When home repairs don't add up

By Charles Sowell  

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 11:22 a.m. (0)

Debra Moore signed up with Greenville County Redevelopment Authority in 2006 under a federally funded program designed to improve her quality of life as an elderly disabled person by renovating her home.

What she got was a $30,000 mortgage and a home still badly in need of repair.

Work done by redevelopment authority contractors has been found to be inferior. Her deck, which was resurfaced with new boards that were supposed to be treated lumber, is warping and the boards are pulling free from the joists, exposing nails and leaving gaping holes.

“What she should have done was take us to court,” said Douglas Dent, attorney for GCRA. “Unfortunately she missed the window of opportunity to do that by waiting so long.”

GCRA reduced her original $40,000 mortgage by $10,000 and paid about $1,500 for damage done to personal possessions during construction work.

“I couldn’t afford to hire an attorney to sue,” Moore, 62, said. “I paid $50 to legal services to look into the matter for me and even that hurt. I can’t afford to fix what’s wrong with my house now, either.”

Martin Livingston, executive director of the redevelopment authority, said the work is an aberration in the non-profit organization’s otherwise spotless record.

“The work done on her home by Lawless Builders was started by Jimmy Lawless who was very ill at the time he started the work, unbeknown to us,” Dent said. “Indeed he had to quit work on the project and subsequently died.”

The contract was taken over by Hellums Builders, which completed the project.

He also disputed her claims that the deck was totally resurfaced.

“We just replaced a few boards on her deck, which was originally built by a friend of hers.”

Documents obtained by the Journal show both. In some places the documents say Moore’s deck was resurfaced, others that a few planks were replaced.

There are holes where her new heating and air conditioning system is connected to her home; wiring in her kitchen was left exposed; four of five cabinets don’t line up evenly.

Research authority inspectors passed each item. In addition, Greenville County building records show no building permits or county inspections were done.

“We are not exempt from county laws requiring that building permits be obtained,” Livingston said. “In this case, it appears, that Lawless didn’t do that.”

He said he has changed policies on permits and now requires contractors to show if a building permit is not required and why.

Hellums was not required to apply for building permits since the work he undertook was touch up in nature, Dent said.

No state Department of Health and Environmental Control permits were applied for on the removal of asbestos roofing and shingles from Moore’s home, said Adam Myrick, spokesman for DHEC.

Livingston said there are no records of how the asbestos materials were disposed of, which would be the responsibility of the contractor.

Records indicated several of the workers at Moore’s home were EPA certified to work with asbestos removal.

On the advice of Dent, the organization refused to provide the names of customers where similar work was done under the Housing and Urban Development funded project citing privacy concerns.

The HUD program that Moore took part in has been ongoing since 1975, Livingston said, and about 120 homeowners have participated.

GCRA is largely funded through federal money with about $4 million in federal funds funneling through the agency.

Dent said that in his 30 years of representing GCRA the Moore case is the only one where such severe problems have been reported.

“We’ve never had one that even approached the problems with Mrs. Moore.”