A complete timeline of the controversy surrounding Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Network series 'Home Work'

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Bennion, a Utah-based homeowner, had her kitchen renovated for the series in 2019, and she had pre-existing professional connections to Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Market through her small business, as she told Insider.

Bennion shared an 18-post Instagram tale about her experience with the Merediths on January 5.

The Merediths initially told Bennion they could renovate her kitchen in three weeks for $20,000, as she wrote in an Instagram post. They ultimately decided on a budget of $25,000 during the first taping of the show, Bennion told Insider.

But Bennion went on to say that the process ended up taking five months, with Andy and Candis taking a trip to Paris amidst the renovation. The Merediths said they went to Paris for work, but a source familiar with the situation told Insider that Magnolia Network was not aware the Merediths took a trip to Paris until nearly a year after it occurred. 

Bennion also said the renovation cost her over $39,000 — and that she spent much of that money fixing issues created during the renovation.

Bennion wrote in another Instagram post that the Merediths added a deck onto the back of her kitchen, but they built it over a sprinkler system and created a drainage issue. In the same post, Bennion wrote that her home also almost flooded because of the deck, lowering the value of her home. Bennion told Insider she had to pay $18,000 to repair it.

Bennion also said that the Merediths never showed her a budget during the renovation process, despite her multiple requests for one.

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Bennion told Insider that she spoke to the Merediths about the issues she had with the renovation throughout the process, and that Candis typically responded with excuses or promises of things arriving the following day. But these promises rarely came true, according to Bennion.

The homeowner also said she reached out to producers at Magnolia Network for help during the renovation. They gave Candis a "stern talking to" after her call, according to one of Bennion's Instagram posts, but no real change occurred.

Bennion said she had developed trust in Chip and Joanna's brand after building a professional relationship with Magnolia Market, so the experience with the network disappointed her. 

"I want Magnolia to be accountable," she said. "It's mind-blowing to me that they would put Magnolia's name and reputation on the line or that they would allow these people to represent them without any sort of oversight or mentoring."

A post shared by Teisha Satterfield Hawley (@teishahawley)

Teisha Satterfield Hawley posted an eight-part Instagram story about having her home renovated for "Home Work" on January 6. Her experience was similar to Bennion's.

"Candis was always so charming," Hawley told Insider. "You could sit down with her, and she would sell you these dreams in your head. She came into our house, and she saw more than I could have ever imagined and dreamed of."

"She was so good at telling us what things could be," Hawley added. "I would get so emotionally wrapped up and think, 'Oh my gosh, my home's gonna be beautiful.'"

Hawley wrote on Instagram that she and her husband Jeff gave the Merediths $45,000 to renovate their living space in four weeks. Ten weeks later, after the Merediths had only demoed their home and laid damaged flooring while the Hawley family lived out of their basement, Candis told the Hawleys they would need an additional $40,000 to make the project work, according to a follow-up post shared on Hawley's Instagram account.

In another Instagram post, the Hawleys wrote that they told the Merediths not to come back after they asked for the additional money, choosing to figure out how to fix their home without their help.

"People with 'celebrity' status can't have power over others just because they feel like they can," Hawley told Insider, adding that "the Magnolia name (as well as Chip and Jo's)" gave them "a sense of safety and security" in working with the Merediths.

"There are many families and even businesses that have been harmed by these people," she added, speaking of the Merediths. "It all needs to be put to an end."

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Vienna and Rob Goates also shared their "Home Work" experience on Friday via Instagram.

The Goateses, who have five children, wrote in an Instagram post that they gave the Merediths $50,000 for the $100,000 renovation they were going to do on their home in February 2020. According to the same post, the Goateses wired the money after Candis asked them for the amount to secure deposits for subcontractors working on their home.

According to another Instagram post from the Goateses, months passed and work did not begin on their home, and when Rob was laid off in May 2020, Candis told the couple that she could help pay for the renovations. The couple said they tried to give Candis the benefit of the doubt, particularly because she came endorsed by the Gaineses.

"We had faith in the reputation of Chip and Joanna and their beloved Magnolia brand and Candis' repeated assurances that everything would work out," Vienna wrote on Instagram. 

The Goateses told Insider that by September 2020, the Merediths still had not started working on their home, and they decided to ask for their money back. They said Candis agreed to pay them back, but she kept delaying payments — even after the couple hired a lawyer. 

The Merediths later told Insider they still intend to pay the Goateses back, though they have been late on some payments. 

A post shared by Vienna Goates (@thelatesew)

To date, according to the Goateses' Instagram, the Merediths have paid them $14,000 of the $50,000 they owe.

The Goateses told Insider they were hesitant about going public with their allegations, but it felt like the only option they had left. "We've been doing everything in our power to resolve this privately for the last two years," Vienna said. "We got a lawyer. We went through all the proper channels. We tried our best, and it just never happened."

The couple said they also reached out to a Discovery+ lawyer, but that the attorney "brushed off" their concerns.

"They said, 'We believe that they intend to repay you and you've already got a lawyer involved, so we don't feel that this is something we need to get involved with,'" Vienna said of her email exchange with the lawyer. 

"The knowledge that we're in the right here, that we were kind and that we always took the high road, is some comfort," the Goateses wrote in an Instagram post about the experience. "That kindness and our extreme patience were taken advantage of, and that is such a huge violation that we feel so deeply, but our consciences are clear, and that's no small thing."

A post shared by Andy and Candis Meredith (@andyandcandis)

In a statement to Insider that was also shared on Instagram, the Merediths denied the claims by the Hawleys, the Goateses, and Bennion.

"Although we cannot speak for anyone but ourselves, we can say that we have always tried to give everything we have to make anyone we work with happy," the couple wrote, adding that they "adamantly deny" they stole money from clients. 

"It is true that we are sometimes left with outstanding balances, but we always pay, even if it takes some time for us to make arrangements," the statement read.

The Merediths also went on to say they had spent their own money on projects for their clients.

"We will adamantly defend that from the very small group of people who are upset with us, or whom we have been accused of hurting," the statement went on to say. "We have not made a single penny from the hundreds and hundreds of hours we have invested in their projects and we have paid our own money, tens of thousands of dollars, to try to make them happy, give them what they want and create an overall positive outcome."

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Although Page's statement said it was reviewing the allegations against the Merediths, the Hawleys, the Goateses, and Bennion say they had not heard from Magnolia Network as of Monday afternoon.

"We all would love to give them all the information that we have, and we have yet to hear from them," Hawley told Insider. "From our standpoint, we have not seen any investigation in this."

Magnolia Network did not respond to Insider's request for an update on its internal review.

A post shared by Andy and Candis Meredith (@andyandcandis)

The Merediths told Insider they didn't realize Bennion or the Hawleys were so unhappy with their renovations until their public statements. 

They said they were particularly surprised by Bennion's discontent because she seemed happy when they revealed her home to her, as they showed in a video they posted on their Instagram, though Bennion previously said she "feigned excitement" in her own Instagram post.

The Merediths went on to say that there "were hard conversations and misunderstandings about this project and budget" with Bennion throughout the renovation, "but we were absolutely under the impression that we had resolved those issues together."

A post shared by Andy and Candis Meredith (@andyandcandis)

Candis and Andy also said they paid $32,000 out of their own pockets to complete the renovation on Bennion's kitchen. But Bennion said she still ended up paying $39,000 herself, in large part to cover the cost of issues that arose from the renovation, as previously mentioned.

The Merediths said they did not know Bennion had lingering issues with the renovation until April 28, 2020, more than two months after the reveal date. Bennion previously shared a screenshot of that conversation on her own Instagram. The Merediths said they have not heard from her directly since. 

Bennion did not respond to Insider's request for comment on the Merediths' statements.

A post shared by Andy and Candis Meredith (@andyandcandis)

Although the Hawleys allege the Merediths completed barely any work on their home, Candis and Andy said that the renovation was almost done when Teisha and Jeff pulled out of the project.

"The first part — demo, rough electrical, rough plumbing, drywall, mud tape, texture — takes the bulk of your money," she said. 

In the phone call in which Jeff pulled out of the renovation, Candis said Jeff said he would sue her and Andy if their countertops could not be delivered by the coming Friday, which made her feel "threatened," and he only told her not to come back after she wouldn't agree.

"We had no sense whatsoever that they were as dissatisfied as they claim," the Merediths said. "We got within a week of completing the project when Jeff asked for a phone call."

Candis said she thinks she could have communicated with the Hawleys better about what she could realistically do for their home, adding that she should have made clear to them that the materials they were able to use for the project wouldn't be of the highest quality given their budget.

Candis also said that Teisha raised their budget to $64,698 herself after they had a "difficult conversation" about the project, and shared screenshots of a Google Sheet that appear to show this to her Instagram. 

The Merediths told Insider they have not heard from the Hawleys directly since February 20, 2020. The Hawleys did not respond to Insider's request for comment on the Merediths' statements.

A post shared by Andy and Candis Meredith (@andyandcandis)

The Merediths told Insider they were not able to give the Goateses back the $50,000 immediately because they had given it to their contractor.

They told Insider the contractor did not give the money back and eventually stopped responding to their messages, which is when they decided to pay the Goateses' loan, interest fees, and legal fees back themselves. The Merediths did not wish to share the contractor's details with Insider for privacy reasons.

They said they are still paying back the loan at the time of writing. Insider was able to review correspondence between Candis and the Goateses' lawyer about the payments. The Merediths said that they have sometimes been late on those payments, but they are making them as they can. 

The Goateses declined to comment when contacted by Insider for this story.

A post shared by Andy and Candis Meredith (@andyandcandis)

Candis and Andy told Insider they were "frustrated" with these allegations, as they said the homeowners have not spoken to them directly about their issues in the nearly two years they could have.

"Although we acknowledge how difficult things have been for homeowners, we have always been available to discuss, and we would've been more than open to hearing how they were feeling to come to some kind of agreement," Candis said. "We were always willing to try to make something better for them. And ultimately we genuinely just wanted them to love their homes."

Andy said "it's obvious" the statements made against them were "prepared and launched at us at a time to hurt us the most personally and not in a way to fix or to address the actual issues," adding that they were intended "to take us down."

"We're not here to take away anything that they're feeling," Candis said of the homeowners' experiences, adding that any renovation is tough, especially for a television show, and that the timelines "were too crazy."

But "it is very hard for us to see the narrative being written on one side," Candis added. "We're just trying to say that  we genuinely did everything we could in the moment."

If you want to get in touch with Insider regarding Andy and Candis Meredith or "Home Work," email sgrindell@insider.com.