Holes of headaches

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Ken and Sally Tupy’s driveway in New Prague was redone last year as part of a city project. After one winter, the concrete has hundreds of pockmarks.

Road construction left a New Prague neighborhood plagued by shoddy concrete work.

By LORA PABST, Star Tribune

Last update: July 2, 2009 - 12:02 PM

Print this story

Follow local news on Twitter

WHAT YOU CAN FIND AT OUR BLOG

1 Victim of 2007 cat attack speaks, as Hoppy joins Ralph the cat on the Twin Cities roster of menacing pets 2 In light of prosecutor's reprimand, how to find out the details of your lawyer's disciplinary record 3 Will sewer project flow better in next phase? Victoria council member says she'll wait and see

More from South Metro

Within months of getting a new driveway in 2007, Ken and Sally Tupy of New Prague watched the pavement break out in small craters about the size of dimes and quarters. Every time they look, the craters have multiplied, the result of substandard concrete work by a private contractor.

But the Tupys are also frustrated with the city of New Prague, which had hired the contractor to repave the street and the entries to 42 driveways along Lexington Avenue in 2007. The Tupys are among a handful of homeowners who used the same contractor to repave their entire driveways, but found the city took responsibility for its contractor's work only in the right-of-way.

As a result, homeowners with pitted driveways will have to fight the contractor without the city's help.

"It's like having the bumper fall off your car after two years," said Ken Tupy, a welder. "Everybody was pretty unhappy."

Like many of the neighbors on the winding suburban street in Scott County, the Tupys hadn't replaced their driveway since their home was built 30 years ago. When the city hired Sammon Parker Construction Inc. to reconstruct the street two years ago, the Tupys knew the work would include the end of their driveway. So they paid Sammon Parker's subcontractor, Kaiser Concrete Co., $2,500 to repave the whole length. They figured a company working for the city wouldn't cause them any problems.

When the snow melted in the spring of last year, the pockmarks started to show up. In some of the driveways, bits of concrete washed into the street.

City officials said they reached an agreement with Sammon Parker Construction to repave the ends of the driveways -- in some cases up to three times. Residents were offered $300 if they didn't want the repaving, which many said was not enough.

"We didn't feel it was the best and highest quality that we were expecting," said Doug Parrott, the city's consulting project engineer. "The best we could do was try to negotiate for the residents."

Eric Kaiser of Kaiser Concrete Co. declined to comment when reached last week. Sammon Parker Construction went out of business last year.

New Prague Public Works Director Dennis Seurer said the city is only responsible for work done in the right-of-way.

"The only recourse I've told a few of the residents is small claims courts," he said.

That's what Tupy has done, but he's still disappointed that he isn't getting more help than the $300 check.

"The city pretty much washed their hands of it," Tupy said.

State fund can help homeowners

Conciliation court is often the first step for homeowners trying to get money back from a contractor. For those who have won a judgment in court against a licensed contractor, the state Contractor Recovery Fund might be a way to see some money if the contractor doesn't pay up.

The state Department of Labor and Industry said the fund is open for Minnesota residential property owners or lessees "who have suffered an actual and direct out-of-pocket loss due to a licensed contractor's fraudulent, deceptive or dishonest practices, conversion of funds or failure of performance."

For more information about the fund, visit www.mncodes.org/CCLD/RBCRecovery.asp or call the Department of Labor and Industry at 651-284-5057.

lpabst@startribune.com