more time,” commented Sergey Tatarnov.

Lawyer Margarita Yaroshenko spoke about whether clients of «Brigada» have hope of getting finished houses or getting their money back.

“Everything will depend on the developer’s good faith, how much the company values its reputation. If it really matters to them, then they will do everything to fulfill their obligations and complete these contracts,” noted the lawyer.

As for what to do in a similar situation, Margarita Yaroshenko highlighted two options.

“First, you need to determine if they are ready to decide not to continue any relations with the contractor. If yes, then you need to send a notice of contract termination and write a legal claim. Here it is very important whether there were estimates, and to determine what volume of work was done, how well, and how much money was spent, and then write a claim for the return of the remaining funds,” says Margarita Yaroshenko.

Even if clients believe the developer, they still need to write claims that he overdue the contract performance and collect a penalty for the delay.