Alure Home Solutions' collapse leaves Long Islanders with unfinished work and lost deposits

East Islip residents Seth and Dina St. Giles never expected they would lose more than $17,000 after hiring one of Long Island’s best-known home remodeling firms. But when Alure Home Solutions of Commack abruptly shut its doors last month, their deposit — and plans to renovate their downstairs bathroom — disappeared.

The couple hired Alure, an 80-year-old business with a strong reputation throughout the region, to redo their bathroom after Dina St. Giles went on leave from work because of health issues.

“We were trying to make our downstairs bathroom more accessible,” Seth St. Giles said. “When the original salespeople were here, they told us they were looking to begin work at the end of September or first week of October.”

After meeting with company salespeople in late July, the St. Gileses put down a $17,144 deposit for work scheduled to begin this fall, according to documents shared by Seth St. Giles. Instead, early last month they learned from a text from their homeowners association that Alure was no longer in business, and their deposit was gone.

“No one has picked up our calls,” he said. “It’s just awful what they are doing to people.”

The couple said calls and emails to the now-defunct business have gone unanswered and they are looking into hiring a lawyer. 

The St. Gileses are among Long Island homeowners who say they were left out thousands of dollars when Alure and its Texas-based parent company, Renovo Home Partners, collapsed into bankruptcy last month. The sudden shutdown of one of the region’s most recognizable contractors underscores how private equity ownership — once pitched as a stabilizing force in local business — can leave consumers exposed when companies fail.

Because the bankruptcy case is ongoing, the full scope of how many Long Islanders and other Americans paid deposits for yet to be started or unfinished work is hard to determine.

Officials with Alure’s Commack office could not be reached, and the company’s website was taken down as of early November. Company officials with Renovo did not respond to requests for comment. 

Founded in 1946, Alure Home Solutions — formerly Alure Home Improvements — abruptly closed on Nov. 3 after its parent company, Renovo Home Partners of Dallas, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Renovo reported liabilities between $100 million and $500 million and total assets between $1 million and $10 million, according to court documents.

A meeting of creditors is scheduled for Friday, and an interim trustee has been assigned to the case, according to court documents from late last month. The interim trustee in the case is looking to extend the deadline they have to file a full list of secured and unsecured creditors to Jan. 17.

In 2022, Alure, which had been owned by current Huntington Town Councilman Salvatore Ferro since 2016, was acquired by Renovo, a newly formed holding company backed by the firm Audax Private Equity, an investor group that received financing from lender BlackRock, a multinational investment juggernaut. Officials from BlackRock declined to comment.

Ferro, who ran Alure for decades before selling the business three years ago, said it has been “sickening” to see what became of the company he built.

“I can only say it’s heartbreaking, and I feel for all those affected by it,” said Ferro, adding he has not spoken to anyone with Renovo since being let go from the company 10 months after selling it. “I hope that the bankruptcy court can bring some help to those that were hurt.”

Renovo owned a network of home improvement businesses across several states, including Dreamstyle Remodeling, Woodbridge Home Solutions and Reborn Cabinets, court filings show. In total, the company owned seven major regional home improvement brands, including Alure. An additional 19 businesses, including subsidiaries and holding companies, are listed as owned by Renovo, according to court documents.

Ferro, 62, said he purchased Alure from Carl Hyman, the company's previous owner and CEO, in 2016 after working at the firm for decades and sold it to private equity investors to ensure financial stability after his retirement.

“The strategy was to sell it and make sure there would be a financially secure company running Alure,” he said. “If I knew then what I know now, I would have thought twice or picked a different company.”

Homeowners hurt — with few legal options

Williston Park resident Henry Zanetti, 75, said he wanted to have one of his bathrooms completely redone “from the studs out” this fall, so he and his wife turned to Alure largely because of its longstanding reputation.

“We decided to go with an established company,” Zanetti said. “Alure had seemed to be around for a long time and had generally good reviews.”

Using a home equity loan, Zanetti said he paid $15,428 as a down payment for work set to start in early December. On Halloween, while preparing for trick-or-treaters, he said the designer assigned to his project called to say Alure had “closed down overnight” and that all projects were canceled.  

“I haven’t heard anything,” Zanetti said of his attempts to reach Alure. “I’m retired, my wife is about to retire, and I’m in pretty good shape as far as a pension goes … but it’s money that could go elsewhere.”

He said he is also exploring legal options.

But local legal experts said customers are often in a precarious position in Chapter 7 bankruptcies. Unlike Chapter 11, which allows companies to reorganize, pay off debts and continue to operate, Chapter 7 means complete liquidation and closure, said Patrick Collins, a bankruptcy and restructuring lawyer and partner at Farrell Fritz in Uniondale.

Traditionally, in Chapter 7 cases, bankrupt companies must pay back a long list of creditors in a particular order, Collins said. Lenders are usually classified as secured creditors and get priority, followed by customers or impacted employees, who are considered unsecured creditors.

But with more than 600 creditors nationwide listed so far, and a pending lawsuit from employees seeking unpaid wages, it’s unlikely much will remain for customers.

“In bankruptcy, there is almost by definition never enough money to go around,” he said.

Industry observers said Alure’s downfall reflects the risks of private equity ownership in the home improvement sector.

Mark Richardson, home remodeling expert and senior fellow with Harvard’s Remodeling Futures Program, said private equity firms were attracted to home improvement companies after pandemic-era growth.

But when demand slowed and growth returned to more typical levels, the purchases financed with added debt left companies vulnerable, he said.

“Home improvement in particular was going gangbusters throughout COVID,” Richardson said. “These companies were growing at very, very high rates and as a result of that, they were very attractive.”

Once growth normalized, Richardson said, “the numbers don’t work anymore,” and companies like Alure paid the price.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly described multinational investor BlackRock’s relationship with Audax Private Equity and Renovo Home Partners. BlackRock was a primary lender to the bankrupt company.