My daughter hired a friend to do work on her home for flood damage earlier this year. My sister and I have just come from a visit with her and her 2 children. The home looked lovely.
We noticed some noises coming from the kitchen that night. We mentioned the noise to my daughter and she stated she thought she had a mouse coming from under the sink cupboard. My sister looked under and noticed a large pool of water. My daughter stated it happened after the improvements were done. We also noticed that the holes for the pipes were very large, We looked at an apple on the counter, and realized it had been partially eaten by a rat. The next night we heard rats in the walls going up the stairs. It must have been playing with the electrical wires because we could hear marettes tapping on the walls. We also noted numerous serious, dangerous electrical problems, such as, no gound fault interrepters in the kitchen or bathrooms, My granddaughter uses her curling iron above the sink in the bathroom every morning. The kitchen counters were not measured properly, so, the kitchen stove's oven door chips the wall every time she attempts to opens the oven, and the dishwasher cannot fit under the counter. If 2 small appliances are turned on, it trips the breaker.
My daughter had a serious brain injury 4 years ago, that has left her less capable of making good decisions, She is a single mother working a low paying job, She would need a representative to help her to get the right way to proceed in actions to have these serious problems corrected. I live far away, and am on a small pension, What can be done?
Thank you for listening
Look up the Better Business Bureau and or the Chamber Of Commerce in your area, and get 2 or three contractors with good reviews to give you estimates to correct the problems. Once you have these estimates in hand, go to the " Friend " that did the job and ask him to fix the problems by a certain date ( reasonable time frame ) If the Friend cannot fulfil there part of the verbal agreement in that time , you must tell them you will have no choice but to sue them for the cost of the cheapest estimate to fix the problems they said they were going to fix.
Call your closest "Legal Aid" and tell your story. There may be some free legal advice and assistance. As to the work, because it was a friend and, sounds like, not qualified to do the work, ... not a good situation. It appears as though the safety codes were not followed and other precautions were not considered. Sorry to hear this story but it's why we all recommend using a qualified person.
Good luck.
Mark
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