Sober Living Riches Review: What the Program Is, What It Costs, and What Customers Say

Sober Living Riches is a paid coaching program sold to people who want to open sober living homes, marketed through a free masterclass and an application call rather than a published price. It is the offer aspiring operators ask us about most often, and until recently almost nothing about it could be checked from the outside. That changed when a customer complaint and the company’s own response were published by the Better Business Bureau.

Vanderburgh Sober Living sells operator education, including coaching and training for people opening sober living homes. That makes us a competitor of Sober Living Riches, and you should read this page knowing it. Every factual statement below is sourced beside the claim, mostly to documents the company itself wrote or to captures of its own pages, and anything that is our opinion is labeled as opinion.

What Sober Living Riches Is and How It Is Sold

The offer is a coaching community rather than a storefront. A free masterclass collects an email address, an application call follows, and the enrollment happens on that call.

• The main site, soberlivingriches.com, describes courses, one-to-one and group coaching, a member community, a deal calculator and state licensing guides.
• The funnel runs through a free masterclass page that leads to an application call.
• A Whop listing carries the line “18 sober living homes. Helping you start, fill and scale a sober living portfolio in 90 days or less,” shows 1,007 people joined, and states “No products currently available to the public” on its public page.
• The seller is SLRiches LLC. Its terms of use state that “Sober Living Riches™ and Impact Circle™ are trademarks of SLRiches LLC,” and pick California law and Solano County venue.

All four pages were captured on 11 September 2026. The company also holds a Better Business Bureau profile in Vacaville, California, opened on 3 April 2026. It is not BBB accredited, and BBB lists it as Not Rated because it has not been tracked long enough to rate.

What Sober Living Riches Costs

No price is published on any of the company’s own platforms. The figure that is on the public record comes from the Better Business Bureau complaint file: a customer states she was charged $8,800 on 30 March 2026 for the coaching program, with a $440 down payment and the balance financed through a third-party payment provider. The company’s published response to that complaint describes the same enrollment and the same financing arrangement and does not dispute the amount.

That is now the best figure available, and it is worth more than any number circulating in blog posts, because both sides of it are on the record with a neutral body. A figure of roughly $9,800 circulates in third-party write-ups; we are not repeating it, because the write-up carrying it lists Vanderburgh House material among its own sources and citing it would amount to citing ourselves through an intermediary.

Note the payment structure, because it matters more than the headline number. A buyer does not write an $8,800 cheque. A buyer signs a financing agreement with a third party for a small deposit, and the obligation sits with that provider rather than with the seller. The company states the position plainly in its own response: “We don’t collect, store, or have access to any of our members’ financial information. Any payment arrangement is between the member and that provider.”

What the Program Says It Includes

From the company’s own description of what a member receives, given in its response to the Better Business Bureau: a community platform invitation giving access to “our full course library, over two years of recorded coaching calls with transcripts, real estate training,” an intake form, a link to schedule a first private coaching session, weekly live calls, and an assigned one-to-one coach. Its marketing pages add a deal calculator and state licensing guides.

The 90-day frame on the Whop listing is the part worth testing before paying. Renting a property and welcoming residents inside 90 days is achievable in most states. Holding certification, a county agreement or stable occupancy is not, for reasons set out in what the timeline to open a sober living home really looks like.

The Better Business Bureau Complaint, in Both Parties’ Words

One complaint sits on the company’s BBB complaint file, filed 3 April 2026, categorized as a billing issue and marked Answered. It is reproduced there in full, with the company’s replies. It is the most complete account of how this program is sold and what a dissatisfied buyer runs into, and both sides are worth reading rather than summarizing.

What the customer says. She describes a conference call about coaching services to help her open a sober living home, being advised to pay through a financing provider and enroll in a payment plan, and being charged $8,800 on 30 March 2026. In her words: “I never received any coaching, guidance, or services as promised.”

What the company says. Its response sets out a detailed timeline: a 48-minute introductory call on 27 March, a follow-up call on 30 March at which the customer and her sister enrolled, onboarding emails and community invitations sent the same day, a call and text from an assigned coach on 2 April, and a personal call and video walkthrough on 3 April. The company states that “Neither of them accepted the community invitations, responded to Dr. [REDACTED] call, text, or email, responded to the onboarding email, or accessed any of the course materials.”

What the customer says back. She does not dispute that access was offered. Her rebuttal is that access is not delivery: “the company acknowledges that neither of us accessed, logged into, or used any portion of the course, coaching, or community. This is undisputed. While the company states that access was provided, mere access does not constitute the delivery, performance, or consumption of services.” She also states that “the agreement does not provide any clear or reasonable cancellation process or timeframe.”

How it ends. The company replies that “The agreement has been canceled by the 3rd party financing company, and there is no remaining balance owed,” and defends its position on the merits: “Under California law, which governs our agreement, providing access is the delivery of the service. A member who chooses not to log in or engage does not undo that delivery, nor does it create a right to a refund under contract or equitable principles.”

In our view, that last sentence is the single most useful thing a prospective buyer could read before an application call, and it is the company’s own published position rather than our characterization of it. If you enroll and never log in, the company’s stated view is that it has delivered. Whether a court would agree is a separate question and not one we are answering. What is not in dispute is that the buyer should know that is the position before signing, and should ask what the cancellation process actually is, because the customer in this file says she could not find one.

What Sober Living Riches Reviews Say

A one-star review dated 7 September 2025 on a consumer review site, headlined “Stay Away from this Company,” describes the referral contacts that the program provides. The reviewer writes:

“During the sells call I was told they have contacts that you can use to get referrals. They shared the contacts and out of the 62, only 22 were working contacts and all the 22 didn’t know about the group, they had never dealt with the group and no trust was built, so basically you have to get your own referrals.”

The same reviewer writes that the mentorship was not what was described: “We were also told Andrew will mentor us but I wasn’t very convinced he can mentor everyone but the sales person said he is pretty available… He wasn’t available, his webinars are a bunch of general information.”

We cannot independently confirm that this reviewer purchased the program, and we are presenting it as what it is: one dated, detailed, published review. It is worth attention for a specific reason. A promise to provide referral contacts is one of the elements that can bring a paid business offering inside the Federal Trade Commission’s Business Opportunity Rule, which requires a disclosure document where the seller represents it will provide outlets, accounts or customers. What that means for a buyer is covered in what you can do when a paid training program does not deliver.

What Operators Are Saying in Facebook Groups

Comment threads in sober living owner groups carry further complaints, and they should be weighed carefully rather than counted. We have read them and we are not republishing the accusations of criminality that some of them contain, because we cannot verify them and neither can a reader.

What can fairly be reported is the pattern. More than one commenter describes the same sequence found in the BBB file: a payment made, access that never materialized in a usable form, and difficulty reaching anyone afterwards. One, writing in a measured register, told a prospective buyer: “Just please do your research, it’s such a bummer spending thousands on something that lands you right back in the same place you were in to begin with but with less money to put towards your business.”

None of those individual accounts has been verified by us. We are reporting that they exist and that they describe the same shape of experience as the complaint that the Better Business Bureau published, which is a fact about the public record rather than a finding about the company.

Why “NARR Approved” Documents Are Not a Real Thing

Document packs in this category are sometimes described as NARR approved or NARR aligned. The National Alliance for Recovery Residences does not certify individual residences and does not approve paperwork: its own certification page states that “NARR does not certify individual recovery residences. Instead, recovery housing certification and recertification is done by NARR’s state Affiliates” (NARR).

Certification attaches to a house that an affiliate has inspected, never to a file. A buyer who pays for paperwork believing it carries a credential has bought something that does not exist, and the affiliate will still inspect. The full treatment, including who certifies in your state and what it costs, is in what NARR approved really means.

Keep reading How to Certify a Sober House: An Overview of NARR Affiliate Certification What certification involves, what it costs, and how the process works in every state. →

Two of the Homes in the Advertising Are Ours

In September 2026 two advertisements on founder Andrew Lamb’s Facebook page carried photographs of Vanderburgh Sober Living chartered homes, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and South Portland, Maine. Both photographs were made for Vanderburgh Sober Living and appear on those homes’ own pages, and no permission to use them was requested from us. The operator of the Pittsfield home replied publicly on the advertisement to say she runs that house and has no connection to the advertiser.

That belongs to the coach rather than to the product, and it is set out with the captions, the arithmetic and the links to both homes in what the public record shows about Andrew Lamb.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sober Living Riches

What do Sober Living Riches reviews say?

There are few published Sober Living Riches reviews and they are mostly negative. The fullest account on the record is a Better Business Bureau complaint from April 2026 describing an $8,800 charge for coaching the customer says she never received, answered in detail by the company. A one-star review from September 2025 says the referral contacts supplied did not work. Public comments in sober living owner groups describe a similar sequence: money paid and access that never became usable coaching. The company disputes that characterization and its response is quoted in full above.

How much does Sober Living Riches cost?

No price is published on the company’s own platforms. A Better Business Bureau complaint filed in April 2026 states a charge of $8,800 with a $440 down payment, financed through a third-party provider, and the company’s published response does not dispute the amount or the arrangement.

Is Sober Living Riches legitimate?

It is a real company with a real operating business behind it and a Better Business Bureau profile. Whether it delivers value is contested: one BBB complaint and several public reviews describe paying and receiving nothing usable, and the company disputes that characterization in detail on the same file.

Does Sober Living Riches offer refunds?

The company’s published position is that providing access is delivery, and that a member who does not log in has no right to a refund. A complainant states the agreement sets out no clear cancellation process or timeframe. Ask for written cancellation terms before paying.

What are the Sober Living Riches complaints about?

The published complaints follow one shape: money paid after an application call, access that the buyer says never became usable coaching, a refund refused, and difficulty reaching anyone afterwards. An earlier review focuses on referral contacts, of which the reviewer says 62 were supplied and 22 worked.

Is Sober Living Riches worth it for a new operator?

That depends on information a buyer cannot see before the call. Without a published price, published cancellation terms, or a stated NARR level being taught, there is no way to compare the offer against a free state affiliate route or another paid program.

What are the alternatives to a paid sober living coaching program?

NARR publishes its national standard, every state affiliate publishes its own certification requirements and fee schedule, and SAMHSA publishes recovery housing funding guidance, all free. Those cover most of what a paid startup document pack contains.

What should you ask before paying a recovery housing coach?

Ask which NARR level you are being taught to open, how many homes the coach has personally operated and where, whether those homes still operate, the total price in writing, and what the cancellation process is. Get the last two in writing before the call ends.

What to Establish Before Paying Any Recovery Housing Coach

The questions that protect a buyer are the same whichever program is in front of them. Which NARR level am I being taught to open. How many homes have you personally operated, and are they still open. What is the total price and the cancellation process, in writing, before this call ends. The full list, with the answer a substantive program gives to each, is in the questions to ask a sober living coach before you pay.

If you are still deciding, the free and paid Sober Living Riches alternatives are compared side by side, with published prices where they exist.

If you have documentation that changes anything on this page, including documentation from the company, we want it and we will correct the page and date the correction. Send it to us.

Corrections: tell us through our contact page. Substantive corrections are noted on this page with the date.

Updated 21 October 2026: added Sober Living Riches’ statement that one commenter’s payment was refunded in full on 4 August 2026, and removed our summary of that commenter’s account.

Research and Sources

• Better Business Bureau. (2026). Sober Living Riches business profile. BBB serving the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern Coastal California.
• Better Business Bureau. (2026). Sober Living Riches customer complaints.
• California Department of Health Care Services. (n.d.). Licensing and certification complaints.
• National Alliance for Recovery Residences. (n.d.). Certification.
• Sober Living Riches. (2026, September 11). Home page [Archived].
• Sober Living Riches. (2026, September 11). Masterclass [Archived].
• Sober Living Riches. (2026, September 11). Terms of use [Archived].
• Whop. (2026, September 11). Sober Living Riches listing [Archived].