I will be the first to admit that the world of construction is not an area that I am the most comfortable with. Growing up my father was a plumber and for a short time worked for himself, and I have two uncles who were in the business as well. As pastor of the church it falls to me to follow up on things that need to be done around here, and I kind of enjoy it.
Last November we signed a contract with a local roofer for some repairs on the church. No big deal just some little things needed to be done to stop some leaks. If you ever build a church don’t put a dome on the top they always leak. Anyway they guy never showed up and we paid him half of the contract price in advance. For my small church that it a lot of money as far as cash is concerned. So in February we started to call to get the money back. We got another estimate, cheaper than the first one, and we wanted to get the work done. Well here it is May 4th and the money still has not been returned. I have tried calling, they make all sorts of promises but never follow through.
So off to the Police I go. It seems here in Massachusetts anyway, if a contractor takes your money and does not do the work that is a contractor violation which is larceny. So the cops called the guy and told him that he either pay or face the judge. Supposedly we are getting a check by Monday, if not we go see the judge. On top of that, he called me yesterday and left a very insulting message.
So we wait again. The police officer that handled everything was very professional and she was so mad that someone would treat a church, any church, this way. I will never understand how people can do business this way. All we want is the money back. In the mean time more damage has been done to the church because of the once small leak. Oh well…