Contractor Rips Siding Off Wrong Marion Home

By Nadia Crow, Reporter

Tools

By Aaron Hepker

Story Created: Jul 26, 2011 at 5:46 PM CDT

Story Updated: Jul 26, 2011 at 5:46 PM CDT

MARION, Iowa — A wrong address means a big mess for a Marion landlord, a family and contractor. Construction crews went to Marion last week to start a siding job. But the whole thing turned into an “oops.” They were working on the wrong property. The homeowner just put his house on the market days before contractors came and ripped off much of the siding. Now the whole matter is tied up in red tape.

“I came home and half the siding off the house was gone,” said Dietz. Crews from Rausch Companies ripped off the siding 2280 Geode Street in Marion. But, they were supposed to get siding off 2280 Agate Street in the same neighborhood. “We just found out they got the wrong house,” A surprise and inconvenience to Matthew Dietz and his family. “We were supposed to have a birthday party, but there were nails all over, electrical exposed, so obviously we couldn’t take the kids outside,” said Dietz.

The Dietz family is renting from Praveen Gadkari who just recently put the house on the market. “I don’t want the house to look like this. I don’t want potential buyers to look like this because it’s in this condition,” said Gadkari.

Rausch Companies tells TV9 it was an honest mistake and now the matter is being handled by its insurance company. “It seems that they are in the process of coming up with an offer or something that I am not aware of,” said Gadkari. Gadkari has already had to pay out of his own pocket for another contractor who used this red tape to try to patch up the exterior walls so water won’t seep in. “On the side there’s minor damage. On my deck that was newly painted there is minor damage,” said Gadkari.

But his biggest concern is selling this partially striped house. “I might lose out on the ability to sell this home,” said Gadkari.

Rausch’s insurance company says they’re handling this claim as quickly as possible. They say recent storm damage in Benton County had many of their adjusters tied up. Gadkari says between Rausch’s insurance and his own adjusters he’ll get his home patched up for resale.

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