Celebrity Homes

The folks who built Beyonce and Jay-Z's new Bel-Air house apparently scored a fortune off them, but screwed the little guy who did the dirty work ... this according to a new lawsuit.

Qwest Engineering is suing famed real estate developer Dean McKillen and Cuesta Estate -- the developers of Bey and Jay-Z's $88 million estate -- for allegedly stiffing them on at least $200k of work Qwest says it did on the house prior to it being sold to the couple.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Qwest says McKillen and Cuesta asked them to do all the excavating on the house and to specifically carve out a space for a future basement.

Qwest says that required 2,000 sq. feet at a height of 12 feet and 888 cubic yards of dirt to be taken out ... which they say they quickly wrapped up over 5-6 weeks with McKillen and Cuesta breathing down their necks.

When it was time to pay up ... Qwest says McKillen and Cuesta came up empty-handed, and never gave 'em their cash -- an alleged whopping $205,337.

Even more interesting ... Qwest says McKillen and Cuesta can't claim they're broke on this one, 'cause Qwest says the developers made a FAT profit off Bey and Jay in selling it for $88 mil. Qwest says McKillen and Cuesta paid only "a small fraction" of that purchase price to demolish and reconstruct the home that was eventually sold.

We broke the story ... Jay and Bey have continued to pour money into their home, and an underground living area of this type sounds like what they were still building back in October.

Qwest wants its dough and then some ... they're asking for more than $1.8 mil in punitive damages, too. We've reached out McKillen ... he said the lawsuit was based on false info, and that Qwest is not owed that money.

Calvin Harris paid homage to Steve Angello ... actually, he paid him millions of bucks for his home.

Calvin bought Angello's 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath L.A. home for $5.045 million, and got a deal, too ... the home was originally listed for $5.5 million.

The two have been friends for years and we're told Calvin was sold on the crib since it had a recording studio. It also has a pool, guesthouse and 18-foot ceilings with glass walls, so Calvin can get inspiration looking out into the canyons.

The house is right under the Hollywood sign ... which is kinda awesome.

New parents Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova are going all Donald Trump to make their Miami mansion a fortress of privacy for their twins.

We broke the story ... Anna gave birth to the twins, a boy and a girl, and while she was secretly pregnant, the couple started building a huge 16-foot-tall wall around their Miami home. Construction started in late summer, deep into Anna's 2nd trimester.

According to city building permits, they're also adding a 2-story single family residence to their property -- along with baby-proofing measures, like a "child barrier for pools."

The wall makes sense. Privacy is totally Enrique and Anna's M.O. -- since they clearly went though a whole pregnancy without anyone ever knowing.

The docs say the home makeover will cost $600k when it's all said and done.

Phaedra Parks is having a good ole fashioned French provincial sale ... which has less to do with 18th Century Paree, than it does 21st Century ATL.

"The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star's unloading her 4 bedroom, 6 bath home which she bough in 2013 for $845k. Phaedra could be turning a nice profit since she's listed it for $1.195 million.

That's the bargain price, too -- she initially put it on the market in July for $1.499 mil.

The pad has a pool, nice yard and a sweet covered patio area for chilling through hot ATL summers. As for why Phaedra's bolting -- we're told she has another home in Atlanta.

Tennis legend Jimmy Connors is pretty cool and calm ... considering there's a raging fire threatening his mansion in Montecito, CA.

The 65-year-old (who looks great, btw) was out with his family at Madeo when he told us the Thomas Fire, raging in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, is too close to his home for comfort.

"I'm trying to avoid the fires up in Montecito ... so, hopefully that works out and everybody's safe out there for the holidays."

Connors reportedly owns an 8,000 square foot mansion in the area, where he's lived since 2001.

Marc Summers -- the host of the '90s hit kids' show "Double Dare" -- just evacuated his home amid a growing inferno in Santa Barbara, and took what mattered ... his TV clips.

Marc posted a video Saturday showing blazes from the Thomas fire at what might as well be a stone's throw away in the Santa Barbara mountains near his property.

TMZ spoke to Marc, who tells us ... he and his fam just left this weekend, but packed up a lot of their valuables about a week ago, including jewelry, family photo albums, marriage and birth certificates, passports ... and over 1,000 tapes of Marc's TV gigs.

We're told he was able to convert those tapes to DVDs a while ago, and saved a good chunk -- which, of course, contain episodes from "Double Dare" and other TV appearances.

Benji Madden hired a remodeling crew to overhaul the house where he and Cameron Diaz live, but after what he call shoddy, overpriced work ... the rock star is suing.

The Good Charlotte member says he made a deal with Ryan Silverman and The Wooden Palate in Spring 2015 to remodel his spare bedroom, kitchen, laundry room, deck and a man cave.

According to the docs ... workers finished the project in October 2016 -- at which point Madden had forked over $478,509 -- but he said the job "was done improperly and would have to be redone" ... especially the man cave.

In the suit, Benji says custom built doors for the wine cellar had to be repaired, along with other defects, to the tune of an extra $78k. All in all, Madden wants more than $500k back in damages and a big refund ... plus his legal fees.

The abode Drake Bell and Josh Peck called home on their popular Nickelodeon show just hit the market ... and it's got plenty of room.

The San Fernando Valley crib show producers used for exterior shots is up for a cool $1.85 million. It's got 5 bedrooms, 5 baths, a tennis court and a pool.

Drake and Josh shared a bedroom on TV ... but the real crib has enough space for both brothers, their parents and little sister -- played by Miranda Cosgrove -- to each have their own room.

Adam Levine suddenly has $18 mil worth o' holiday cheer after striking a sweet real estate deal.

TMZ has learned Levine is in escrow on his 9,221 square foot Holmby Hills home. We're told the purchase will be finalized in the coming week and the buyer is paying ALL CASH!!! His realtor, Kurt Rappaport, handled the sale.

Adam bought the home just 5 months ago but decided to ditch it since it needed a ton of work, and he didn't want to deal with construction while he and Behati have baby #2 on the way.

The 5 bedroom, 6 bath home was listed for $18.9 million, but he accepted an $18 mil offer -- exactly what he paid for it. Easy come, easy go.

Pierce Brosnan isn't leaving any loose ends burning -- just 14 days after he was sued over a house fire ... the lawsuit's been dismissed.

TMZ broke the story ... Pierce was sued by Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. claiming in 2015 it was forced to pay for damages to Pierce's neighbor's house. It caught fire after flames spread from a blaze at Pierce's pad. In the suit, the insurance company said the whole thing started because 007 failed to throw out rags susceptible to spontaneous combustion.

What a difference 2 weeks makes? On Monday, the Fireman's Fund Ins. Co. filed new docs to have the case dismissed, the court signed off and that's it. Case closed.

JWoww's massive 7,000 square foot New Jersey home isn't right on the Jersey shore but it's close and, HUGE BONUS ... the buyer won't have to go far for all their GTL needs.

JWoww just listed her 6 bedroom, 5 bath home in Toms River for $1.59 million. And while it's got a big kitchen with 2 islands, lagoon pool and slide, the pad is a true "Jersey Shore" fan's dream because there's a gym, tanning bed and laundry room inside the pad.

Ellen DeGeneres is back in her old haunt -- Montecito, CA -- and, while her new estate there is a little smaller, it shares a property line with Oprah Winfrey ... TMZ has learned.

Ellen's new spread put her back just under $7.2 mil and sits on nearly 6 acres and includes 2 Spanish style homes -- one is 3,000 sq. ft and was built in 1845. The other is 3,600 sq. ft. ... built in 2006. There's also a barn for horses -- and the place has amazing ocean views.

It's in a gated community right next to Oprah. Ellen can literally go knock on her door for a cup of sugar.

Ellen's still in the process of selling her old Montecito mansion -- that one was on 17 acres -- for $39.5 million. And, oh yeah, the land baroness just snapped up a beach pad down the coast in Carpinteria, CA.

4:50 PM PT -- Rob Lowe has evacuated his home due to the Thomas Fire.

Ellen DeGeneres' new beach side house is now under threat of being scorched by SoCal wildfires ... and it sounds like she's starting to evacuate.

Ellen tweeted Sunday that she just had to evacuate her pets from her recently purchased beach house in Carpinteria, for which she plunked down $18.6 million in October.

It's unclear if Ellen herself is being ordered to leave, or if she's already left, but it sure seems like the flames near her -- now dubbed the Thomas Fire -- are starting to get too close for comfort. So far, it's reportedly burned at least 200,000 acres in the area.

The fire has also spread to Montecito, which is home to tons of celebs who could potentially end up being affected, such as Oprah, Jeff Bridges, Drew Barrymore, Rob Lowe, and Patrick Stewart ... just to name a few.

Looks like Ellen is already taking precautions. Our advice to everyone else ... get out.

R. Kelly's back at his home in Atlanta, but it's not even close to the way he left it ... because burglars cleaned him out!

As we reported ... cops ID'd a suspect who allegedly took everything that wasn't nailed down out of the singer's 2 Atlanta cribs in back-to-back burglaries over Thanksgiving weekend while he was touring.

The scope of the thefts is astounding -- furniture, TVs, and even his washer and dryer ... all gone. He suggests in the vid it was done by someone he let get too close to him, which syncs up with what cops told us -- that one of Kelly's associates, Alfonso Walker, was fingered as the mastermind.

The singer also thanks his fans for showing him love and helping him stay positive despite the ordeal ... and vows to keep making music.

The Texas home owned by NBA star Chris Bosh had all of the hallmarks of a traditional drug trafficking den ... from iron gates to security cameras -- this according to the cops who raided the joint.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Bosh's mother, Frieda, is listed as a suspect in an alleged crack cocaine and heroin trafficking operation based out of the home Chris owns in DeSoto, Texas.

Cops conducted an covert sting operation to obtain evidence -- which included sending an undercover officer to the home on Tuesday to snatch and grab trash bags that had been left outside of the home.

Officials say investigators sifted through the trash and found tons of evidence -- including baggies with cocaine residue, weed paraphernalia, burned joints and mail with Frieda's name on it.

As for the drug trafficking den -- cops say the home was guarded by a large iron fence and outfitted with security cameras ... "a common tactic for drug traffickers" for obvious reasons.

Cops say one of the suspects has a rap sheet that includes violent crime -- including an incident where he was arrested for allegedly shooting a guy in the face during a drug deal.

One law enforcement source tells TMZ Sports ... Chris is not suspected of any wrongdoing and his only real connection is the fact he owns the property.

So, how the hell did Bosh's mother get mixed up in such a dangerous situation? Unclear at this point.

Kristen Wiig's a big fan of masterpieces ... especially when it comes to her crib.

The super funny lady dropped $2,960,000 for a 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom Pasadena pad that's a Mid-Century gem ... with walls of glass, pool, spa, gardens and a seamless indoor/outdoor feel. The 3,425 square foot home also has lots of patios and vistas.

Check out the pics ... there's a lot to be jealous over. Even the dog looks adorable, though probably not part of the sale.