Home builder seeks Chapter 11 protection

Troubled homebuilder SierraSage LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late last month.

The Sparks-based construction company lost its contractor's license last September when the Nevada State Contractors Board revoked it, citing violations that included failure to pay for materials and failure to comply with the terms of a contract.

SierraSage was building about 100 homes in Bella Terra at Arrowcreek

and Canterbury Place, two developments in Reno, after taking over the project from another struggling builder, Solano Development Co.

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Both SierraSage and Solano are owned by Unlimited Air LLC and RWR Development of Nevada LLC, according to corporate filing records with the Secretary of State.Telephone numbers listed for SierraSage and Solano have been disconnected.

The contractors board held a recovery fund hearing last week, at which it awarded $14,500, $17,650 and $5,800 to three homeowners affected by SierraSage's troubles.

They were the first homeowner awards associated with SierraSage, according to George Lyford, director of investigations for the board in Las Vegas, and will likely be the last since another builder has taken over the project, he said.

At a board disciplinary hearing last June, Rudolph W.

Rheinschild, manager of SierraSage, said the company hoped to pay off its outstanding debts by year-end and eventually to apply to reactivate its contractor's license.

According to the bankruptcy filing, SierraSage has a long list of creditors, including American Linen, First National Bank, Hansen Landscape, Hutchinson Valuations, Logue Painting Inc., and a handful of other northern Nevada-based businesses, as well as the Internal Revenue Service and the Nevada Department of Taxation.

The builder owes more than $320,000 to about 50 creditors, according to the filing.

The bulk of it - about $240,000 -- is owed to RWR Brokers of California Inc., of Van Nuys, Calif.

The company is scheduled to make several more filings in the case this week, and a meeting of the creditors is scheduled for March 29.