Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Contractors kicked down the door and gutted the place — but it was the wrong house
The State ^ | 2/18/2017 | Mark David Smith

Posted on 02/19/2017 5:39:15 PM PST by Gamecock

FORT WORTH, TEXAS When a Texas rental house was gutted last week, just before it was to be sold, the owners had lots of questions.

Thinking burglars had destroyed the house and taken all the fixtures, they called Fort Worth, Texas, police to report the crime. Their plight — remarkable in part because of the thoroughness of the burglars, who took appliances, toilets, furniture, cabinets, shutters, doors, molding and even the doorbell — made the news in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Worse still, owners Lee and Lelia Beckelman, of the Houston area, had a contract to sell the house at 2736 Forest Park Blvd. Their son had lived there with roommates while he attended Texas Christian University, but he moved out in August and the last roommate left in October.

Their real estate agent found the place gutted Feb. 9. Essentially all that remained were walls, bathtubs and some of the flooring.

But as it turns out, the whole episode was an honest mistake.

As Fort Worth police were beginning the investigation, they got a phone call from a contractor who explained what happened, said Fort Worth Police Department Sgt. W.D. Paine.

The contractor told police that the man who owned a house at 2700 Forest Park Blvd. hired him to gut it, Paine said. When the contractor and crew arrived at the street, they saw what appeared to be an address on the curb, “2700 Forest Park Boulevard,” directly in front of a house.

The crew didn’t notice that the numbers on the house said 2736, not 2700.

“It was a huge misunderstanding,” Paine said.

The owner of 2700 Forest Park didn’t give the contractor any keys, and instructed him to just kick the door in to get inside, Paine said. The contractor did just that, and he and his crew removed almost everything inside over three days, during which they told neighbors they had been hired for the work.

Paine said police don’t intend to charge the contractor for the “big goof-up.”

“We can’t really file a criminal mischief charge because his intent wasn’t to deprive them of the property,” Paine said. “We’re leaving it up to the contractor and victim to settle it.”

Lelia Beckelman said Friday that they have spoken to the contractor. Neither the police nor the Beckelmans released the contractor’s name.

“He feels really bad and is willing to make us whole and restore things,” she said. “He’s an honest guy.”

Paine said the contractor had offered to restore the house or even buy it for the selling price. Beckelman said it was listed for $369,000, but didn’t want to disclose the contract price.

She said the current plan is for the contractor to return everything that had been taken and restore the house, at the least.

“He is bending over backwards for us,” Beckelman said. “We are grateful that he was honest and admitted the mistake and wants to reconcile.”


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

1 posted on 02/19/2017 5:39:15 PM PST by Gamecock
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

Let’s guess the employees were all from south of the border , knew zero English ,and could not read even Spanish.

that is the Dallas ft worth home contractors employees make up here and
we need to stop this activity now.


2 posted on 02/19/2017 5:43:58 PM PST by ncalburt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock
Paine said the contractor had offered to restore the house or even buy it for the selling price.

Not good enough. In our area, homes often sell for hundreds of thousands over asking price. The contractor needs to make the home whole to the owner's satisfaction, plus pay damages on top of that.

3 posted on 02/19/2017 5:44:15 PM PST by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock
Thats going to be a costly mistake.

This happened in my city after a big hail storm. Guy comes home for lunch and his house is being roofed. Wrong house. The house they wanted was across the street. Huge house on a country club too. Plus the company got to remove all the new shingles and install a color the home owner wanted.

Reading and speaking english can be an important job skill.

4 posted on 02/19/2017 5:46:51 PM PST by Newbomb Turk (Hey Newbomb, where's your brothers ElCamino ?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ncalburt
Let’s guess the employees were all from south of the border , knew zero English ,and could not read even Spanish.

Sounds likely. I've had problems with contractors. They bring in a crew to do the work, I see they're doing it wrong but the workers won't listen to me because they speak no English. I have to yell at the contractor over the phone to come back and correct the work, which the contractor agrees with me was done wrong. Have had several projects redone because of the language problems. You can't force contractors to have English-speaking workers, sigh...

5 posted on 02/19/2017 5:48:03 PM PST by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ncalburt
Let’s guess the employees were all from south of the border , knew zero English ,and could not read even Spanish.

Destroying the homes Americans won't destroy.

6 posted on 02/19/2017 5:49:50 PM PST by NobleFree ("law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ncalburt
Let’s guess the employees were all from south of the border , knew zero English ,and could not read even Spanish.

Or they were cops.

7 posted on 02/19/2017 5:52:01 PM PST by Mr.Unique (The government, by its very nature, cannot give except what it first takes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: roadcat
In our area, homes often sell for hundreds of thousands over asking price.


8 posted on 02/19/2017 5:54:05 PM PST by Mr.Unique (The government, by its very nature, cannot give except what it first takes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: roadcat

While you can’t force contractors to hire English-speaking employees, you can hire those that do (or at least provide an on-the-job translator).


9 posted on 02/19/2017 5:54:38 PM PST by Bob (Damn, the democrats haven't been this upset since Republicans freed their slaves.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: roadcat

Oh they will get damages. It’s just all being handled gentlemanly.

Actual damages to the owner aren’t huge as compared to the actual damages to repair.

I would be of the mind: You repair the damage you’ve done — to my reasonable standards, add 50k and we’re even.

These are the type of cases people trip all over themselves to get settled quickly and quietly and before the other guy talks to a cutthroat lawyer.


10 posted on 02/19/2017 5:55:52 PM PST by Fhios
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock
When we were house hunting we found a house that was pretty much what we wanted. When we arrived with our agent we noticed the door was slightly open.

Yeah, the place was trashed.

Our agent just shook her head and said that she had warned the bank to change the locks.

Apparently the old owners were told that the house was not going to sell for enough to pay off what they owed so they decided to drive up and trash it for the insurance money.

They did not bother to turn off the security system so the cameras had lovely photos of them doing very naughty things.

Too bad, it was a nice house.

11 posted on 02/19/2017 5:56:06 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (Not a Romantic, not a hero worshiper and stop trying to tug my heartstrings. It tickles! (pink bow))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: roadcat

I hear ya
I visit Dallas for work.l
I have never seen a regular Anglo on Reno job site there .


12 posted on 02/19/2017 6:00:23 PM PST by ncalburt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: NobleFree

Yep, doing half a$$ job
others fear they did.


13 posted on 02/19/2017 6:02:34 PM PST by ncalburt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: roadcat

Duh, he is going to restore the house. How is that not good enough?


14 posted on 02/19/2017 6:03:16 PM PST by TexasGator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

Mistake? Sure, but you’re paying for a new house, the furnishings, a place for me to live until it’s ready plus damages for mental anguish.


15 posted on 02/19/2017 6:08:29 PM PST by I want the USA back (The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Orwell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: roadcat
but you can call immigration control
16 posted on 02/19/2017 6:14:47 PM PST by Chode (may the RATS all die of dehydration from crying)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Mr.Unique; roadcat

Here in the Seattle area that is very likely. Our neighbor is having trouble buying a house. He said they went to one house and it sold the day it was listed for $100k over the asking price. A $600,000 house (built in the ‘70’s, 2000 sq. feet and never remodeled). He said it was all Chinese or Indians (Microsoft) bidding on it.

Glad to hear this contractor is fixing it up - I’m guessing that won’t happen again.


17 posted on 02/19/2017 6:17:35 PM PST by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts FDR's New Deal = obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Gamecock

Mexican Contractors that can’t read or count ?


18 posted on 02/19/2017 6:29:09 PM PST by butlerweave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TexasGator
Duh, he is going to restore the house. How is that not good enough?

Have you ever done a heavy restoration on a house? Can't be done overnight, months go by. In the meantime, the owner is liable for property taxes, monthly mortgage costs, in addition to the need for income from a sale to pay for another new home costs. Those are real financial damages, and must be made whole by the offending contractor.

My son-in-law is currently working on a whole restoration of a home he and my daughter bought. Gutted everything, and rebuilding all of it internally, and it has taken two years so far. My wife and I are working on a restoration of her mom's home, and we're two years into it. It takes time, if you're doing it right. My experience is that contractors that work in haste, cut corners and do sloppy work. While restoring mom-in-law's home, I've found lots of shoddy work that was done by previous contractor work.

19 posted on 02/19/2017 6:47:39 PM PST by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Mr.Unique

Well, I kept flyers of homes that sold over the last few years. On average, they sell about $300,000 over asking price. San Francisco area. Few homes on the market, lots of cash-rich buyers, and homes sell within weeks of listing.


20 posted on 02/19/2017 6:50:45 PM PST by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson