Edith Mainor, 76, lives on a fixed income. Her daughter, who suffers from corneal dystrophy, a painful eye disease, lives with her in a comfortable modest home on the Westside.
About a year ago, mother and daughter noticed the roof was leaking, so Mainor called a contractor she had used in the past.
The contractor requested $1,500 before beginning work. Mainor borrowed $1,500 to pay him based on her prior experience with him.
The next time she saw him was on television. A local news station was reporting a story about him.
Apparently Mainor was not the contractor’s only victim. He had taken advantage of a number of trusting homeowners in the Jacksonville area.
Mainor had incurred a debt and was making payments and she still had a leaking roof. She was referred to Builders Care.
“The majority of contractors are honest and hard-working, but unfortunately, the ones who are not seek out the most vulnerable of our citizens, and this situation occurs all too often,” said Justin Brown, executive director of Builders Care.
“Unscrupulous contractors prey on trusting people like Ms. Mainor. They agree to do a project, collect money upfront to purchase materials and then disappear, leaving the homeowner in debt and with a problem that is just getting worse. We were able to repair the roof and prevent further damage,” he said.
Builders Care was created as a charitable arm of NEFBA in 2001 to help alleviate the problem of substandard housing in Jacksonville. Maintenance on aging housing stock is widespread, particularly among retirees and others on fixed income and money for maintenance is scarce. Builders Care originally focused on safety and health issues, such as leaking roofs, failing major home systems and other hazardous conditions. Adding ramps for increased accessibility was also a much-needed focus of Builders Care.
“We have come back to our original mission,” Brown said. “The general downturn in the economy reduced our funding sources, and our efforts are now focusing on helping people like Ms. Mainor who are living in hazardous conditions and have few or no resources. We are happy we could fix Ms. Mainor’s roof and prevent further water intrusion.”