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City retrains inspector; contractor loses license after ABC 6 Investigation
http://abc6onyourside.com/news/loca...actor-loses-license-after-abc-6-investigation
COLUMBUS (WSYX/WTTE) — A Columbus Building Inspector's failure to catch some construction violations caused a homeowner to have to tear down a sun room he'd just paid $25,000 to have built. The room had been built with drywall screws, which is a code violation.
"Any inspector would have seen one drywall screw in there, it should have been, right there, stopped," said Greg Whetsell, a contractor hired to remove the building.
"Should have been red-flagged. Stopped. The whole process," he said.
Drywall screws are only strong enough to hold drywall. They're not strong enough to support structures and can fail if they have to hold up too much weight.
"So, yeah, you could have had the whole building collapse. Literally," said Whetsell.
The drywall screws were the worst of the many problems uncovered by a building inspector, who ordered construction to stop until the long list of deficiencies could be corrected. Our investigation showed that three days later, a different inspector approved the project without the deficiencies being corrected. Anthony Celebrezze, the Assistant Director of the Department of Building and Zoning Services said, "Well, in hindsight, in this case, we obviously discovered the contractor tried to cover up some of the deficiencies they chose not to make repairs on."
He says that inspector should have required the contractor to prove the deficiencies had been corrected. The inspector has been retrained.
In the meantime, Revive Remodeling, the company originally hired to build the sun room, was ordered to appear before the city Contracting Board. The company was accused of using unlicensed subcontractors, covering work before inspections, and failing to follow design plans.
Homeowner Duane Szymanski told the board there was one problem after another.
"I mean it was just issue, after issue," he said. "To the extent that it was dangerous and we had to have it torn down."
Revive Remodeling owner Mike Pirwitz blamed the problems on bad subcontractors.
"At the Better Business Bureau, we've had three complaints in three years. That's one per year," Pirwitz said. "We do about 400 jobs a year. So we have one complaint out of 400 customers a year. We do make mistakes. We hire the wrong people sometimes. And we try our best but sometimes we make mistakes," he said.
But the board found the problems started at the top, with Pirwitz himself, who didn't properly supervise the workers.
The board voted unanimously to suspend Pirwitz's license for 60 days.
Szymanski is disappointed the penalty wasn't more severe. But was gratified at least there was a penalty.
"And maybe that will protect other people from any issues that might arise out of this," he said.
Besides retraining the inspector, the city used this incident as a teaching tool. Supervisors met with all of the inspectors, going over photos, talking about the violations and explaining how important it is that something like this not happen again.
Revive Remodeling's insurance company paid Szymanski $25,000. But he's still out several thousand dollars in other expenses.
http://abc6onyourside.com/news/loca...actor-loses-license-after-abc-6-investigation
COLUMBUS (WSYX/WTTE) — A Columbus Building Inspector's failure to catch some construction violations caused a homeowner to have to tear down a sun room he'd just paid $25,000 to have built. The room had been built with drywall screws, which is a code violation.
"Any inspector would have seen one drywall screw in there, it should have been, right there, stopped," said Greg Whetsell, a contractor hired to remove the building.
"Should have been red-flagged. Stopped. The whole process," he said.
Drywall screws are only strong enough to hold drywall. They're not strong enough to support structures and can fail if they have to hold up too much weight.
"So, yeah, you could have had the whole building collapse. Literally," said Whetsell.
The drywall screws were the worst of the many problems uncovered by a building inspector, who ordered construction to stop until the long list of deficiencies could be corrected. Our investigation showed that three days later, a different inspector approved the project without the deficiencies being corrected. Anthony Celebrezze, the Assistant Director of the Department of Building and Zoning Services said, "Well, in hindsight, in this case, we obviously discovered the contractor tried to cover up some of the deficiencies they chose not to make repairs on."
He says that inspector should have required the contractor to prove the deficiencies had been corrected. The inspector has been retrained.
In the meantime, Revive Remodeling, the company originally hired to build the sun room, was ordered to appear before the city Contracting Board. The company was accused of using unlicensed subcontractors, covering work before inspections, and failing to follow design plans.
Homeowner Duane Szymanski told the board there was one problem after another.
"I mean it was just issue, after issue," he said. "To the extent that it was dangerous and we had to have it torn down."
Revive Remodeling owner Mike Pirwitz blamed the problems on bad subcontractors.
"At the Better Business Bureau, we've had three complaints in three years. That's one per year," Pirwitz said. "We do about 400 jobs a year. So we have one complaint out of 400 customers a year. We do make mistakes. We hire the wrong people sometimes. And we try our best but sometimes we make mistakes," he said.
But the board found the problems started at the top, with Pirwitz himself, who didn't properly supervise the workers.
The board voted unanimously to suspend Pirwitz's license for 60 days.
Szymanski is disappointed the penalty wasn't more severe. But was gratified at least there was a penalty.
"And maybe that will protect other people from any issues that might arise out of this," he said.
Besides retraining the inspector, the city used this incident as a teaching tool. Supervisors met with all of the inspectors, going over photos, talking about the violations and explaining how important it is that something like this not happen again.
Revive Remodeling's insurance company paid Szymanski $25,000. But he's still out several thousand dollars in other expenses.
