GitHub Forensic Analysis vs Houzez: What $83,000 Actually Bought

The Commits Don't Lie. The Evidence Is Permanent.

Executive Summary

Metric	Value
Total Payment	$83,000 USD (~$113,700 CAD)
Payments Made	13 months
Project Duration	14 months
Total Commits	1,614
First Payment	October 2024
First Commit	November 19, 2024
Waqas Riaz's Contribution	~6% of commits
Project Status	Never deployed

$83,000 was paid to Waqas Riaz, the creator of ThemeForest's #1 real estate WordPress theme, known as Houzez. Waqas contributed approximately 6% of the code. His employees did the rest. The project was never finished, never deployed, and never delivered.

This is my documented experience. The evidence is timestamped, preserved, and permanent. The website provided by Waqas Riaz, Houzez Theme Developer is
https://dev.espmarketplace.com/.

Some design updates are still pending completion. I want to be completely fair to Waqas, but this is basically the product I have after 83,000 USD in payments and roughly 14 months of development. If anyone wants a copy of the PRD please email me at hello@ESPMarketplace.com.

The Lie That Hid Everything

"GitHub Is Unsafe"

Six months before I finally gained access to my project's code, I asked Waqas to upload my website, ESP Marketplace, to GitHub so that I could track its progress.

Waqas's response: He refused. He told me GitHub was "unsafe" because it "exposes the code" and "everyone can see it." He said someone could steal and duplicate my platform.

The reality: GitHub offers private repositories. Banks use them. Governments use them. Fortune 500 companies use them. Microsoft owns GitHub. Only invited collaborators can see private codes.

I believe he was not truthful to stop me from seeing what was actually happening with my money.

The Proof They Were Using Version Control All Along

When the repository was finally uploaded by the main developer, Shanijahania-Equal Pixels, to my GitHub account in December 2025, I discovered something revealing in the commit history:

Merge branch 'main' of 110.39.1.242:equalpixels/esp-directory

That IP address—110.39.1.242—is their internal Git server at equalpixels.

They were version-controlling my project the entire time. They maintained the project on their own server. I was never unable to view it.

When Waqas finally instructed the team to upload the repository on my firm demand, all 1,614 commits were included, revealing over a year of development history that he had kept hidden from me, the person funding the project.

Who Actually Did the Work?

The Development Team Exposed

The commit history reveals exactly who wrote the code:

Developer	Commits	Percentage	Role
shanijahania	~800+	~50%	Primary developer
MuhammadKhalil492	~500+	~31%	Secondary developer
Shoaib	~150+	~9%	Developer
Waqas Riaz	~100+	~6%	Project lead (allegedly)
Others	~64+	~4%	Various contributors

The Critical Finding

Waqas Riaz—the person I wired $83,000 to—contributed approximately 6% of the commits while collecting 100% of the money.

He told me he had "4 full-time developers" working on my project. He told me the money I was sending diligently "barely covered their costs." He told me he was "working for free" himself and not taking any money. I felt horrible.

The Github commits tell a very different story.

Who Is shanijahania?

The developer responsible for 50% of my project's code has a public GitHub profile. Here is what it reveals:

Profile Field	Information
Full Name	Shahnawaz Jahania
GitHub Username	shanijahania
Employer	equalpixels.io
Email	shanijahania@gmail.com
Website	equalpixels.in
Location	Lahore, Pakistan
Followers	2
Following	2

The Connection

Do you remember the internal Git server mentioned in the commit history?

110.39.1.242:equalpixels/esp-directory

Shahnawaz Jahania works for EqualPixels.io; The same organization was responsible for running the server that concealed my code.

This worker was not a freelancer hired specifically for my project, which was never supposed to happen. This individual seems to be an employee of Waqas—someone who works on Houzez but is also an owner of Equalpixels projects—who was temporarily assigned to my platform while I paid $6,240 per month.

The Smoking Gun—Where Did Shahnawaz Jahania Go?

The Timeline After I Stopped Paying

Date	Event
November 10, 2025	My final payment
November 10, 2025	I put the project on hold
December 24, 2025	shanijahania creates new repository: hcrm-houzez
December 2025	10 commits to the new Houzez CRM project

What Is hcrm-houzez?

Six weeks after my payments stopped, shanijahania created a new public repository called hcrm-houzez—a CRM system for Houzez.

The developer who wrote 50% of my project's code went straight back to building products for Waqas the moment my money stopped flowing.

In my opinion, this confirms what I suspected: my $83,000 was subsidizing Waqas's payroll. His employees worked on my project while I paid, then returned to Houzez products when I stopped.

The Quality Comparison—Two Standards of Work

This is where the evidence becomes undeniable.

I analyzed the code shanijahania wrote for my $83,000 project versus the code he wrote for Houzez immediately after my payments ended.

Code Quality: ESP Marketplace (My Project)

What I Paid: $83,000 USD over 13 months

Quality Metric	Assessment
Commit Messages	"no message", "fixed issue", "update", vague descriptions
Spelling in Code	Typos throughout: "udpate", "chagne", "wiht", "relateion"
Documentation	Minimal to none
Code Organization	Scattered, inconsistent structure
Merge Conflicts	Frequent, suggesting poor coordination
Code Reverts	Multiple instances of broken code being reverted
Project Duration	14 months
Final Status	Never deployed to production

Sample Commit Messages From My Project:

Date	Author	Commit Message
Nov 20, 2024	Waqas Riaz	"no message"
Nov 21, 2024	Waqas Riaz	"no message"
Nov 21, 2024	Waqas Riaz	"no message"
Nov 22, 2024	Waqas Riaz	"no message"
Dec 5, 2024	Waqas Riaz	"no message"
Dec 7, 2024	Waqas Riaz	"no message"
Jan 28, 2025	Waqas Riaz	"no message"

45+ commits with literally "no message"—no documentation of what was changed or why.

Code Quality: hcrm-houzez (Waqas's Houzez Product)

What I Paid: $0 (this was after my payments stopped)

Quality Metric	Assessment
Commit Messages	Proper, descriptive messages
Code Structure	Clean Laravel architecture
Database Schema	Complete, well-designed migrations
Models	Properly structured with relationships
Controllers	Full CRUD operations
Organization	Professional, production-ready
Project Duration	Functional foundation in approximately 1 week
Final Status	Working CRM system

What One Week of Houzez Development Included in Comparison:

Looking at the hcrm-houzez repository created December 24, 2025:

Component	Status
Complete database migrations	✅ Built
Multiple Eloquent models with relationships	✅ Built
Controllers with full CRUD operations	✅ Built
Proper Laravel file structure	✅ Built
Authentication scaffolding	✅ Built
Clean, organized, documented code	✅ Built

The Comparison: Side by Side

Aspect	My Project ($83,000)	Houzez CRM ($0 from me)
Commit Quality	"no message" × 45+	Proper descriptions
Code Spelling	"udpate", "chagne"	Professional
Time to Foundation	14 months, incomplete	~1 week, functional
Documentation	Almost none	Organized
Architecture	Scattered	Clean Laravel
Deployment	Never	Production-ready
Priority Level	Low (client project)	High (boss's product)

What This Proves

Finding	Implication
shanijahania CAN produce quality work	He chose not to for my project
Fast development IS possible	14 months of delays appears intentional
Houzez gets his best effort	I got his leftover effort
Two standards exist	Premium quality for Waqas, scraps for paying clients

Same developer. Same skillset. The developer adheres to two distinct quality standards.

When working for Waqas, Shahnawaz Jahania produces clean, professional, well-documented code in days.

Shahnawaz Jahania produced poor, undocumented, and typo-filled work over a period of 14 months on my project, for which I paid $83,000 USD.

The Financial Manipulation

Waqas says, "I'm Working for Free"

Waqas told me repeatedly that he wasn't taking any money for himself from the project. He said the $6,240 monthly payments "barely covered" his developers' costs because they were "the best and trained by him," and "he claimed he paid them much higher than regular Pakistani developers earn."

Waqas even said, his Pakistani developers were asking him why he was spending so much time on my project "for such a small amount of money each month."

He made me feel guilty. For paying him USD $83,000.

The Houzez's Waqas Riaz Reality

His Claim	The Evidence
"Working for free"	Contributed only 6% of commits
"4 full-time developers"	His existing Houzez employees
"Barely covering costs"	$83,000 USD = ~23 million Pakistani rupees
"They ask why so much work for so little"	Developer returned to Houzez immediately when payments stopped

I Asked Waqas for Documentation—Three Times

Over the course of the project, I requested:

1. Payment invoices—for my accounting records
2. Payroll hours—to understand where money was going
3. Expense breakdown—how funds were being allocated

He refused. Every time.

Waqas's explanation? "This is an in-house project. I treat this like my project. We don't worry about records like that."

In-house? I was paying $83,000. It was MY project. I was entitled to every receipt, every invoice, and every hour logged.

But he treated my money like his money. He assured me that there was no need to worry or ask questions.

The Complete Timeline

October 2024—First Payment, Zero Code

Payment	Commits
$6,240 USD (~$8,550 CAD)	ZERO

I made my first payment in October 2024. The GitHub repository shows no commits until November 19, 2024.

I paid for a month of nothing, except the PRD done with Waqas, which was done in a couple of days.

November 19, 2024 — The Project Actually Begins

Author	Commit Message
shanijahania	"Set up a fresh Laravel app"
shanijahania	"Install Breeze"
shanijahania	"Initial commit"
shanijahania	"add packages, filament, seo, media"

Note: It was Shanijahania, not Waqas, who initiated the entire project from the beginning.

November 20-21, 2024 — The Pattern Emerges

Author	Commit Message
shanijahania	"create models"
Waqas Riaz	"no message"
Waqas Riaz	"no message"
Waqas Riaz	"no message"
Waqas Riaz	"no message"
shanijahania	"Fixed images issue in post"

From day one, the pattern was established: shanijahania does substantive work with descriptions. Waqas contributes "no message" commits.

December 2024 — November 2025

Development continued with the same pattern:

• shanijahania and MuhammadKhalil492 doing the majority of actual coding
• Waqas contributing minimally with undocumented commits
• Frequent "no message" entries (45+ total)
• Typos throughout the codebase
• Multiple code reverts indicate broken functionality.
• Merger conflicts suggest poor team coordination.

Summer 2025 — I Tried to Stop

Midway through the project, I paused the payments for one month. I could see that only a small amount of work was being completed when Waqas was not on extended weekend vacations, and much of it was nonfunctional or broken. I felt deeply concerned; I was exhausted but could not sleep.

His response? He assured me everything was fine. Waqas said he wasn't angry with me for being upset.

Then Waqas said:

"Mother can do no wrong; you are like mother to me."

He didn't show me progress. He didn't offer GitHub access. He didn't explain where almost $70,000+ had already gone. However, Waqas would remind me that a payment was needed so he could pay for the development team.

He forgave me. I apologized for questioning him.

And I started paying again.

Waqas would remind me that a payment was needed so he could pay for the development team.

"I am not a rich man," Waqas would say. "I cannot afford to pay for developers; maybe it would be better if you paid on the 6th rather than the 10th of each month."

Even through Ramadan I would pay, when no work was done. There was never a break for me, just pay money.

November 10, 2025 — Final Payment

After 13 months of payments totaling $83,000, I finally stopped. The project was nowhere near complete. Core features had never been built. Nothing had been deployed.

I was exhausted. I had been working until 3 a.m. I was working until 3 a.m. on the platform to accommodate Pakistani time zones, sleeping for a couple of hours when possible, and then waking up to work another 12 hours managing my drilling and consulting operation. I had lost connections with people and life in general. I was so isolated, I began to fear for my life.

And I finally listened to the voice that had been telling me that something was terribly wrong with Waqas Riaz.

What Was Built vs. What Was Missing

Features With Some Work Done

Module	Status
User registration/profiles	Partial
Blog/Posts	Partial
Classified ads	Partial
Jobs board	Partial
Lead forms	In progress
Admin dashboard	Partial
Frontend templates	Partial

Features NEVER Built

Module	Status
Payment processing	No commits found
Subscription billing	No commits found
Credit system	No commits found
Lead matching automation	No commits found
Email automation	No commits found
Production deployment	Never attempted

After $83,000 and 14 months, I received a shell. Static pages without business logic. A car without an engine.

The Cost Analysis

Metric	Value
Total paid	$83,000 USD
Total commits	1,614
Cost per commit	$51.42
Waqas's commits	~100
Cost per Waqas commit	$830

What $83,000 Should Buy

At professional development rates ($50-150/hour), $83,000 should deliver:

• 550-1,660 hours of focused development
• A complete, functional, deployed platform
• Full documentation
• Testing and quality assurance
• Production deployment and support

What I Actually Received

• 14 months of delays and excuses
• 6% contribution from the person I paid
• Undocumented, typo-filled code
• Missing core business features
• Zero deployment
• No invoices or financial documentation
• Nothing usable

How Many Hours Were Actually Worked?

Based on my analysis of the 1,614 commits, I estimate that the actual development time is as follows. This is only an estimate; many developers will have a better understanding than I do.

Commit Type	Est. Count	Time Each	Hours
Trivial ("no message", typos, tiny fixes)	~300	10-15 min	~60
Moderate (basic features, updates)	~900	30-45 min	~500
Substantial (new modules, complex work)	~400	1-2 hrs	~500
Total Estimated Hours			~1,000-1,100

However, the sloppy quality—reverts, merge conflicts, typos, and undocumented commits—indicates that a significant portion of this time was either unfocused or wasted.

My adjusted estimate: 600-800 hours of actual productive work.

The Math That Exposes the Lie

Calculation	Amount
Estimated productive hours	600-800
Fair rate for senior Pakistani developers	$20-30/hour
Fair cost for work delivered	$14,000-21,000
I paid	$83,000
Unaccounted for	~$60,000+

He told me the money "barely covered" his developers. He told me he was "working for free." Waqas told me that his developers asked him why he spent so much time on my project for such little money.

The commits tell a different story. In my opinion, approximately $60,000 of my money is unaccounted for.

Who Is Waqas Riaz?

His Public Image

Credential	Verification
Creator of Houzez Theme	ThemeForest listing confirmed
#1 Real Estate WordPress Theme	ThemeForest ranking confirmed
54,413+ sales	ThemeForest sales counter
$79 per license	ThemeForest pricing
Estimated Gross Revenue	$4.3+ million USD
Power Elite Author	ThemeForest badge (sold over $1 million)
2,600+ five-star reviews	ThemeForest reviews
10+ years on platform	ThemeForest author history

What Waqas Told Me

His Claim	Reality
"I'm from the village"	Multi-millionaire theme author
"I'm not a wealthy man"	$4.3+ million in theme sales alone
"I give money to help children go to school"	Made me feel guilty for questioning expenses
"I'm working for free on your project"	Contributed 6% of commits
"The money barely covers developer costs"	Refused to provide any documentation

The Contrast

Public Profile	My Experience
Power Elite Author	Took $83,000, contributed 6%
54,000+ happy customers	Refused invoices three times
#1 real estate theme	Never deployed my project
Decade of success	I believe he was not truthful about GitHub being "unsafe"
Millions in revenue	Told me he was "not wealthy"

The Evidence Chain

Evidence	What It Demonstrates
October payment, November first commit	Payment collected before work began
Waqas = ~6% of commits	Minimal personal contribution
shanijahania = ~50% of commits	Employee did the actual work
45+ "no message" commits	Unprofessional, undocumented development
110.39.1.242:equalpixels server	Internal Git existed — GitHub "unsafe" claim was false
hcrm-houzez repo (Dec 24, 2025)	Developer immediately returned to Houzez
Quality comparison	Professional work for Houzez, sloppy work for me
Refused invoices (3 times)	No financial accountability
Never deployed	14 months of payments, nothing in production

The Real Waqas Riaz

He stands behind the Power Elite badge. Behind the 54,000 sales. Behind the #1 WordPress theme ranking. Behind the five-star reviews.

In my experience and opinion, this is a person who:

• Collects payment before work begins
• Has employees do the labor while collecting 100% of payment
• I believe he lied about GitHub to hide evidence from clients
• Delivers sloppy, undocumented work to paying clients
• Reserves quality work for his own products
• Refuses to provide basic financial documentation
• Uses emotional manipulation to prevent questioning
• Never finishes what he's paid to build

The commits are timestamped. The payments are documented. The evidence is permanent.

I am not asking you to take my word for it. I am showing you the evidence. Draw your own conclusions.

Reports Being Filed

This documentation and evidence will formally be submitted to:

• FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)—United States
• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre—Canada
• Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)—Pakistan
• Envato/ThemeForest—Platform where Houzez is sold
• Payoneer—Payment processor used for transfers to Waqas Riaz

These authorities are now becoming aware of my experience and are receiving the supporting documentation.

Are You a Victim Too?

If you've had a similar experience with Waqas Riaz, Favethemes, equalpixels, or custom development work related to the Houzez theme, you are not alone.

I kept silent for months because I felt ashamed. I thought I was stupid for trusting someone with such impressive ThemeForest credentials. I blamed myself.

I'm not silent anymore.

If this happened to you, I want to hear from you. Your story matters. Together, our experiences form a pattern that cannot be ignored.

Contact me to share your story.

Conclusion

I paid $83,000 USD to the creator of Evato ThemeForest's most successful real estate WordPress theme. I placed my trust in his credentials. I trusted his Power Elite reputation. I trusted his promises. I just trusted.

What I received was:

• 6% of his personal effort
• His employees' leftover time between Houzez projects
• Undocumented, sloppy code filled with typos
• Excuses instead of invoices
• "Mother can do no wrong" instead of accountability
• A project that was never deployed

The GitHub commits are timestamped. They cannot be altered. They cannot be hidden. They tell the true story of what happened to my $83,000.

This is my documented experience. my evidence. This report is my warning to others.

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Forensic analysis completed: December 30, 2025 Repository analyzed: github.com/ESP-Marketplace/ESP-Platform Total commits examined: 1,614 Evidence preserved: 45+ screenshots.

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Read the full story: Why the Houzez Theme Review?

All statements of opinion are clearly marked as such. All factual claims are supported by documentary evidence, including GitHub commit histories, payment records, and screenshots. This is based on my personal experience and documented evidence. Readers are encouraged to examine the evidence and draw their own conclusions.