Terry and Marta Mangum were desperate. The builder they hired to construct their new three-bedroom house in the sleepy Annapolis suburb of Edgewater had disappeared. And what Blair Gilbert of Axxent Building & Construction Inc. left behind was little more than a shack with roughed-in plumbing and electricity.

The foundation was crumbling.

The walls were out of plumb.

Of the $162,600 construction loan made to the Mangums, which Gilbert had drawn upon, only $20,000 remained.

Tens of thousands of dollars were spent, but the dwelling was estimated to be worth a mere $50,000.

In time, the Mangums found themselves not only paying $1,000 a month on the construction loan, they were also paying $1,200 a month in rent after selling their condominium in anticipation of moving into a new home.

The ordeal was an emotional and financial drain. Their savings were almost gone. Bankruptcy was becoming an option.

Harrison Wetherill, an Annapolis real estate attorney hired by the Mangums, called it the "most extreme" case of a builder violating his contract. "The Mangums have suffered a terrific loss," Wetherill said. "They may or may not be able to recover from it."

What happened to the money? Nobody knows.

Where is Blair Gilbert?

"I don't know," said Robert Hillman, a Rockville real estate attorney who is representing another couple suing Gilbert. "The last address we have for him is on Eagle Hill Road [in Pasadena]. But I've heard that building is vacant."

What is known is that Gilbert filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy March 29.

"It was like we had been robbed, but we were still paying the bills," said Terry Mangum. "We were taken."

Mark Scurti, Gilbert's attorney, said that neither he nor his client would comment on the Magnums.

It seemed that there was little hope for a happy ending.

But hope went a long way in rescuing the Magnums.

Stung by the stigma left by shoddy builders, a group of sympathetic contractors wanted to help the Mangums finish their house.

"There are good builders out there," said Martin P. Azola, president of the Home Builders Association of Maryland. "We do care." He cares because Gilbert -- at one time -- applied to become a member of the association.

Tired of hearing people vilify all builders because of a few bad ones, Azola realized that his group could take the initiative. HBAM started a foundation last spring for educational, research and charitable purposes. According to John Kortecamp, executive vice president of HBAM, the foundation wasn't intended to help individual homeowners. But, he said, "this case was so egregious" the Mangums had to be an exception.

'A little plain house'

All Terry and Marta Mangum wanted was a house.

Nothing big or fancy, just a one-story, three-bedroom home with extra-wide hallways, pocket doors and a roll-in shower for Mr. Mangum, a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair.

"A little plain house," Mrs. Mangum said, one in a neighborhood with good schools and a feeling of community. It doesn't sound like a lot. But it meant the world to the Mangums, who had spent years living in condominiums.

The Mangums were convinced that Blair Gilbert was the person to build that house.

"We were sold on the idea that we could design the inside of the house, the size of all the rooms and the hallways," said Mr. Mangum, who works as an equal opportunity officer for the Maryland Highway Administration.

"'Anything you want,'" Mrs. Mangum, remembers Gilbert bragging to her in their first conversation in the fall of 1997. "'I can do anything you want.'"

The Mangums, who found Gilbert through a magazine ad, liked the steel-framed houses he built. Because a steel-framed house is built like a warehouse, Gilbert said, the Mangums could design where the walls would be and could make the modifications Mr. Mangum needed.

They also liked the price -- $165,000 for the 2,400-square-foot house on a three-quarter-acre lot.

Smooth-talking salesman

And they liked Gilbert, a smooth-talking salesman who said he was Native American and told them he donated much of his free time to counseling alcoholic teen-agers on Indian reservations.

Gilbert, who relocated to Maryland from Pennsylvania in the mid-1990s, began building steel-framed houses in 1995, according to a newspaper interview in 1997. The first steel-framed house he built in Anne Arundel County was his own 3,700-square-foot waterfront home in Pasadena.

"He seemed nice," said Mrs. Mangum, who is 45 and works as a bank teller. "He seemed believable. He seemed like he cared."

Gilbert gave them three references -- one of whom was his former sister-in-law -- to talk to about his work. They checked the references and were satisfied.

They were impressed by the pictures displayed on the Axxent Homes Web site -- a site that is no longer active. But they never asked to talk with the people who lived in the homes pictured.

His business card said he was a member of Home Builders Association of Maryland. But the Mangums never called the association to check.

Even if they had called to check, they wouldn't have discovered that Gilbert had only built a handful of houses and that he wasn't a skilled builder, something his former project manager John Lingwai learned after just a few days on the job.

"Blair [Gilbert] has the art of the gab, but he didn't have building skills," said Lingwai, who worked for Gilbert for three months in 1998 and was one of three who managed the Mangums' construction site.

"No one asked the right questions about him," Lingwai said. "They should have asked, 'How long have you been in business?' and 'How long have you been building houses in the state of Maryland?'"

Mrs. Mangum, head teller at the Riva Road NationsBank Annapolis branch, is a "wizard" with the couple's finances, according to her husband. But when it came to building and buying a house, the Mangums trusted Gilbert to take care of the details.

"We kind of went along with the program," he said. "We never thought it would end up like this."

Gilbert chose the bank for the Mangums' $162,600 construction loan, and devised the draw schedule, which called for most of the money to bedisbursed during the first half of the job.

"We trusted him," Mr. Mangum said, surveying the 4-inch-thick red file folder stuffed with papers detailing his plight. "That was our fault."

Looking back now, more than 18 months after their house was supposed to have been finished, they know what they did wrong. But they were too excited with the prospect of owning their own home to see the signs after signing the contract on Dec. 2, 1997.

Getting suspicious

The delays and excuses from Gilbert started immediately. No construction took place for three months. The steel wasn't even delivered until April 15, 1998 -- a day after what was supposed to be the home's completion date.

To make matters worse, it was delivered to a building lot that had not been cleared.

Work was being held up by too much rain, Gilbert told the Mangums.

Wanted to fire him

Mrs. Mangum began getting suspicious. She wanted to fire Gilbert, but her husband talked her out of it.

"I thought it was advantageous to give him a chance," he said. "We hadn't sold our condo and we didn't really need to move until school started in September."

"This is our dream house," he told his wife. "We can wait a little longer."

At last the lot was cleared and the foundation was poured. From April to August of 1998, subcontractors erected the steel frame and the roof.

Still, there were problems.

The foundation had a 1-foot by 1-foot chunk of concrete protruding to the right of the front door. Gilbert offered to cover his mistake, not repair it.

"Blair said he could put a planter there free of charge to beautify the house," Mrs. Mangum said. "What a stupid idea."

One August afternoon after work, Mrs. Mangum arrived at the site to discover that all of the doors and windows had been removed.

Just a mix-up, she recalled Gilbert telling her. The doors and windows were replaced the next day, but the Mangums' confidence in the project had been shaken. They later learned that Gilbert stopped payment on the check to the supplier.

An ambitious schedule

By the fall of 1998, the Mangums' house was seriously behind schedule.

The Mangums sold their Greenbelt condominium in September. In October, they moved to a cramped, handicapped-accessible apartment in Annapolis, which they rented month to month.

The only tasks that seemingly occurred on time were the visits by various project managers to ask the Mangums to endorse the bank checks so that Gilbert could draw more money from their loan.

Among the first draws was the one for $26,375, which paid for the steel frame, location survey and building permit. Another draw, for $15,825, covered the roof and exterior sheathing and plumbing groundwork. Two more draws, each of $10,550, were to pay for plumbing, electric and heating rough-ins, walls, doors and windows.

The Mangums never checked to make sure that the plumbers, electricians and other subcontractors had been paid or that the specified work had been done. They just signed the bank checks and looked through the catalogs of cabinets, floors and counter tops the succession of project managers always seemed to have handy when they came.

'A farce'

"All of that was a farce," Mrs. Mangum said. "He was trying to make us so excited about every little detail and it worked."

But in August, subcontractors' liens of between $5,000 and $10,000 began appearing in the Mangums' mailbox. Gilbert explained -- via fax -- that he hadn't paid the subcontractors because their work was "inferior" and "incorrect."

In September, Gilbert gave the Mangums an ambitious construction schedule that projected the house to be finished by the first week of October -- almost six months past its original due date. "Wait a minute," Mr. Mangum remembers saying. "You mean to tell me you're going to do more work on this house in four weeks than you've done in six months?"

Mr. Mangum had a reason to be suspicious. The work didn't happen as outlined.

Every day Mr. Mangum called Gilbert. Every day he was forced to leave a message on Gilbert's voice mail thatwas never returned.

Construction on the house stopped at the end of September. Then just before Veterans Day, Lingwai, the project manager, met with Mr. Mangum and confirmed his worst fears.

"Look, I don't know where your money is going," he recalls Lingwai saying. "Your house is never going to get finished. No subcontractors will work for Blair because the word is out that he doesn't pay."

Lingwai remembers the conversation differently.

"I advised Terry Mangum that he should re-evaluate his situation with Axxent Homes," said Lingwai, who says Gilbert owes him $5,000 in back wages. Lingwai told the Mangums that Gilbert couldn't finish the home because there was only $20,000 left on the construction loan and that wouldn't be enough.

One subcontractor came and removed the drywall. Another removed the insulation.

The last time they spoke directly with Gilbert was in September. By November, they learned that Gilbert was gone.

Nowhere to turn

The Mangums had nowhere to turn.

Their daughter Bianca was terrified that she would be homeless. Her mother became so disconsolate that she missed work and started taking anti-depressants. Mr. Mangum considered filing for bankruptcy but couldn't bear to lose the house.

Mr. Mangum created a file on his computer, named it "Help," and began writing for assistance.

Checks and balances

More than 25,000 homes are built in Maryland every year.

There is no way of knowing how many of those homes result in disputes between the builder and the homeowner, since those numbers are not recorded, said John Nethercut, an assistant attorney general of Maryland.

Moreover, since Maryland does not license homebuilders, there is no single place a homeowner can call to find out if their builder is reputable.

However, consumers are supposed to be protected by a system of checks and balances that helps to ensure that builders are completing their work in a satisfactory manner.

In the Mangums' case, the bank that originally held the construction loan, FCNB Bank, said they inspected Gilbert's progress. Anne Arundel County housing inspectors had issued a building permit that allowed Gilbert to pour the foundation and frame the home. County inspectors later issued permits for electric, plumbing and mechanical work at the site. But those were the last inspections that the county would be called to do under Gilbert's direction.

Where did it all go wrong?

Gilbert was supposed to build the Mangums a house. Instead, Lingwai and others allege that Gilbert spent their money on other projects. "He took the money, misspent it and ran and hid behind the bankruptcy," Lingwai said. "Everyone wants to know where the money is. That money is gone."

The Mangums chose the builder, but they could have taken other measures to make sure he was doing his job and paying his help, according to their attorney Harrison Wetherill, who has filed a $200,000 civil lawsuit against Gilbert.

"When you're hiring a builder you are really relying heavily on that person's honesty," Wetherill said. "One thing that could have protected them was to have the builder bonded. It's an added expense but certainly would have been worth it in this case."

In addition, don't assume that the bank will be looking out for the homeowner in their inspections, he advised. "The Mangums were certainly relying heavily on the bank," he said. "Most people do. But people should understand that the bank isn't doing inspections to protect the borrower but to protect themselves."

Robert Hillman, the Rockville real estate attorney representing a couple suing Gilbert for $500,000, said the system of checks and balances doesn't always work, especially when it comes to the bank's inspections.

"The bank is supposed to have inspections, and the county is supposed to make sure the construction work is done in keeping with the statute," he said. "The homeowner has an obligation to make sure things get done. But if you are a novice homeowner you have to rely upon the entity you go to, to get money, the builder and code enforcers.

Safety net not there

"The real problem is that the safety net that is supposed to be there isn't. Maybe the people who are supposed to be policing this aren't even policing themselves.

"Blair Gilbert isn't the first builder to ever do this," Hillman said. "The bad part about this is, he's not the last."

'Disregard that letter'

Every few months, Martin Azola, the Home Builders Association president, gets correspondence from a homeowner who is at odds with a builder. His group never gets involved.

"We're a trade association," explained Azola, whose group has 1,200 corporate members. "We're not the Better Business Bureau."

The association as a legal entity, Azola said, does not want to get involved in lawsuits that would impose liability on members who weren't liable.

Mr. Mangum had sent letters to the state attorney general's office, the Better Business Bureau and others asking for assistance. But when his letter of desperation reached Azola, the HBAM's president knew it couldn't be ignored.

Dated Nov. 23, 1998, the single page detailing the family's year of heartache made Azola feel like crying.

"I just couldn't believe what I was reading," said Azola, who made his reputation in the 1980s doing historic rehabilitation projects. "I couldn't believe that a builder would do this to anyone. This was so egregious, we had to step in."

Azola called the Mangums and made arrangements to come to their apartment to meet them in December. The same afternoon Azola was to arrive, the Mangums received a form letter from the Home Builders Association telling them it couldn't help. Gilbert had been a member of the association but no longer belonged because he hadn't paid his dues.

"Disregard that letter," Azola told the Mangums. The association's policy was about to change.

The house wasn't just partially finished, Azola discovered when he visited the site. Some of the work -- such as the foundation and walls -- had not been done correctly.

He estimated the house's value at about $50,000 and figured it needed about $100,000 more in work. The Mangum's $162,000 house would eventually cost in the vicinity of $250,000.

Last winter, as the Mangums refinanced their construction loan, Azola took their cause to his association.

The couple was approved in May, but "the second loan is not enough to finish the house," Azola said. "That's where we come in. We are going to fill the gap."

Azola got association members to donate numerous items, such as:

Siding materials and labor from Sturbridge Homes, Chang's General Construction and Ted Lansing Corp.

Flooring materials and labor from Pulte Homes Inc. and Floors Inc.

Paint and labor from Koch Homes and Duron.

Driveway paving made possible by Reliable Contracting.

Trash bins and construction site portable toilets from Bob Leatherwood of Roll-Off Express.

Branch Electric donated light fixtures.

Bill Luther Jr. of Gemcraft Homes donated $1,000 from the HBAM Harford County chapter.

"Everyone I've asked to help has said 'Yes,'" said Mike DeStefano, president of Sturbridge Homes, who volunteered to coordinate the effort.

Some builders view the Mangums as a means to counter the perception that builders are less than honest.

"When I heard what happened to these people, I took it personally," said Jeb Bittner, president of the Maryland and Delaware division of Pulte Homes. "It really struck a chord."

"I felt bad," agreed Derek Grice, a builder who lives two houses from the Mangums' site and was hired as the new general contractor for the project.

"A lot of people in this industry don't do good work, they leave customers with a bad taste in their mouths. Then we all get tarred with the same brush. If I can help Marta and Terry, it will come back to me," Grice said.

In addition to starting the foundation, HBAM recently joined forces with the Better Business Bureau so that it can help its members mediate disputes with homeowners. And it now has a system in place to expel dishonorable members.

"The idea of a homebuilder cheating a homeowner is about as bad as it gets," Azola said. "On those rare occasions when it does happen, we need to be part of the solution."

The Mangums recently met with a special investigator for the Anne Arundel County state's attorney's office, but as of yet no criminal charges have been filed against Gilbert.

"We want to make sure he doesn't do this to someone else," Mr. Mangum said.

With completion of their home only weeks away, the couple is once again giddily discussing the details of their house. Bianca wants to paint her room purple. Mrs. Mangum is looking forward to having a garden. And Mr. Mangum is again videotaping the progress on his house.

"You should see it," he said. "It's really starting to look like a real house now."