Customers who bought ‘dream’ floating home say it’s become a nightmare

Customers who bought floating homes want them finished or their money back. Pat Foran reports for Consumer Alert.

A company north of Barrie is offering a unique way to live on the water, creating floating homes it claims are inexpensive to live in.

But several people who invested in these floating homes say after they paid for them, they were never finished.

The floating homes can be seen on a website called Live on The Bay, and it sells the floating home lifestyle as one with no grass to cut, no driveway to shovel and few bills to pay.

Some of the floating homes are made out of shipping containers that have been placed on flotation devices. They are billed as a way to live inexpensively while being able to navigate the waterways or stay put at an island or marina.

The website claims you can move around on the water for days or weeks at a time, but people who bought into the idea say their homes were never finished and where they can dock or anchor them on the water is not entirely clear.

Wayne and Kathy Paquette said they were intrigued by the lifestyle and decided to sell their house with a dream of living in a floating home.

“We would be out there on the water, you don’t have to pay taxes, you can really lower your costs and I thought ‘wow, I can actually retire,’” said Wayne Paquette.

The Paquettes say they handed over $265,000 to Joe Nemins of Port Severn, Ont. and his company Live on The Bay for their floating home. It was supposed to be completed last May, but they say there were countless delays and it was never finished.

“We have been taken advantage of and we have lost our life savings,” said Kathy Paquette.

Ronda Kemp is a retired nurse who lived in Alberta, but she moved back to Midland, Ont. to be closer to her family. She decided to buy a floating home believing it would be an inexpensive place to live in retirement.

Kemp said she gave Nemins $165,000, but her floating home was also never completed.

“I would like my money back but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” said Kemp.

“I worked all my life and raised three children and now I have nothing to show for it. I would like a roof over my head to feel secure.”

CTV News Barrie interviewed Jim Lewis in December, who also purchased a floating home from Nemins.

Lewis said his custom-made two-storey floating home was supposed to be ready by July, but it wasn’t.

“He [Nemins] has unfortunately abandoned the project and we are now left to our own resources to try to get the boat in the water,” said Lewis, who paid $350,000 for his floating home.

“The project, when he abandoned it, was only the floatation device and the frame. We’ve had to complete the rest on our own.”

When CTV News contacted Joe Nemins, he said in a telephone interview that he had completed what he was supposed to and blamed the three customers, saying they changed their plans during construction which led to delays.

“I’d like to finish their homes in a way that makes them happy. In every single one of these cases, they all owe me money. I would like to have them pay up to where they are and then we will build some more for them,” claimed Nemins.

Nemins' website continues to offer floating homes for sale, but the customers we spoke with worry they will never have their projects finished.

But the Paquettes say even if their home gets completed, now it’s not clear where they are legally allowed to keep it while on the water.

“He [Nemins] said we could park it anywhere on the water and that it’s totally legal - which it is not,” said Wayne Paquette.

The situation with the incomplete floating homes is ongoing and has been further complicated with a police investigation, lawyers and lawsuits.

The customers said what was supposed to be a retirement dream has become a nightmare with no end in sight.