HEY, WEIGHT! Lisa Kaye motions to an old free weight (top left) used by Rapid Repairs contractors to prop up a hot-water tank at her home in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. (
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On the heels of Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement that more than 10,000 homes damaged by Sandy were repaired by FEMA’s Rapid Repairs program, recipients are complaining that government-funded contractors performed shoddy work that left them with potentially dangerous situations in need of more fixes.
David Biss, 60, of Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, and his wife, Lisa Kaye, said the contractors who installed their new boiler and hot-water tank didn’t seem concerned with the basics — like making sure they were level.
The water tank is propped up on free weights to keep it from falling over, and the boiler is on two cinder blocks and a tile.
“There’s issues with the quality of the work,” said Biss, a retired Verizon vice president.
Kaye said, “We told them it looked crooked, and the inspector told us, ‘We’re not done yet.’ They used whatever they could find, a tile and a weight from a barbell, as shims.”
What concerns them even more is that the concrete floor below the tanks appears to be caving in and cracking.
“Our concern is that if the floor cracks, the equipment can break. There is over $10,000 of equipment there. Or it could start a fire,” Biss said.
To boot, Rapid Repairs hasn’t provided them with any paperwork or documentation for the work.
“Their engineers say it’s not a hazard,” Biss said, “but when I ask them to put it in writing, they won’t. If the boiler blows up, I have no record that they were even here.”
Gilla Charles, 50, and her sister Ann Marie Houstone, 57, who live in the Rockaways, said they waited more than a month to get their water tank and boiler fixed by the program.
“The old boiler was on a stand,” Charles said. “The new one is too close to the ground. Now if it rains, the boiler will be underwater.”
Rapid Repairs also replaced a heating pipe in the basement but didn’t run it underground like the old one, something the sisters fear could be a problem as well.
Bloomberg spokesman Peter Spencer defended the program and the work, saying more than 13,500 homes have been aided.
“The city has employed some of the top contractors and skilled tradespeople in the country to make these essential repairs at absolutely no cost to home owners,” Spencer said.
He said all work is supposed to comply with current city building codes and is inspected by an independent, quality-assurance inspector before it is certified as complete. All equipment installed is covered by a full manufacturer’s warranty, and there is an 800 number for complaints.