News 5 Investigates introduced you to Randy Love back in April.
He and his wife, Shelley, paid nearly $20,000 for home repairs, but the contractor never finished the job!
48-hours after our story ran, The WireNut offered to pick up where the last contractor left off.
When we first met Randy Love, he had a laundry list of problems left behind after Todd Braudis, a local contractor in Colorado Springs decided not to finish the work he promised he would do.
“Mr. Braudis tore out my stove hood and now I have a new hood he was supposed to put back in but he never came back,” Love said.
Braudis also failed to put new siding on their home and installed a floor that was not level.
He also left the family with a ceiling fan that made noise and a broken outdoor electrical outlet with exposed wires.
“We saw this story and just thought with the electrical things they needed work on that maybe we could do something,” Warren Peacock with The WireNut said. ” I went to the owner of our company and he said let’s just get this fixed.”
The owner sent out a technician to make repairs!
“When these things happen, we feel like it’s incumbent upon us all to try and make sure we can do what we can,” Peacock said.
The technician fixed the fan in the Love’s bedroom, installed their new oven hood and fixed the outdoor electrical outlet.
“Me and Shelley appreciate all that you have done for us,” Randy Love said. “We can’t express how great it is that you’re doing this and we thank The WireNut also!”
Without The WireNut’s help, Randy said he wouldn’t have been able to afford repairs.
Even though a judge ordered Braudis pay $7,000 in restitution to the Love family, they haven’t seen a penny of their money back!
“The lesson we learned is to make sure the contractor we hire produces his license and permits,” Randy said.
Had he or his wife checked Braudis’ background first, they would have learned he never pulled the proper permits to complete roofing and electrical work.
In fact, Braudis is not a licensed electrician!
State records indicate Braudis is only a certified plumber’s apprentice, meaning he can perform plumbing work with supervision. Even the plumbing job he performed for Randy and Shelley is questionable!
Braudis needed access to the water pipes in the master bedroom where he installed a faucet. He blasted a hole in the wall to access the water pipes, but instead of resealing the hole with sheet rock and wall paper, Braudis nailed a piece of sheet rock to the wall and called it good!
“Thanks to your news story, we know a lot of people have seen the story and will take precautions and learn from our mistakes.
Tips for hiring a contractor:
-Make sure they have a valid license and obtain proper permits for the work they are going to perform. A license should be on file with the Department of Regulatory Agencies.
-Read reviews online. However, News 5 Investigates has found some contractors who rack up bad reviews will change their name to avoid a paper trail so beware of that.
-Ask a neighbor for references on who they hire to perform work!
-Always be skeptical of any contractor asking for more than 50-percent up front before finishing the job!
