Poor sap

[Stephen Lagueux]

A few years ago I received a call to perform a roof inspection. It was an old house and the owner had received a grant from the county to have his roof redone. So he finds a roof contractor, the guy does the job and ate through the entire $11,000 grant. A couple of months later, the owner complained of water leaking from the roof. The contractor came once to fix it and wants nothing to do with the repairs anymore. Here are a few picks after the repairs.

General view of the house

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We could actually see daylight from the inside

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Just a few of many

Flashing over aluminium panels

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Flashing over vinyl siding

(the newer caulk is the roof guy's repair the second time around)

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I felt so bad for the owner, the kind of guy that no pennies love him, cripple from one leg and had no ressources to help him. I reffered him to a coulpe of lawyers I know. Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens too often. He was clearly taken advantage of and I told him I would testify if needed to. I havn't heard from him so far.

[Marc]

$11,000 for that little roof? Is that typical for your area?

Marc

[Stephen Lagueux]

No its not . I saw the paper work and the authority that gave out the grant probably had no clue, and the greedy contractor just robbed the owner blind. The owner was left with nothing but a leaky roof.

[kurt]

This isn't intended as an indictment, but......

When I worked as a rehabilitation specialist in the CDBG (HUD) programs back in the early 80's, there were an amazing number of shyster contractors doing stuff like this. Government programs with guaranteed payouts tend to draw some shady characters that know how to work the system.

It sounds like the program in your area could use an audit and reorganization of the administrators.

[Stephen Lagueux]

It sure could indeed. The funny thing about it is the roof guy heard of my inspection and then tried to make me look like the one who didn't know what I was doing. There was almost ground for lawsuit for defamation there. Claims can take a long time, I guess I still have time to hear from all of them.

[Tom Raymond]

Marc, the retail price of a 25 year 3 tab is over $100/square. $11 grand is high, but not too far off. I'm guessing 16 to 18 square and upwards of $8,000.

There are definately some problems with that program, the CDBG programs I was involved in the contractors were vetted by the municipality distributing the grants.

I was asked to take part in a CDBG rehab a year ago (day job) and declined, the allowances for installed product were below the retail price of materials. I was to install an entry door, door knob and deadbolt for less than $300, and provide a warranty.