On October 2, 2009, I received notification from Kier, that they wished to terminate our contract together, effective November 30, 2009. Evidently, Kier breached the terms of our contract, and allegedly failed to pay themselves for their services, for an amount of time long enough to accrue a balance of over $16,000, without notifying me, as required by the contract. Suspicious of their story, I decided that before forking over the money, no questions asked, Kier needed to give me a reasonable explanation as to how this could have happened.
Yet one more thing Kier failed to do
To put things into perspective here, I was paying Kier a fee of 7% per month, for their management of this building. The building's gross monthly income was just under $10,000. which placed the fee I paid Kier at around $700. per month, plus repairs and maintenance fees. Contractually, Kier was required to notify me of any budget shortfalls by the 10th of the following month.
_____________________________________________________________Q: How many times did Kier breach this provision, of a contract they authored,
in order to accrue a $16,000 shortfall?
A: More times than what can be considered as, "an oversight".
______________________________________________________________
Apparently, Kier's request to terminate our contract had come none too soon, because I found out on November 29, exactly how they had been managing and maintaining my building for the 4 years that I employed them to do so.
On November 29, 2009, I drove to Utah to hire another management company to take over the building. What I saw when I pulled up in front of the building, made me sick to my stomach.
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| 2005 |
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| 2009 |
In just 4-years, this once beautiful historic landmark had become a run-down, dilapidated slum,
filled with system abusing slobs that had nearly destroyed it
There was not one window screen left on the building that wasn't damaged or destroyed; One unit had 5, large plate glass windows broken out of it and had been left that way by Kier for more than 2 months; The security entry lock for the north lobby had been vandalized and had been inoperable for more than 3 months; There was (O13) gang related graffiti all over the building; The security and closed circuit camera system that was working perfectly when I bought the building, had been all but destroyed, with most of the building's 8 cameras either vandalized or stolen; One unit's kitchen faucet was stuck in the full-on position and according to the tenant, had been that way for over a year; There was an obscene amount of pigeon droppings piled high on every horizontal surface of the building; The eaves of the building had become so deteriorated from water damage and dry rot, that large pieces had fallen off the building, some nearly striking tenants as they fell; Some of the tenant's were dealing drugs right from their apartments; Five tenants had occupants living in their units that were not authorized by HUD or the Ogden Housing Authority; One tenant was using her urine and feces soaked unit as a pit-bull puppy mill and the common areas of the building literally looked like the city dump.
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At the time, I had intended to hire Froerer Real Estate and Management to replace Kier and take over the management of the building. After spending several hours at the building, Froerer representative, Troy Green, declined to take on the building, due in part to the significant amount of deferred maintenance and the severely dilapidated condition of the building.
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These rooms were a disaster. Trash, supplies and equipment were strewn from one end of them to the other. The rooms were such a mess, that it was difficult to tell what was trash and what wasn't. (as you can see)
The ceiling had collapsed and fallen onto the boiler, as a result of one of the 81 water pipe breaks over the previous 4 years (yes... that was 81)... most of which Kier never even told me about.
Rather than cleaning up the mess, Kier just left the debris where it fell, which significantly reduced the boiler's air intake ability. (Remember, this was November... The boiler was ON and VERY HOT).
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Most of the insulation around the boiler's return pipes had been removed. Allowing cooled water to re-enter a red hot boiler is the fastest way to shorten its life expectancy.
The same was true for the building's water heater, (which I later found out had been illegally vented, exposing the residents to a 100% back-flow of carbon monoxide into the building, for 8-years) Ceiling debris had fallen onto the top of the water heater and storage tank, and there it remained.
A large supply of 'kindling', in the form of plywood, wood siding, vinyl window screens and other flammable materials had also been stacked up next to the boiler's furnace box, creating a significant fire hazard. (ref. contract paragraph re: maintenance and repair)
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| THIS is Kier Corp's Crap |
The next post is a blanket response to an article about the Ogden Housing Authority's wrongful termination of my housing assistance contract with HUD, that was published in the Standard Examiner.
If you would prefer to skip that post and continue learning about the mismanagement of the Peery Apartments by Kier Management, CLICK HERE
If you would prefer to skip that post and continue learning about the mismanagement of the Peery Apartments by Kier Management, CLICK HERE
