Nosy Neighbors Try to School Black Contractor on His Own Job and Get Unexpected Reality Check

Someone asked if the man was a compliance officer. Another said he was straight out of a Progressive Insurance commercial.

Footage of a man giving a Black contractor the third degree about a residential build is going viral.

EJ Akeredolu, a professional homebuilder in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, posted a video of a frustrating interaction that he said is all too common.

People simply assume he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

In a Nov. 4 Instagram Reel, a nearby resident wrongly claimed Akeredolu didn’t have a proper permit. The neighbor said he had already called “the city” and wanted details about a tree survey.

Akeredolu said the neighborhood doesn’t even have an HOA. The man then launched into some unwarranted advice.

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“When you unload the excavator, you should put plywood down, or you’re going to mess up the street,” he said, adding, “It’s your project… you need to kind of supervise things.”

The catch? Akeredolu has been handling demolitions for nearly a decade.

A second nosy neighbor stood nearby, and Akeredolu graciously exchanged phone numbers with both men, promising to text them the permit.

A quick peek at his Instagram showed this wasn’t an isolated incident.

In one video on Oct. 28, a white woman shouts at him in the street.

In another video, posted on Nov. 2, he recounted the questions he fields every day: “People are trippin’. What am I building? What am I doing here?” As he wrote in the caption: “I used to be a crashout, but life taught me to pick my battles wisely.”

In his latest video, which has more than 5 million views, Akeredolu’s patience was on full display. He repeatedly addressed the man as “sir,” and commenters had mixed reactions.

A top comment asked: “Am I the only one who thinks the overuse of sir is him being totally passive-aggressive and sarcastic? I don’t think he’s really giving them the respect they think he is.”

Others, however, saw the repeated use of “sir” as a savvy way to keep the peace.

Another commenter wrote: “Yeah, no. Mind your business. You don’t own me or this property. You are not my boss. He was too kind.”