TAFT, Calif. -- A family is frustrated about numerous unfinished home improvements at their elderly mother's home and wants them completed.

The family says many of the unfinished improvements are small details, but they are still eyesores that have cost the family thousands of dollars.

Vickie Kohal's family called J.L. Cash & Sons Construction in July to make several improvements to her mother's home, including new carpet, cabinets, closet doors, and a shower.

They paid James Cash $45,000 to finish the improvements, but work has been stopped since September and it remains unfinished.

"He can't get away with treating elderly people or anyone like this," Kohal said.

Attempts to get Cash to finish the work have proven unsuccessful.

"He will hang up on my mother, my mother tries to call him he will hang up, my sisters call, he says he'll show up and he never does," Kohal says. "I feel she was ripped off."

Cash's contractor's license was revoked in 2004 when he was cited for numerous violations, including charging an excessive down payment, not setting up a payment plan, and abandoning a project, according to the Contractors State Licensing Board.

"If they take a lot of money up front and disappear, that's a definite red flag," Pamela Mares, spokesperson for the licensing board, said. "With a licensed contractor you have a lot more recourse."

The licensing board is urging people to check if a contractor is licensed on their website at cslb.ca.gov.

"Unfortunately the licensed and good contractors are competing in an unfair environment where unlicensed people will offer what appears to be a really good deal when it's really not," Mares said.

Attempts to reach Cash at his business and on the phone were unsuccessful.