The most significant JES Foundation Repair lawsuit and regulatory action on record is a Virginia contractor board disciplinary case, upheld by the Virginia Court of Appeals in December 2018, that fined the company $5,000 and placed it on two-year probation for its eighth permit-related violation. A separate federal customer suit, Thornock v. JES Foundation Repair, was decided at the district court in April 2024 and is now on appeal to the Fourth Circuit. Alongside these cases, JES’s parent company Groundworks has drawn hundreds of Better Business Bureau complaints.
The Virginia Contractor Board Case
The disciplinary action grew out of a February 2015 foundation repair contract in Henrico County. A homeowner complained to the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation that JES had never obtained the building permit it promised and had failed to request a required footing inspection.1Virginia Lawyers Weekly. Repeat Offender Properly Sanctioned
After an informal fact-finding conference, a hearing officer recommended a $1,000 fine. The Board of Contractors went further. It raised the fine to $5,000, imposed a two-year probationary period, and required JES to complete a remedial education class. The board’s reasoning turned on history: JES had seven prior disciplinary violations on its record, all involving failures to obtain building permits or inspections, making the Henrico contract its eighth such offense. The probation carried a hard condition. Any further violation during that two-year window would automatically revoke the company’s contractor license.1Virginia Lawyers Weekly. Repeat Offender Properly Sanctioned
JES appealed, first to the Virginia Beach Circuit Court and then to the Virginia Court of Appeals. It argued the board had not given proper notice it would consider the seven prior violations, that the company was entitled to a formal rather than informal hearing, and that it lacked notice of how severe the sanctions could be. On December 26, 2018, the Court of Appeals rejected all three arguments and affirmed the $5,000 fine and two-year probation in full.1Virginia Lawyers Weekly. Repeat Offender Properly Sanctioned
Thornock v. JES Foundation Repair
A separate federal case, Thornock v. JES Foundation Repair, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia at Roanoke as Case No. 7:23-cv-00638. Judge Thomas T. Cullen issued a 22-page opinion on April 23, 2024.2Virginia Lawyers Weekly. Thornock v. JES Foundation Repair3PacerMonitor. Thornock v. JES Foundation Repair et al
The specific claims and the substance of Judge Cullen’s ruling are not detailed in available public case summaries, and the full opinion sits behind a paywall. The case did not end at the district court. An appeal was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit under case number 25-1874, captioned Riley Thornock v. JES Foundation Repair LLC.4GovInfo. Riley Thornock v. JES Foundation Repair LLC No ruling on the appeal has been published as of early 2026.
Consumer Complaints Under Groundworks
Formal lawsuits are only one layer. JES operates as a subsidiary of Groundworks, LLC, and the Better Business Bureau profile for Groundworks lists 751 complaints filed over the most recent three-year period, with 298 closed in the last 12 months. The bulk (521) involve service or repair issues. Another 165 concern customer service, and 43 are billing disputes.5Better Business Bureau. Groundworks LLC Complaints
Recurring allegations include unfinished or substandard work, missed appointments, disputes over billing for incomplete projects, and difficulty getting the company back for warranty repairs. In one 2025 complaint, a homeowner reported that concrete work was done in two different colors with exposed plastic and that no repair had happened for six months, even after a supervisor acknowledged the deficient work. In another, a customer disputed a $3,400 balance after the company allegedly failed to lift a porch and driveway to the promised height.5Better Business Bureau. Groundworks LLC Complaints
Despite the complaint volume, both the JES individual BBB profiles and the Groundworks parent profile carry A+ ratings. The BBB has noted that because of the high volume of complaints received, it may publish only one in four.
Who JES Is
JES Foundation Repair was founded in 1993 and acquired in 2016 by Groundworks, a private equity-backed platform of home repair companies.6PitchBook. JES Foundation Repair Company Profile Jesse Waltz has been identified as president and owner.7Succession Capital Partners. Succession Capital Partners Portfolio Company Groundworks Companies Continues To Evolve The company keeps its own brand and regional offices across Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina.8JES Foundation Repair. Service Areas That structure matters when reading the complaint numbers above: the Groundworks BBB profile aggregates activity across the platform’s subsidiaries, not JES alone.