TORONTO — The ice-cold temperature on Jan. 5 didn’t deter about 15 people from convening for an early-morning demonstration outside the North York home of Adam I. Gardin, president of Toronto construction company GarCon Building Group Ltd.

At 7:30 a.m., a handful of disgruntled former GarCon employees and several angry homeowners gathered at Gardin’s house near Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue to protest what they say was Gardin’s abandonment of about 20 residential construction projects and his allegedly owing more than $1 million to clients and about $300,000 in unpaid wages.

Workers say they were informed on Christmas Eve that the company had no money and no one would be paid what they were owed.

About 30 employees – a number of whom were fired – are owed wages for work they did, said Rodrigo Menezes, a 35-year-old former GarCon foreman who organized the protest.

In a statement announcing the protest, Menezes described Gardin as a “prominent member of North York’s Jewish community” and noted that GarCon has been in business for more than 10 years.

Menezes, a native of Brazil, said he planned the protest for early in the morning so that parents taking their kids to nearby schools would notice the demonstration. “I wanted the most people to see what we were doing.”

Menezes, who worked for the company from the summer of 2013 to the end of 2014, said the company owes him three outstanding paycheques and two weeks’ vacation pay, amounting to $6,000.

He and several other workers waved neon placards bearing slogans like “Don’t trust Adam Gardin” and “Adam Gardin stole our holidays.”

Jason Ponikvar, 33, worked as a general labourer and skilled contractor for GarCon from September to November 2014.

The paydays started coming later and later, he said, and eventually people at the company stopped answering his calls. After several of his contacts at GarCon were fired, Ponikvar said he “started showing up at the office,” and was told the police would be called if he didn’t leave the premises.

Menezes estimates that more than 20 homeowners have also been left in the lurch.

Homeowner Karim Hajee told The CJN he paid GarCon $100,000 for work that was never completed. He said he and his family now have no place to live, and he plans to take legal action.

Hajee hired GarCon to convert his family’s two-bedroom bungalow near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue into a five-bedroom home. “We trusted Adam, vetted him and checked his background,” he said.

Mid-project, he said, Gardin told him the soil in his backyard was highly contaminated and that although it would typically cost $200,000 to remove it, he had a guy who could do it for $40, 000.

“We agreed,” Hajee said, “on the condition that if we tested the soil and it came back negative, he’d give us our money back. We got the soil tested and it came back negative. He agreed to give us the refund, but hasn’t given us a penny back yet.”

Just before Christmas Eve, amid rumours the company was going under, Hajee said Gardin “promised me personally that he would finish building the home.”

On Jan. 4, Gardin, a Detroit native, sent an e-mail to Hajee and others affected by the collapse of his company, in which he expressed remorse about “the turmoil that has been the result of the failure of my business.”

“I allowed my pride and arrogance to get the best of me,” he wrote, “and grew GarCon to a level that I was not able to manage.”

In another passage, Gardin wrote, “I am guilty of being a bad businessman, overly arrogant, and not effectively communicating my situation with those around me and my clients. However, I am not a thief. I have not defrauded anyone of the money they invested in me and my company… I am now working with professionals who will help determine if there is anything that can be salvaged for those that have been affected by the closing of Garcon.”

The CJN’s attempts to reach Gardin were unsuccessful.

Bryan Young, another homeowner at the protest, said he’s out $57,000. He hired GarCon to build a third floor addition on his Parkdale home and said the job was slated to be finished last July, but all he has to show for it now is “a bunch of holes and posts in my basement.”

“There were some issues that were no fault of GarCon’s, but many were their fault,” Young said, explaining that he knew “something was seriously up” in December, when the company seemed unable to find sub-contractors to help with the job.

Miguel Padilla said he’s out about $70,000. Last summer, he hired Gardin to do renovations on his home near Leslie Street and Lawrence Avenue.

Though it became clear the project was running late, Padilla said, “We kept hearing again and again from Gardin, ‘Yes, somebody’s going to help you next week.’ Next week turned into December.”

Contractors took the roof off his home in early November and replaced it with a tarp, which has since, been badly damaged by snow Padilla said.

“We tried to get help, or answers from them,” he said, “To get somebody to put a proper tarp on… We called and texted Adam and others from the company but there was pretty much no response.”

In December, his family gave GarCon two additional payments, hoping to accelerate the project. Gardin was “really pushy to get our money…we had no roof. We felt pushed into a corner,” Padilla said.

Ultimately, he said, his family invested about $90,000 in the renovations, estimating that GarCon put in about $20,000 of work. His family of four is now sharing a one-bedroom apartment with his mother.

Hajee is currently in touch with about 13 other homeowners to discuss how to proceed, and he’s hoping more will come forward.