LIVE OAK, Texas – A Live Oak homeowner is accusing a contractor hired to repair floodwater damage to a fence of ruining their chances to retire after failing to complete the job.
Cellphone video from the early morning of June 12 shows inches of water pouring into Caren Holmes’ bedroom.
She invited KSAT Investigates days after the flood to look at the damage.
The sloshing water is a sound Holmes still can’t get out of her head.
“I still have panic attacks every time I think about it or every time it rains,” Holmes said.
The water destroyed family heirlooms, medical equipment and the fence itself.
A few weeks after the flood, KSAT Investigates checked back in with Holmes.
“Has insurance been able to help at all?” KSAT Investigates asked.
“Not at all,” Holmes said. “My mother contacted them and they said, ‘I’m sorry, you’re not covered for floods.’”
Family describes ‘terrible’ work on fence
With a pool in the backyard, Holmes said the fence needed to be fixed.
Her mother hired Curtis Sanders, owner of Sanders Fence Company, to make repairs.
They were not impressed with Sanders’ handiwork or his professionalism. Holmes described his handiwork as “terrible.”
Holmes showed KSAT Investigates where nails protruded from the fence, a potential safety hazard, and how the boards appeared wavy.
Invoices show Sanders charged Holmes’ mother $11,038.80 for work on the fence and other materials.
“How much money did your mom have to pull out of her 401(k) to pay for everything?” KSAT Investigates asked.
“All of it,” Holmes said. “There’s no more.”
Contractor had history of legal issues
In July 2025, Holmes’ mother filed a police report with Live Oak police about the work. She also filed a lawsuit against Sanders Fence Company for $10,850 in damages.
Holmes said her mother just wants her money back.
“That’s predatory,” Holmes said. “That’s ... how do you sleep at night treating people that way? And, if he’s doing it to us, who else is he doing that to?”
KSAT Investigates found a similar incident in 2021.
A judge ordered the Sanders Fence Company to pay $6,500 to another customer. Records indicate that the customer accused the company of failing to complete the job on time, and the work that was completed was subpar.
Bexar County jail records show police arrested Sanders for theft in 2009. The case was dropped the following year after Sanders took a plea in another case, the records showed.
“We thought we were safe,” said Holmes. “We thought (we) were in good hands, and we were taken advantage of.”
Holmes said she and her mother have not heard from Sanders about when they’ll get a refund.
In texts shared with KSAT Investigates, Sanders admits the work did not get done as planned.
He offered a partial refund, but Holmes said that never happened.
Sanders stopped responding to messages from KSAT Investigates, which is why KSAT tried to find him to get answers.
At the first address KSAT Investigates visited, the person who answered told KSAT that Sanders no longer lived there.
KSAT also stopped by the Jackson Keller address listed on the company’s invoice, but there was no building there.
Holmes said her mother hired a different contractor to fix what they could.
“If these guys hadn’t come here, I don’t know what we’d do,” Holmes said.
Holmes said their savings and emotions are drained.
“I hope that my mother can get her money back, and that other people aren’t taken advantage of like this,” Holmes said.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.