STAMFORD, Vt. — In pursuit of a completely sustainable home in idyllic Southern Vermont, movie star Susan Sarandon alleges in a new lawsuit she instead found shoddy work and questionable billing by a Clarksburg contractor.

Sarandon bought a property in Stamford, Vt., which borders Massachusetts in Southern Vermont, in 2018. The award-winning actor’s limited liability company, The Right to Bear Farms, brought suit against Clarksburg resident Chad DeGrenier, his wife, Carin DeGrenier, and their company, DeGrenier Contracting and Property Management LLC, in federal court in Springfield on Aug. 17.

The suit seeks a jury trial to assess damages for breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment against the independent contractor in Clarksburg. Sarandon accuses DeGrenier Contracting of inaccurate invoices and charging for work that didn’t happen.

The intention of the “Thelma & Louise” lead’s purchase of her County Road property in Stamford was to construct a single-family home that “would ideally be entirely off-the-grid,” particularly “in light of increasing global environmental instability,” according to the suit. Sarandon wanted to build a single-family home on the property, which had only a small cabin on the site when she bought it.

Sarandon’s suit claims that DeGrenier misrepresented his qualifications in building the home she asked for, and that “Mr. and Mrs. DeGrenier were inconsistent in their invoicing, accounting, and record-keeping practices.”

During a November 2022 visit to the Vermont home, she and her family “observed a number of issues with construction completion and quality.” The suit alleges that DeGrenier “downplayed” Sarandon’s concerns. But Sarandon and her friends again observed issues in January 2023.

In February 2023, Sarandon commissioned an engineering investigative report that found 47 problems both minor and major, from mold developing on the exterior overhang by the porch to roof, ceiling and insulation issues.

“Many of these construction defects are due to Mr. DeGrenier’s consistent failure to select and manage qualified, independent contractors, and his practice of selecting friends and family members to construct or install specific portions of the home, as well as due to his failure to properly manage those contractors that he did select,” the suit reads.

Chad DeGrenier was at one point also hired to be the property’s caretaker. Sarandon’s suit alleges that he did little to that effect, despite taking $140,000 in the name of the job, and allegedly investing $91,000 in a snowblower, registered in his name.

DeGrenier did not return a request for comment on Monday.

The house sits high on a hill, at 2,062 feet above sea level, with views southeast to a line of wind turbines on a far ridge in Florida, The Eagle reported in 2021. Sarandon purchased the 47-acre property for $297,000.