Ledger Inquirer: Woman takes case of builder not wanting to build to court
Pat Grantham has enough on her plate already without having to deal with a builder not wanting to build.
Grantham had to quit her job as a human resources consultant to care for her disabled brother and her mother, who has Alzheimer's. In addition to that, her husband is recovering from an illness.
Earlier this year, she contracted with a local company to erect an aluminum carport attached to the side of her house. The guy did the work and she thought he'd done a good job, so she contracted with him to enclose her patio so her disabled brother could come outside and enjoy the fresh air.
She paid him $4,000 up front, half the total on the contract. That was her first mistake. If a contractor asks you for money up front, ask him to leave your property and never come back.
The guy did about half the work, and none of it up to standards. The framing of the exterior wall doesn't meet code. If the sill plate, the two-by-four lying flat at the bottom of the wall, is sitting on masonry, as this one is, it must be pressure treated lumber. This guy used non-treated lumber.
In addition to that, wall studs have to be as close to plumb (straight up and down) as possible. One stud in this wall is so far out of plumb you can easily spot it without using a level. Using a level shows how badly out of plumb it is. I held a four-foot level against the base of the stud and moved it until it registered plumb. The top was a good two inches away from the stud four feet up. So you can imagine how far out of plumb it is at the top.
At another point in the wall, the top plate (the two-by-four making up the top of the wall) has a joint between two studs. It's stitched together with a scrap of two-by-four. That's a no-no, especially on an exterior, load-bearing wall.
Why didn't the city building inspectors catch these things, if a jack-leg newspaper hack spotted them so easily? Well, because they weren't aware of the construction, because the contractor didn't get a building permit for either project.
And then, in the middle of the project, the guy did a disappearing act, Grantham said. She called him repeatedly, left messages, sent letters (one of them registered) and got no response.
On top of that, because putting up the new roof required temporarily removing the gutters and downspouts, which direct rainwater away from the house, now when it rains, she gets several inches of water on her patio, enough that she's afraid it might come in under the doors and ruin her hardwood flooring.
When she finally got the city involved, by calling the Inspections and Code Department, they sent one inspector out who said there was nothing they could do.
She said she then found out that the inspector was a friend of the contractor, and she called me.
I recommended that she call the department back and ask that they send an inspector out who does not have a conflict of interest.
They did and the guy said the carport is a safety hazard because it's insufficiently braced and needs to come down.
"Tell that to the guy who put it up," she said, which in effect the city ultimately did.
Grantham decided then to go to the top, or at least the interim top. Because the former department director, Greg Coates, resigned after being unable to get certified, Deputy City Manager David Arrington has been serving as interim director.
He made sure the department issued the contractor a compliance notice, which gives him 10 days to get the carport into compliance with city code (and hence safe) or he will be hauled into Environmental Court, where the judge will decide how things will proceed.
Right now, the city is dealing only with the carport issue, because that is ostensibly a completed project and presents an immediate danger.
As for the partially enclosed patio/wading pool, Grantham went to Municipal Court and applied for the court to issue a criminal warrant against the guy for theft by conversion, the charge for taking money for a service and not providing it. That's supposed to be in Municipal Court Tuesday morning, and I plan to be there.
You have no doubt noticed that I have not identified the contractor.
That may change Tuesday after the judge issues a ruling.
Grantham also has a civil suit filed against the guy, but that won't come to court for a while.
As usual, stay tuned.
Seen something that needs work? So have I. But you can still contact me at 706-571-8570 or mowen@ledger-enquirer.com.
This story was originally published October 12, 2014 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Ledger Inquirer: Woman takes case of builder not wanting to build to court."