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Building inspectors help woman scammed by roofing contractor
OGDEN -- City building inspectors Stuart Murray and Nelson Thomas should run for president, said Ruth Burton, a 82-year-old widow.
"They were wonderful guys," Burton said. "They just could not believe what they saw when they came here, but they were apologetic, loving and caring."
The story began about a year ago, when Burton was having problems with a sagging roof on her North Quincy Avenue home, which she and her husband had purchased new more than 50 years ago.
After receiving several bids from contractors, Burton settled on the lowest and agreed to have the roof replaced for $6,000. Last spring, suspicious about how the roof looked, she called city building inspectors who confirmed the new roof was a disaster.
"I was sitting under the worse roof you've ever seen in your life, and the most dangerous," she said. "It was stacked on blocks! If those blocks had shifted the roof would have come down.
"I'd paid out $6,000 and I was broke," she said. "They (the contractors) took their money and left, saying they were done. They weren't bad guys -- they were just liars."
That's when Murray and Thomas stepped in to organize donations of materials and labor
Automated Structures, Stock Building Supply and Wheelwright Lumber Company all agreed to donate wood and supplies for the roof. All told, 11 different companies donated either material or money for the project.
It was an amazing display of generosity and caring, he said.
"I can't even express how impressed I've been," said Larry Rose, Burton's son-in-law. "They saw someone that was in need and they just rolled up their sleeves and went to work. I really believe both Nelson and Stuart went out and really beat the bushes and called in a lot of favors to arrange for some of these donations."
Construction on the new roof began the first weekend in August, when about 15 volunteers demolished the shoddy roof down to the interior ceilings, Rose said.
Murray and Thomas joined the effort, which resulted in the roof being mostly completed that weekend. The whole job will be finished soon, Rose said.
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The building inspector had to sign off on the job right? What happened, why didn't he see that problem then.
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