Anchored Tiny Homes Collapse — What California Homeowners Need to Know (2026)

Anchored Tiny Homes was a Sacramento-based ADU and tiny home builder once ranked #224 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America. CEO Colton Paulhus claimed it was a $100 million business. Then the company filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, revealing $12.8 million in liabilities against just $1.2 million in assets. Over 450 California homeowners were left with unfinished or never-started projects and no realistic path to recovering their money. CSLB revoked the company’s contractor license in December 2024.

This is the most documented ADU contractor fraud case in California history. If you’re planning an ADU project anywhere in the state, understanding what happened here is the cheapest insurance you’ll ever get. This is one of four case studies in our ADU Contractor Scams in California series.

Anchored Tiny Homes operated out of Sacramento and marketed itself as a California ADU and tiny home builder. The company had everything that makes a contractor look legitimate — Inc. 5000 recognition, professional branding, a clean website, social media presence, sales staff, and model units. CEO Colton Paulhus appeared in media interviews touting rapid growth. The company offered design-build ADU packages at prices that seemed competitive with the broader market.

Homeowners signed contracts, paid deposits — typically 30% to 50% of the total project cost — and waited. For some, work never began. For others, work started but stalled indefinitely. Phone calls stopped being returned. Emails went unanswered. The company’s physical office eventually closed.

By the time the scope of the problem became clear, over 450 homeowners across California had been affected. Individual losses ranged from $30,000 to over $100,000. The Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing revealed that the company’s debts outpaced its assets by more than 10 to 1 — $12.8 million owed against $1.2 million in assets. There was virtually nothing left to recover.

Period	What Happened
Growth phase	Company launches in Sacramento. Aggressive marketing and sales. Lands Inc. 5000 ranking at #224 among America’s fastest-growing private companies. CEO Colton Paulhus claims $100 million revenue. Signs contracts with homeowners across California. Collects large upfront deposits.
Delays accumulate	Homeowners report missed deadlines, unreturned calls, and projects that haven’t started despite deposits paid months prior. The company blames supply chain issues, permit delays, and subcontractor availability.
Complaints mount	CSLB receives dozens of complaints. BBB rating drops. Negative reviews appear online. Local news investigations begin. The volume of signed contracts far exceeds the company’s ability to deliver.
December 2024	CSLB revokes Anchored Tiny Homes’ contractor license. Company ceases operations. Office closes. 450+ homeowners left with unfinished or never-started projects.
Bankruptcy	Company files Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Filing reveals $12.8 million in liabilities against $1.2 million in assets. Both CEO Colton Paulhus and co-founder Austin Paulhus file personal bankruptcy.

Anchored Tiny Homes did not operate like a back-alley con artist. The company had every appearance of a legitimate, fast-growing business. That’s what made it effective — and what makes cases like this so dangerous for homeowners.

The playbook:

• Credibility through growth metrics. An Inc. 5000 ranking. Media coverage. A CEO who talked publicly about $100 million in revenue. These markers made homeowners feel safe. None of them say anything about whether a company can actually deliver on its contracts.
• Professional marketing. Clean website. Model ADU units. Social media presence. Sales staff. The company looked real because it spent money on looking real.
• Large upfront deposits. The company collected 30% to 50% of the project cost before work began. On a $200,000 ADU, that’s $60,000 to $100,000 — cash in hand before a single permit was pulled.
• Delay as a strategy. When work didn’t begin on schedule, the company blamed supply chain issues, permit delays, and subcontractor availability. These are real problems in construction, which is why the excuses worked for months.
• Volume over delivery. The company signed far more contracts than it could fulfill. New deposits funded (or attempted to fund) older projects. When the flow of new contracts slowed, the entire operation collapsed. The bankruptcy numbers tell the story: $12.8 million in debts, $1.2 million in assets.

This pattern is not unique to Anchored Tiny Homes. The same playbook appears in Multitaskr, Next Generation Builders, and Nonna ADU. The company names change. The playbook doesn’t.

In hindsight, the signs were there. They always are. Here’s what homeowners could have checked:

1. Deposit amounts exceeded California’s legal limit. California law (Business & Professions Code 7159.5) caps the initial down payment at $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less. Anchored Tiny Homes routinely collected 30% to 50% upfront. Any contractor asking for more than 10% is violating state law — full stop.

2. Growth rate didn’t match delivery capacity. A company ranked #224 on the Inc. 5000 is growing at an extraordinary rate. For a construction company, that growth means one of two things: either they’ve built a massive and efficient operation, or they’re signing contracts faster than they can build. Anchored Tiny Homes was the latter. Revenue was deposits collected, not projects completed.

3. Volume of signed contracts. Over 450 homeowners across California signed contracts. A small-to-midsize builder signing that many contracts is overextended by definition. Ask any contractor how many active projects they’re running — if the number exceeds 15 to 20, ask how they’re staffed to handle it.

4. Communication patterns changed. Homeowners report that early in the relationship, Anchored Tiny Homes was responsive. As problems mounted, response times stretched from hours to days to weeks to silence. A contractor who stops communicating is a contractor you should be worried about.

5. Project delays without verifiable explanation. Permit delays are real and can be verified — call your city’s building department and ask. If the contractor says “the city is holding things up” and the building department has no record of a permit application, the contractor is lying.

For the 450+ homeowners affected, the aftermath has been painful and slow:

• Financial loss: $30,000 to $100,000+ per household in non-recoverable deposits. For many homeowners, this was retirement savings, HELOC draws, or money borrowed from family.
• Bond claims: Homeowners who filed bond claims competed for a $25,000 surety bond shared across all claimants. With 450+ victims, the per-person recovery was functionally zero.
• CSLB action: CSLB revoked the license in December 2024. This provides a public record and prevents the company from operating, but does not directly return money to homeowners.
• Bankruptcy: The Chapter 7 filing means liquidation, not reorganization. The $12.8 million in liabilities against $1.2 million in assets means creditors — including homeowners — will recover pennies on the dollar at best.
• Emotional toll: Homeowners planned their ADU projects for months or years. The financial loss was compounded by the disruption to family plans — aging parents who needed housing, rental income budgets that depended on the ADU, property improvements timed to life events.

The Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing is public record and reveals the full scope of the collapse:

• Total liabilities: $12.8 million
• Total assets: $1.2 million
• Deficit: $11.6 million — debts exceeded assets by more than 10 to 1
• Type: Chapter 7 (liquidation) — not Chapter 11 (reorganization). The company is being dissolved, not restructured.
• Personal filings: Both CEO Colton Paulhus and co-founder Austin Paulhus filed personal bankruptcy in addition to the corporate filing.

The personal bankruptcy filings are significant. They mean that even if homeowners obtained civil judgments against the individuals behind the company, collection would be extremely difficult. The bankruptcy shield protects the individuals from most creditor claims.

For homeowners, this means the realistic recovery path through the bankruptcy estate is minimal. Secured creditors are paid first. Unsecured creditors — which includes homeowners who paid deposits — split whatever remains. With a $11.6 million deficit, there isn’t much to split.

California requires every licensed contractor to maintain a $25,000 surety bond. This bond is the primary financial protection for homeowners when a contractor fails to perform.

The problem: ADU projects cost $100,000 to $400,000. A $25,000 bond covers 6% to 25% of a single project. And that $25,000 is the total bond — not per homeowner. When 450+ homeowners all have claims against the same $25,000 bond, the math is devastating.

$25,000 bond / 450 homeowners = $55 per person.

Fifty-five dollars. For homeowners who lost $30,000 to $100,000 each.

The bond amount hasn’t been updated since 2007. California legislators have discussed increasing it, but as of 2026 it remains at $25,000. This means the bond system provides a legal framework for claims but not meaningful financial recovery for high-value project failures.

For a detailed breakdown of how contractor bonds work and how to file a claim, see our surety bond guide.

1. Never pay more than 10% upfront. California law exists for a reason. The 10% cap limits your exposure if a contractor disappears. A contractor who demands 30% or 50% upfront is asking you to fund their operations with your money — and there’s no guarantee they’ll perform.

2. Inc. 5000 rankings don’t mean anything about quality. Anchored Tiny Homes was ranked #224 among the fastest-growing private companies in America. That metric measures revenue growth — which for this company meant deposit collection, not completed projects. Awards and media coverage are marketing signals, not construction quality indicators.

3. Verify the license yourself. Go to cslb.ca.gov. Enter the license number. Confirm it’s active, the business name matches, and the bond is current. This takes 30 seconds. Anchored Tiny Homes’ license was revoked in December 2024 — anyone who checked CSLB after that date would have seen the revocation. For a step-by-step guide, see our license verification guide.

4. Tie payments to inspected milestones. Don’t pay for work that hasn’t been completed and verified. Structure your contract so payments are released after each phase passes a building inspection — not on a calendar schedule.

5. Check permit status independently. Call your city’s building department and ask whether a permit has been pulled for your address. If the contractor says “we’re waiting on the city” and the city has no record of an application, you have a problem.

6. Get multiple bids. A company signing 450+ contracts is a company prioritizing sales over delivery. Get 3 to 5 bids from different contractors. Ask each one how many active projects they’re running. A contractor with 5 to 10 active projects is manageable. A contractor with 50+ is overextended.

7. Use a verified directory. Every builder in our verified directory has been checked against CSLB records for active licensing, bond status, workers’ comp, and complaint history. The verification isn’t one-time — it’s ongoing through our LiveVerify system. This is the baseline due diligence that would have flagged Anchored Tiny Homes before homeowners signed contracts.

What happened to Anchored Tiny Homes?

Anchored Tiny Homes was a Sacramento-based ADU and tiny home builder ranked #224 on the Inc. 5000. The company collected deposits from over 450 California homeowners, then filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy with $12.8 million in liabilities against $1.2 million in assets. CSLB revoked the contractor license in December 2024. Both CEO Colton Paulhus and co-founder Austin Paulhus filed personal bankruptcy.

Can Anchored Tiny Homes homeowners get their money back?

Recovery options are extremely limited. The Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing (liquidation, not reorganization) revealed a $11.6 million deficit. The $25,000 contractor bond is shared across 450+ claimants. Homeowners can file claims through the bankruptcy estate, but with debts exceeding assets by 10 to 1, meaningful recovery is unlikely. Some homeowners are pursuing civil litigation, though the personal bankruptcy filings of both Paulhus brothers complicate collection.

How much did Anchored Tiny Homes homeowners lose?

Individual losses ranged from $30,000 to over $100,000 per household. The company collected 30% to 50% deposits on ADU projects before work began or was completed. The Chapter 7 filing documented $12.8 million in total liabilities, representing the aggregate scale of the damage across 450+ homeowners.

Was Anchored Tiny Homes licensed?

The company held a CSLB contractor license. CSLB revoked that license in December 2024 after receiving numerous complaints. Regardless of the license status during operations, the company’s practice of collecting deposits exceeding California’s legal limit of 10% or $1,000 (whichever is less) violated Business & Professions Code 7159.5.

Who owned Anchored Tiny Homes?

Anchored Tiny Homes was led by CEO Colton Paulhus and co-founder Austin Paulhus. Both individuals filed personal bankruptcy in addition to the corporate Chapter 7 filing. Colton Paulhus had publicly claimed the company was a $100 million business and the company was ranked #224 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies.

How do I avoid an ADU scam like Anchored Tiny Homes?

Verify the contractor’s CSLB license at cslb.ca.gov. Never pay more than $1,000 or 10% upfront (California law). Tie remaining payments to inspected milestones. Get 3 to 5 bids. Check permit status independently with your city. Be skeptical of rapid growth claims — Inc. 5000 rankings measure revenue growth, not project completion. Use a verified directory that checks licenses, bonds, and complaint history on an ongoing basis.

Is there a class action lawsuit against Anchored Tiny Homes?

Legal actions have been pursued by affected homeowners. However, both the corporate entity and both individual founders (Colton and Austin Paulhus) have filed bankruptcy, which complicates civil recovery. For current status on legal proceedings, consult a construction attorney in your area. VerifiedADU does not provide legal advice or track the status of active litigation.

How much is a contractor’s bond in California?

California requires a $25,000 contractor’s bond. This amount is shared across all claims — not per homeowner. With 450+ Anchored Tiny Homes victims, the per-person recovery from the bond was approximately $55. The bond amount has not been updated since 2007, despite ADU projects now costing $100,000 to $400,000.