A court judgment has permanently barred Saint Cloud contractor Ryan Pietron and his company, Affordable Home Remodeling, LLC, from Minnesota's residential construction industry. The judgment also holds them responsible for more than $1 million in restitution, civil penalties, and legal costs.
The judgment orders Pietron and his company to pay $518,000 in restitution to victims, another $518,000 in civil penalties to the state, and $33,000 to cover the Attorney General's Office's costs and attorney's fees, according to KNSI. The station reports that investigators located dozens of families who lost a combined $518,000. When the state first sued in October 2025, the Minnesota Attorney General's Office cited nearly $400,000 in losses.
A Pattern of Fake Invoices and Broken Promises
The civil complaint, filed October 7, 2025, alleged that Pietron and Affordable Home Remodeling took nearly $400,000 from at least 16 Minnesota families for projects they failed to complete or, in many cases, never started, according to the Minnesota Attorney General's Office complaint. The complaint identifies Pietron as a Saint Cloud resident who owned and operated the company. In one case, the office alleged he took $30,000 from a consumer without beginning the work.
The Attorney General's Office alleged that Pietron used false progress updates to obtain more payments, did little or no work on some projects, and failed to provide refunds he had promised. KNSI also reported that Pietron forged a supplier invoice.
Unlicensed, but Telling Customers Otherwise
Pietron was not a licensed contractor, yet the state says he told customers he was. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry had already banned him from claiming to be a licensed contractor under a February 2025 consent order, which required Pietron and his company to cease and desist from acting or holding themselves out as a residential building contractor, remodeler, or roofer in Minnesota, and barred them from even applying for a contractor's license for five years, per the complaint. As of the October 2025 announcement, that meant Pietron and his company couldn't apply for a license until 2030.
That lack of licensure carries consequences beyond the ban itself. Because Minnesota's Contractor Recovery Fund can pay eligible consumers up to $100,000 per owner or lessee toward a judgment against a licensed contractor, subject to a $550,000 total limit per licensee, Pietron's customers were left ineligible for that safety net. Minnesota's statute on the fund requires a final judgment stemming from a direct contract between a homeowner and a licensee for work requiring that license, per the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, and the Department of Labor and Industry's own criteria list an active residential building contractor or remodeler license as a condition for recovery.
State Licensing and Homeowner Recovery
Minnesota's licensing agency and the court have different roles in contractor cases. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry says its authority is limited to administrative disciplinary action against a contractor's license when state law has been broken. That differs from the permanent industry ban imposed by a court judgment in Pietron's case. The department's Contractor Recovery Fund eligibility rules require that a homeowner hired a contractor with an active residential building contractor or remodeler license both when the contract was signed and while the work was performed. The department's criteria therefore make licensure at both points a condition of applying for fund assistance.
A Separate Criminal Case, Too
Pietron also pleaded guilty to felony theft in a separate criminal case involving some of the same conduct, KNSI reports. The case was brought by the Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes's office.
The Attorney General's Office says the Pietron case was filed alongside a nearly identical scheme run by Earl Christian Rode the Fourth and High Road Builders, LLC. In January, the Attorney General's Office won a $2.6 million judgment against Rode that permanently bans him from the industry as well, according to the same KNSI report.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Contractor Fraud
Pietron's case follows a string of similar enforcement actions against Minnesota contractors who defrauded homeowners before being banned from the trade. In January 2023, a court judgment permanently banned pool contractor Charles Workman and his company, MN Crete Pools, from the state's residential construction industry and ordered $1.1 million in restitution and $1.1 million in civil penalties, according to the Minnesota Attorney General's Office. The office said Workman scammed more than a dozen Minnesota families out of $1.1 million before fleeing the state; Workman was separately sentenced to five years in federal prison for his scheme.
Not every specialty contractor offering a single skill is required to hold a state license, but the Attorney General's Office is urging homeowners to take precautions regardless. The office encourages consumers to check contractors online, get information in writing, and review all documents carefully before signing anything. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry also offers a free contractor license look-up tool that homeowners can use to verify a contractor's status before handing over a deposit.
