Local contractor's license pulled in home dispute
Published on August 10th, 2005
A Lynnfield contractor recently lost his construction supervisor's license for complaints of shoddy work that purportedly destroyed a Hanford Road resident's home last summer.
According to Stoneham resident Carol McNelley, who currently resides at the Park Terrace Condominiums, she hired Lynnfield contractor Michael Nardone, of 30 Edwards Ave., to level the back of her 26 Hanford Road residence in May of 2004.
Nearly five months later, former Building Inspector Gene Argiro ordered McNelley and her family out of the house, declaring the dwelling structurally unsafe for human habitation.
"He broke the main beam holding our home up," the 30-year town resident alleged. "That's why we were removed from our home, because Argiro was afraid the home would fall down on us."
Standing within what was once her living room, McNelley points to forward-slanting sunken floors, tattered walls riddled with gaping holes, and warped and twisted staircases as evidence of the Lynnfield contractor's negligence.
Specifically, the Hanford Road resident claims that Nardone twice dropped her house from the jacks that supported it within a three-day period in late July of 2004.
"After the first time he dropped it, there was popping, like dynamite going off as the walls exploded. And I called him from my kitchen screaming and he said, "Get out of the house, now!" because he was afraid the house was going to collapse on us," McNelley recalled.
Refuting the Stoneham resident's version of events, Nardone claims that he placed several wooden supports under the Hanford Road house as he jacked it up.
And while the Lynnfield contractor admits that one of the jacks slipped, causing the house to drop, he insisted that the structure safely slid onto those braces.
"It didn't come down more than an inch, because I had placed a retaining wall underneath the house. She bought her house in that condition. That house was in a condemned state before I even got there," Nardone said.
Despite Nardone's assertion that he had nothing to do with the damage, the State Board of Building Regulations and Standards found that the Lynnfield contractor did in fact perform work that resulted in the destruction of the residence.
Finding among other things that Nardone had started the work without a permit, had caused "major structural damage to the home", and failed to properly supervise the work crews jacking up the home, the stage agency revoked the contractor's construction supervisor license.
Despite that order, which was sent by first class mail to Nardone on July 22, the Lynnfield contractor continues to work on projects in Stoneham, and town officials aren't doing anything about it, says McNelley.
"I am upset with my reps in Stoneham. They have done nothing for me. I don't find any humor in the fact that my family was put on the street and now this guy is still allowed to do work and support his family," she said.
According to Town Administrator Ron Florino, the town will do whatever is necessary to ensure that Nadone doesn't illegally perform work with a revoked license. However, as to whether or not the contractor is responsible for the damage done to McNelley's home, Florino declined to comment - saying the town's own request at the state hearing to revoke Nadone's license was based solely on the fact that he performed work without a permit.
"We're not taking any sides on this as to who was at fault for the damage. But we are working with the Building Inspector and the state to make sure he's not doing anything he shouldn't be," the Town Administrator commented.
However, according to building department records, Nardone has in fact been ordered to cease and desist all work as a construction supervisor in at least two homes in McNelley's neighborhood. But according to town officials, Nardone can still work as a subcontractor at those projects, and building department records indicate that the Lynnfield resident is doing just that at two residences located adjacent to McNelley's house. Asked why she would allow Nardone to continue to renovate her home - taking on all of the risk for faulty work in pulling the permit under her own name - Joanne Bottari expressed complete confidence in the contractor.
"If I thought Mike was incompetent, I would have certainly pulled him off the job. But the craftsmanship on my house is excellent," said Bottari, whose Wagner Road residence is located directly across the street from McNelley's dilapidated structure.
"I had structural damage to my house, which I found out after I purchased it. And the whole area has the same problem [with settling]. Carol McNelley's house had that problem. Mike has done other work in this area and nobody has had a problem but her."
Agreeing with Bottari, William Harrington, who also lives in McNelley's neighborhood, also claimed that several homes in the area have experienced structural problems because the foundations sink into the poor soil. With his own home threatened by the soil conditions, Harrington also hired Nardone to jack-up and level his home before it was completely destroyed.
"I would hire him tomorrow. And the truth is all the neighbors around here would hire him too. I've lived in this neighborhood for 40-years, and [McNelley's] house had that problem when I first moved in."
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