Addison B. Waelbroeck is a self-described “nice guy.”
He has to be, working as the face of M and A Landscaping, the company he started in Rancho El Dorado in 2022. He’s found an eager client base in Maricopa: new homeowners looking for a deal.
To give you a flavor of Waelbroeck, here is a video provided by one of his friends and former co-workers and a (near) verbatim transcript.
“Fuck all these slimy ass, fuck ass, wannabe … gringo ass fucking Mexican ass n*ggas around me, n*gga. Fuck y’all n*ggas, bro. I’ll shoot every single one of you, n*gga. This is my city. This is my hood. Donald T” — the video cuts off.
Waelbroeck claimed in an interview with InMaricopa that this racist tirade is an old video, a heated moment after someone threatened him with a gun, shared without context. Though the 22-year-old’s chinstrap beard in the video suggests it isn’t that old.
But that’s not why we’re here. M and A Landscaping is why we’re here — and the five former clients who called our news desk to claim that they had been scammed.
It started with a Facebook post
In Arizona, if contractors want to advertise or take jobs over $999, they have to be licensed with the state. That price includes all materials, and the job must be of a “casual or minor nature,” says a state statute.
According to the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, M and A Landscaping and Waelbroeck are not licensed (when we asked him for his license number, he cut off the questioning immediately). But Waelbroeck is in Maricopa offering contractor services well above that threshold, something he advertises regularly without the disclaimer mandated by law: “Not a Licensed Contractor.”
To put it mildly, some of his customers aren’t thrilled with his work — or lack thereof. Brandi Mure, from Sorrento, is one of them.
Uncompleted work from M&A landscaping. Jan. 10, 2025. [Brandi Mure]After paying Waelbroeck $850, Mure says her backyard is still a bare dirt pit with lines of pink spray paint where she thought she’d find pavers and rock by now. InMaricopa has reviewed records of that transaction.
She claims Waelbroeck took the money and never bought the materials needed to finish her yard. After a few days of back-and-forth over text messages, Mure posted her frustrations to a Maricopa Facebook page.
Then the floodgates opened.
Her claims were followed by dozens of comments from other customers who had faced similar issues, and her inbox was peppered by more than a dozen other ex-customers who said they had been duped, all afraid to speak publicly. Then, the messages started flying to InMaricopa.
So here we are. Sorting out the sordid tale of a young — seemingly racist — unlicensed contractor and customers with a grudge.
Always get a contract
First, Mure’s story as mere taste of what’s flying all over the internet:
Mure hired Waelbroeck to clean up her front yard. The two worked well together for over a year, she says. Then she approached him with an even bigger project: Transform her backyard mud pit into a suburban oasis. Pergola, turf, hula dancers, maybe.
Her dream outpaced her budget, so they agreed to do it piecemeal, with the total project costing $5,700 (a violation of the state law for unlicensed contractors). Start with some pavers and rock, then do the rest as she collected the needed cash.
Waelbroeck was all in. He spray-painted the back yard, mapping out the job, collected $850 and left to go get the required materials.
Here’s where things fall apart:
“I didn’t think twice to ask for a contract or anything,” Mure told InMaricopa. “He’s been doing my front yard.”
Always get a contract.
When ‘it all hit the fan’
Waelbroeck was eager to go on the record when contacted by reporters on Friday. He’s frustrated, too.
“[Mure] gave me money on the 28th of December. And she wanted this job done by [Jan.] 4, but she didn’t give me [enough] money,” he said in an interview. “I mean, I just don’t work for free.”
Then New Year’s rolled around and Waelbroeck was sick. Then, he said the delivery was supposed to happen, but the truck broke down. There are a lot of issues out of Waelbroeck’s hands, he claims.
But Mure, $850 in the hole with nothing to show for it, refused to dole out more funds for the project until it was more than zero percent complete.
“That’s where it all hit the fan,” she said.
Mure cancelled the rest of the deal, asking only for the rocks that she paid for. But now, weeks later, nothing has been delivered. She’s out almost a grand.
Waelbroeck promises that it’s still on the way.
“They’re closed this weekend, unfortunately. She’s going to have to wait till Monday,” he said. “If she wants to go shovel 10 tons herself from the rock yard, she’s more than willing to do it because it’s already paid for.”
Forced into bankruptcy?
Mure doesn’t believe it. And she’s not the only one.
One woman is claiming she paid $16,000 to Waelbroeck, who didn’t finish the job.
“Now me and my husband are having to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy,” the woman said, asking to remain anonymous for fear of her safety.
Another customer claims equipment and garbage were left behind after every job. He didn’t want to use his name either, fearing retribution from Waelbroeck.
Again, Waelbroeck says he’s misunderstood, doing his best to keep malcontents happy.
“I’ve come out of pocket thousands of dollars to complete these jobs. And you know, I get nothing but bashed, so I’m done being the nice guy,” said Waelbroeck.
Waelbroeck is promising the rocks for the yard are still coming, being dumped on Mure’s driveway so another contractor can finish the job.
“It just sucks that these people are harassing everybody about a little $800 job that’s already been purchased,” the young entrepreneur said. “I don’t just hold onto people’s money.”
Mure will believe it when she sees it. On Friday, she said she was going to file a police report imminently.
“This is not okay,” said Mure. “Maricopa is a new city. If you’re coming around and you’ve got the truck and you’ve got the shirt and you look presentable, we’re trusting that.”
This post The Lawn Con: Customers say racist, unlicensed contractor took their money and ran appeared first on InMaricopa.