Contractors go to wrong address, leave $25K in damage at Burlington apartment, property manager says

KIRO 7 News spoke with Katie Stark, property manager of Parkwood Apartments, located at E Rio Vista Avenue in Burlington, on Friday.

Her family has owned the property for around ten years.

The property includes four buildings.

The building closest to E Rio Vista had its roof damaged.

Stark said she believes a number of contractors went to the wrong address Wednesday morning and began working on the roof.

However, they quickly left the scene, she said.

KIRO 7 News saw blue tarps, metal flashing and debris on the ground near the damaged apartment building.

“They were kind enough to put tarps over the plants and they left the tarps, but there’s junk all over the property,” said Stark.

She shared surveillance video with KIRO 7 News capturing two people and an unmarked vehicle that she believes may be responsible for the damage.

The people captured in the video do not live on the property, Stark told KIRO 7 News.

One of her workers called her about the incident when he arrived to the apartment Wednesday afternoon.

“Complete shock and awe and what the heck happened and who made this mistake?” Stark said.

“He (worker) gave me a call and said, ‘hey we’re not having a new roof done?’ Which he knows we’re not because we communicate 10 times a day about everything. ‘Well, the roof is gone.’ I said okay, let’s give it an hour. There’s no trucks around. No materials. No tools of any kind so maybe they’re at lunch. Maybe they’ll come back. We’re expecting a call, and then nothing,” she said.

Her family had replaced the roofs on all four buildings around six years ago, she said.

Stark said she was hopeful that the people involved would have called her about the mistake.

“Obviously, they’re going to come back or we’re going to get a call saying, ‘oh my gosh, we’re so sorry, we’re going to fix this.’ But then you quickly turn to, oh no they’re not coming back,” she said. “Who knows if this was a company that was even licensed, bonded and insured.”

“To have something like this happen, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” she shared.

KIRO 7 News reached out to the Burlington Police Department to get further details about the incident.

We’re still waiting to hear back.

TENANTS:

KIRO 7 News spoke with tenants who live at the apartments.

One woman said she saw people ripping the roof off Wednesday.

“In the morning, there was a lot of noise,” said Mercy Jackson, a tenant. “I saw five people on top and they were ripping off the roof and throwing everything on the floor. Debris everywhere. Everywhere, it was messy. Very messy.”

“It looked like it’s (workers) very official, but their cars they had were unmarked,” she added.

Another tenant told KIRO 7 News off camera that he heard loud noises from the roof Wednesday at about 9 a.m.

He said the loud bangs from the roof lasted for about 45 minutes.

The tenant said a neighbor across the street had their roof fixed the following day.

Jackson said she quickly returned home to find her cell phone after she had rushed to work that morning.

She said the workers suddenly paused and stared at her.

“They stood still like puzzled or something. I was like oh, I don’t know why they did that because by the time I was leaving they were busy ripping off everything, putting everything down. Then they got puzzled that I came back driving very fast,” she said.

“Whoever did this, that was very wrong. It would be fair to at least communicate that you did it,” she said.

REPAIRS:

Stark said workers will clean up the debris on Saturday and begin repairing the roof next Wednesday.

She said the damage left behind did not impact any tenants’ safety.

An insurance claim has been filed, Stark said, along with a police report. KIRO 7 News spoke with Katie Stark, property manager of Parkwood Apartments, located at E Rio Vista Avenue in Burlington, on Friday.

Her family has owned the property for around ten years.

The property includes four buildings.

The building closest to E Rio Vista had its roof damaged.

Stark said she believes a number of contractors went to the wrong address Wednesday morning and began working on the roof.

However, they quickly left the scene, she said.

KIRO 7 News saw blue tarps, metal flashing and debris on the ground near the damaged apartment building.

“They were kind enough to put tarps over the plants and they left the tarps, but there’s junk all over the property,” said Stark.

She shared surveillance video with KIRO 7 News capturing two people and an unmarked vehicle that she believes may be responsible for the damage.

The people captured in the video do not live on the property, Stark told KIRO 7 News.

One of her workers called her about the incident when he arrived to the apartment Wednesday afternoon.

“Complete shock and awe and what the heck happened and who made this mistake?” Stark said.

“He (worker) gave me a call and said, ‘hey we’re not having a new roof done?’ Which he knows we’re not because we communicate 10 times a day about everything. ‘Well, the roof is gone.’ I said okay, let’s give it an hour. There’s no trucks around. No materials. No tools of any kind so maybe they’re at lunch. Maybe they’ll come back. We’re expecting a call, and then nothing,” she said.

Her family had replaced the roofs on all four buildings around six years ago, she said.

Stark said she was hopeful that the people involved would have called her about the mistake.

“Obviously, they’re going to come back or we’re going to get a call saying, ‘oh my gosh, we’re so sorry, we’re going to fix this.’ But then you quickly turn to, oh no they’re not coming back,” she said. “Who knows if this was a company that was even licensed, bonded and insured.”

“To have something like this happen, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” she shared.

KIRO 7 News reached out to the Burlington Police Department to get further details about the incident.

We’re still waiting to hear back.

TENANTS:

KIRO 7 News spoke with tenants who live at the apartments.

One woman said she saw people ripping the roof off Wednesday.

“In the morning, there was a lot of noise,” said Mercy Jackson, a tenant. “I saw five people on top and they were ripping off the roof and throwing everything on the floor. Debris everywhere. Everywhere, it was messy. Very messy.”

“It looked like it’s (workers) very official, but their cars they had were unmarked,” she added.

Another tenant told KIRO 7 News off camera that he heard loud noises from the roof Wednesday at about 9 a.m.

He said the loud bangs from the roof lasted for about 45 minutes.

The tenant said a neighbor across the street had their roof fixed the following day.

Jackson said she quickly returned home to find her cell phone after she had rushed to work that morning.

She said the workers suddenly paused and stared at her.

“They stood still like puzzled or something. I was like oh, I don’t know why they did that because by the time I was leaving they were busy ripping off everything, putting everything down. Then they got puzzled that I came back driving very fast,” she said.

“Whoever did this, that was very wrong. It would be fair to at least communicate that you did it,” she said.

REPAIRS:

Stark said workers will clean up the debris on Saturday and begin repairing the roof next Wednesday.

She said the damage left behind did not impact any tenants’ safety.

An insurance claim has been filed, Stark said, along with a police report.

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