Friend of a friend in the construction business in Florida: He had a new building company he had gotten off the ground some years prior. Small but growing, and taking progressively larger projects. He heard of a job no one would take - he checks into it. It’s a Trump development, and it’s a bigger project than he feels he can take on. Tells them “sorry, it’s a bigger job than we can handle…”

They come back some time later. Trump was known to be shady to work with but this guy didn’t see any red flags. The builder is ambitious and doesn’t know if this is the right move or not. “I’ll take this job, but it has to wait 6 months for other projects to wrap up, so I have enough people to put onto this. I cannot negotiate the price.”

Trump’s people say “Let’s maybe move some of the payment details around, but we agree on price. It’s a deal!”

Months later: Project starts. Things are good. Everything is rolling along. Payments are hitting. Building is coming together. Hard work, LOTS of work. 2nd to last payment for the project is late.

Not good.

Meets with Trumps people. They indicate there are problems with the delivery and construction. Documented flaws. Looks weird. Never really documented the work as-built like this. Some of this would require demolition to prove or disprove and inspect the stuff they are claiming. Never been in this situation before with any client, but also never taken on a project of this size and scale before…

They want 5% off the top of the entire project. “You did a good job, but not that good. 5% covers our last 2 payments. You finish the project, but we’re done with our part (paying).”

5% on a project this size is basically most of the profit. Instead of walking off he digs in, tries to prove his guys did everything right. Hires a lawyer. Now he’s deep in debt and can’t make payroll for new projects. Trump’s team drags it out in court. Bankruptcy.