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17 BENTLEY STREET - BUILDING JACKET 'I7 BENTLEY STREET ' {I f Citp of batem, Alaonrbuoettg j3ublic Propertp Mepartment �3uilbing Mepartment One 6alem Orten 745-9595 (Ext. 380 William H. Munroe Director of Public Property Inspector of Buildings Zoning Enforcement Officer July 19, 1988 Bruce Whear 17 Bentley Street Salem, MA. 01970 RE: 20 Hawthorne Blvd. Dear Sir: In regards to our conversation concerning a business office in a B-5 zone, accordingly it is an allowed use. However, in order to erect a sign a permit must first be applied for through the Planning Department. Sincerely, David J. Harris Assistant Building Inspector DJH/jp Tracy Ramey 17 Bentley St, Salem, MA 01970 Tel: 978 744 7968 4th August 04 Att: The Building Inspector Salem, MA. Dear Mr St Pierre, With reference to our conversation this morning, here is a copy of the letter sent to the Director - Home Improvment Contractor Registration Program re our complaint concerning Joseph McCarthy of JMC Construction for your records. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you think of any thing else that we need to do to put some closure to the situation at hand. Thank y nd Regards Tracy mey Tracy Ramey & Damn Black 17 Bentley St, Salem, MA 01970 August 3, 2004. Thomas L Rogers, Director—Home Improvement Contactor Registration Program, Board of Building Regulations and Standards In February 2004, my husband and I passed papers on 17 Bentley St, in Historical Salem, MA. I have been stationed overseas for 16 years and wasn't able to move back to the states until April 2004. The house that we purchased is our dream home and our first new house together. We chose this home for the simple reason that it was located across the street from the House of Seven Gables, where we were married five years ago. We knew when we purchased the property that it needed some tender loving care and we were more than willing to make this investment It has always been our desire to live in an old home and Salem was the perfect place to locate with its long history and rich cultural diversity. Prior to purchasing this property, the home inspector informed us that there was some structural damage evident We asked Robert McCarthy, of Salem, a reputable contractor/engineer to inspect the damage and give us an estimate for repairs. The estimate was $ 5000.00, and having deemed this reasonable we concluded the sale. Once we had our shipment delivered from overseas and unpacked, we decided that it was time to start work renovating our 1843 home. We wanted to update the kitchen, downstairs full bathroom, add some built-in china cabinets to the living room, repair the structural damage, and make some other simple cosmetic feature updates. Due to the fact Robert McCarthy was over booked, we looked for availability of other contractors. Time was of the essence as I had to ship out again with the USS Enterprise on June I and my husband had a two-month assignment in Malaysia. Our next door neighbor, Kiernan O'Neil recommended his contractor, Joseph McCarthy, of JMC Construction (General Contractor number 063148) who had renovated Mr. O'Neil's own home Our houses are of a similar age; therefore we trusted that Mr. McCarthy would be suitably qualified to work on our home too. On April 10, 2004, we signed a contract to start the renovations. The contract was specifically for labor and we, the homeowners were to provide our own materials. The first couple of week's seemed to move smoothly. We had agreed on a completion date of May 25`"for the china cabinets and some other misc. cosmetic updates. That never turned out to be the case As I write this letter on Aug. P those cabinets still have not been completed Infact my entire list of updates have not been completed After five weeks I had paid a total of$18,000.00 in labor fees alone. Mr. McCarthy had requested that I make payments on a weekly basis!, rather than provide the customary one third of total cost pending completion. I paid these weekly bills as I felt somewhat threatened by Mr. McCarthy's dominant personality and feared that he would stop working! The Building Permit obtained by Mr. McCarthy shows a total estimated cost of$20,000.00for Labor and Materials. Whilst I was on deployment, Mr. McCarthy and I agreed I would not make any more payments until I returned from deployment I was in contact with Mr. McCarthy via email and never once did he make any mention of any problems. We assumed that work was being completed, however according to my sister and her husband Mr. and Mrs. David Andrews, of Beverly, MA who checked on the property twice weekly that wasn't the case at all. (Please See attached email copies). I asked Mr. J. McCarthy for the current total owed for the period whilst I was at sea and his response was $5,000.00. This would have brought the total project cost to $23,000.00 for labor. Towards the end of June my sister informed me that I had better return home as she and her husband sensed that there was a problem. Work did not appear to be going on at the house. I wasn't due to disembark from my ship until July 23rd however I f lew back to Boston on July 5`" in somewhat of a panic only to discover that my sister was justified in her observation. Not only was the house in an unlivable and far from complete state. Mr. McCarthy had left an envelope in the house with a bill for a further$14,256.00 and said that he would not resume work until this was paid On July 6`", I contacted him and requested a meeting. I informed him that I wasn't at all pleased with the progress and there was no visible evidence that the 433 hours of labor for the four weeks that I was absent he was billing us for, could possibly be justified However I paid a further$7,000.00 (total$30,000.00for labor)fearing that he would refuse to complete the work and that now I was home things would get resolved I requested that Mr. McCarthy provide a detailed list of all work completed thus far and to take me through the house to show me what had been done. He refused to do so, but instead presented me with some illegitimate looking time sheets which were far from the detailed list requested A woman purporting to be Mr. McCarthy's secretary( previous to this I had not had any dealings with nor had there been any mention of a secretary in Mr. McCarthy's company) then called me to suggest that they would remove $1,200.00 from the bill in response to my challenge to the hours billed I said that even with this offer, the hours worked still did not appear to be coherent with the total charged and that henceforth I was only going to deal with Mr. McCarthy directly himself. Two days passed by, and Mr. McCarthy presented me with a further adjusted bill offering to remove $1,600 from his original charge of$14,256.00 owed for the four weeks of my absence. Please note that of this I had already paid$7,000.00 (total cost $30,000.00). Against my better judgment on July 2e I offered to make another payment for$2,500.00 My sister and 1 went to the house to meet Mr. McCarthy. I offered him the check pending my husbands return home, and told him that I would wait for my husband's arrival to discuss the apparent discrepancies. Mr. McCarthy proceeded to threaten me while I was trying to write the check and stormed out from the house in a bad temper. My sister was present and witnessed these threats. An hour later Mr. McCarthy made a call to my Cellphone. Still shaken from the encounter I did not answer the phone but have saved his message in which he apologizes for his actions but admits that he has a number of his own bills to pay and that he would need more payment than I was offering. On July 21", I paid Mr. McCarthy $3000.00 dollars bringing the total for labor costs alone to $33,000.00!However on the advice of my husband I also told him to cease work until my husband could return from overseas to go through the paperwork as there still appeared to be a big discrepancy in the hours charged versus the work completed on the house. My husband cut short his two-month assignment by three weeks and returned home as by this time I was at my wits end The house was still far from complete despite Mr. McCarthy having demanded a fortune through constant verbal harassment On July 26`h, my husband, Mr. Darrin Black, returned, took one look at the house and exclaimed shock at the lack of progress. He immediately scheduled a meeting with Mr. McCarthy for the next morning. At the same time we contacted another contractor Mr. Frank Abrahams of Ipswich, MA for his evaluation of the work completed at the house. Mr. Abrahams was not able to see justification for the 1023 labor hours billed in the work completed On July 27". Mr. McCarthy arrived at our house at approx. 11:OOam Before his arrival, the plumber,from T& C Plumbing, had also been by to check on the status. His comments were not favorable in view of the work he had seen completed given that he was last in the house on June 1. We had also paid and hired T&C plumbing separately as well as the Electrician,from Parson's Electric. My husband asked Mr. McCarthy to go through the house and explain what work had been completed for the$33,000.00 paid to JMC Construction to date. Mr. McCarthy would not do so and admitted that he had not been supervising the renovations but had left his employees to proceed at their own pace. He wasn't capable of even looking my husband in the eye. He could not explain why he was not present daily to check on progress yet he personally had billed us for 121 hours in those four weeks. At this point we asked him to remove all of his tools from our premises by the next day and requested that he return the keys. We once again asked him to provide a written documentation of all of the work comspleted and to come up with a fair total so that we could review our options. On July 29r ,Mr. McCarthy left the attached letter on our doorstep. We have not made contact with Mr. McCarthy since receipt of that letter and he has still failed to return the keys to the property. We have consulted with Mr. James Abrahams, attorney and contractor who after reviewing the work completed on the house, advised us to file a complaint with the HIC immediately. My husband also requested that a third contractor look at the house on Aug. 1, Mr. George Cooper, of Beverly, MA. who also gave us his opinion that we have been vastly cheated? Mr. Robert McCarthy(no relation) who made the original structural damage evaluation has agreed to provide us with a fnal cost to put our home back together and pick up the pieces from Joseph McCarthy. As I write this letter 1 would like to add that 1 don't have a back door for security, or even a functional kitchen. At the start of this project we informed Mr. Joseph McCarthy of our total budget to also include renovating the master bathroom and painting of the exterior house walls as well He made no attempt to take any notice of that budget, charged us for well over the hours worked,failed to provide adequate supervision over the project or at any time inform us of the progress or lack there of including any supposed problems that he may have come across during renovation. In my absence he was given specific instructions to contact my sister for approval of any changes which he failed to do so. His crew took it upon themselves to work at their own leisure which according to reports was inconsistent at best and as subsequent phone bills have shown often spent the days talking on the house phone! We have been the victims of a dishonest contractor who upon recommendation we unfortunately misplaced our trust in. We are now with out a complete house and down to pennies. Not one item that we requested has been completed Finally we have also contacted Mr. St. Pierre, the Building Inspector Salem and informed him that Mr. McCarthy has been released from the job. I grew up in a colonial home in Plymouth, MA. After 16 years of residing in various parts of the world including nine years in the Middle East serving my country, this is not how I envisioned returning home. I am beyond aggravation and disappointment My husband and I have to leave again on assignments in three weeks. We are leaving with no sense of security or trust and pray your organization can put some closure on our nightmare. I have enclosed before and after pictures and other supporting communications with my sister and Mr. McCarthy as well as copies of bills paid Should you need further explanation please do not hesitate to contact me. My cell is 9 78 335 3133 and home is 978 744 7968. We would truly like to get this matter resolved as quickly as possible so that we may put this horrific experience behind us and move forward Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response and any offer of assistance. Tracy Ramey & Darrin Black. kc 1 C CCS �_ S o �31 �r � 17 Bentley St. Salem, MA 01970 August 6, 2004 JMC Construction 53 Winthrop Ave. Beverly, MA 01915 Dear Mr. Joseph McCarthy, In reference to our meeting on July 27 , 2004, this letter is to officially notify you of termination of our contract dated April 109 2004. Reason for termination being that projects were not completed in a timely manner as agreed upon and hours billed were not accounted for. We ask that you kindly return the key to our home as soon as possible and remove the dumpster from our property. Sincerely, Tracy ey and Q.a[ lack ctHme nt of Public Safety/BBRS Improvement Program - Thomas St. Pierre Building Inspector - Salem, MA