Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
A Cape Elizabeth woman is suing a Windham-based contractor she hired to put an addition on her house after his company allegedly performed defective work that prevented her home from gaining a certificate of occupancy.
Lori Swain hired Paolo Patriotti of Paolo’s Construction Enterprise in 2024 to add a second story and attic on her split-level home for roughly $298,000, a contract between the two reviewed by the Bangor Daily News showed.
Two years later, Swain alleges she has spent at least $70,000 more on the renovation than the contract stated, and that the work performed caused extensive damage to her home, according to a lawsuit she filed against Patriotti in Cumberland County Superior Court on July 31. The lawsuit cited 40 examples of “defective construction” caused by Patriotti in Swain’s home.
Patriotti disputed many of Swain’s allegations when contacted by the BDN in May. At that time, he said that the project passed inspection, certain issues Swain identified either did not result from his work or were corrected, and cost increases reflected additional work requested during construction.
But Patriotti’s insurance provider determined he is “fully liable for the operational errors and the resulting damages” after inspecting Swain’s home, according to a $41,456 settlement offered to Swain on June 2. She declined, saying it “doesn’t address all the issues and isn’t nearly enough” to have the deficiencies corrected.
Patriotti did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Swain’s situation mirrors that of hundreds of Mainers each year who end up dissatisfied with a contractor’s work. But her experience highlights how difficult it can be to financially recover from such an event, as the contractor’s insurance in this case offered only a portion of the money that Swain believes will be required to make the repairs she seeks.
The Maine attorney general’s Consumer Mediation Program receives more complaints about home contractors than any other business category. More than 600 Mainers filed complaints about contractors doing unsatisfactory work — or not completing it at all — in 2025 alone.
The attorney general’s office had only received one complaint about Patriotti this year as of May, which Swain said she filed.
“I’m embarrassed to have people over and I just want my house to be nice again,” said Swain, who previously spoke with the BDN regarding her son’s time in solitary confinement despite having a documented history of mental illnesses and suicide attempts.
Swain’s plan was for her and her children to move to the new floor and for her parents to move into the existing main floor, she said. Swain and her parents pooled their savings for the project, which began in October 2024.
Patriotti removed the home’s roof the following month to make way for the addition and put a large tarp over the home on a Friday, Swain said. That weekend, a storm brought freezing rain and winds that blew off the tarp, allowing water to enter Swain’s house.
“I had water pouring in the tops of all my windows and doors, my chandeliers, my ceiling fans and lights fell out of my ceiling from the water coming in,” Swain said. “I tried my best to find buckets, but I couldn’t keep up with it.”
Patriotti said freezing rain caused minor leaks, but “they were identified promptly and addressed before any significant damage could occur.” Any affected drywall was repaired, he said.
There is still water damage in the home from the storm, the lawsuit claimed.
In the months that followed, Patriotti either failed to complete the work he was hired to do or did it in a defective manner, the lawsuit said. It also claimed other items were damaged during construction, including Swain’s hardwood floors and quartz kitchen countertop.
Additionally, the home failed to receive a certificate of occupancy once construction was done, due to work that Swain’s lawsuit said Patriotti completed. That certificate is normally required to verify that a structure meets all health and safety requirements and is habitable.
The foremost issues preventing the home from obtaining a certificate of occupancy are its new stairs and railing, which aren’t at the correct heights; electrical equipment that isn’t properly fastened to the house; and support beams on two floors that don’t line up, according to Benjamin McDougal, Cape Elizabeth’s code enforcement officer.
Code enforcement officers inspected and approved the home’s new stairs, framing and insulation, Patriotti said. McDougal said the errors weren’t identified during the home’s first two inspections, and only found on the third inspection when construction was complete.
“That’s something that we should’ve caught earlier because we do the framing inspection,” McDougal said. “I feel bad that my framing department missed that.”
Swain is still living in her home even without a certificate of occupancy from the town.
In the end, Swain said Patriotti billed her more than $360,0000 for the work.
The project cost more than the initial estimate in the contract, Patriotti said, but it was due to additional work that Swain “requested, estimated and approved.”
Swain agreed she approved additional work that wasn’t included in the contract. But some of those tasks were recommended by Patriotti, such as replacing windows that cost more than $20,000, estimate documents from Patriotti show.
Swain first attempted to correct the work she was unhappy with by involving Patriotti’s insurance provider. Next Insurance sent Swain’s attorney a settlement determination for $41,456.27.
An independent repair estimate by the provider found that remediating workmanship deficiencies to bring the building up to code would cost more than $62,000. However, the insurance company offered Swain only $25,000, as that’s the maximum policy allowance for a claim, according to the settlement offer.
Next Insurance also offered Swain $16,456.27 to resolve damage that happened because of construction work. That included rain damage to hardwood floors, carpet staining from a leaking heat pipe and a chipped quartz counter in the kitchen.
Swain declined the offer and filed the lawsuit the following month.
In the lawsuit, Swain alleges Patriotti violated the Maine Unfair Trade Practice Act and the Maine Home Construction Contracts Act, as the contract between the two parties, signed on October 7, 2024, does not contain information required by state law.
The lawsuit also alleges Patriotti breached the contract for the project and was negligent with his work. Swain requested a jury trial for the dispute, the legal filing shows.
Swain is requesting Patriotti return the money she was allegedly overcharged, pay for Swain’s attorney’s fees and for the damage caused by his unsatisfactory work, among other things, according to the lawsuit.
“I just want it all fixed, but I don’t have the money to pay for it,” Swain said. “I’m stuck like this.”
Swain hired Daniel Grant, owner of Gorham-based Village Builders, to inspect her home after Patriotti’s work was completed, identify what needs to be fixed and give a cost estimate to correct those issues.
Grant cited an improperly framed roof, misaligned columns, improperly installed insulation and venting, and overall workmanship as his major concerns, according to his February 2026 report that Swain shared with the BDN.
“Improperly installed insulation and venting have already caused condensation and water damage, which will cause mold growth,” Grant wrote.
Village Builders estimates it’ll cost at least $174,300 to correct or redo the work done on Swain’s home, but that could rise by 10 to 40% if crews find water damage in the insulation and drywall, according to documents Swain provided to the BDN.
The project can’t begin until winter 2027 and is expected to take five months, according to documents from Village Builders.
Meanwhile, Swain’s parents still haven’t moved into her home as it lacks the certificate of occupancy.
“The only reason I did this was so my parents could have a place where I could take care of them,” Swain said. “Now I have this mess on my hands and my parents are still living on their own.”