After a local senior couple was defrauded of some new landscaping work they paid for, a contractor in the Pittsburgh region took up the cause.
The couple was surprised when someone else offered to do it for free after they lost out on $6,750 for a new retaining wall on the garden side of their driveway.
The Ruffings of West Mifflin, outside of Pittsburgh, were interviewed regarding this construction project they paid for two years prior, illustrating the positive impact of journalism.
“He said his truck broke down and then he had a fire in his trailer and then… just didn’t see him,” Pam Ruffing stated. “I’m just afraid it’s all going to come down with the rain.”
The Ruffings revealed that they were given a mound of bricks, a pile of muck, and then a mountain of excuses in return for a $4,000 advance.
Two years ago, the Ruffings had hired Shiloh Landscaping (do you remember the name) from Bedford. They reached out to see if getting their predicament on the news could be the beginning of some positive change.
Although the contractors from Shiloh Landscaping are still at large, the news report did have some positive effects.
“[W]e actually just did a job for a lady who got scammed out of money,” Ray Benvenuti, a local contractor, claimed that a friend of his witnessed the Ruffings’ predicament on television and informed him “‘some people in West Mifflin got scammed out of money.’”
“I’m sick of seeing this stuff going on.”
With assistance from a nearby hardware shop, Benvenuti Landscaping and Reconstruction arrived and used donated labor to construct the whole retaining wall using the few materials that the previous contractors had already provided.
“It’s a little tedious because we had to start from scratch a little bit and match somebody else’s work. I mean, we’ll get it done, we’re professionals,” Benvenuti stated.
And so, just in time for Easter lunch, they built a second corner wall to match the one by the steps leading up to the home. This gave the Ruffings the extra pleasure of avoiding having to explain to their loved ones what the enormous eyesore behind the blue tarp was all about.
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Wait to hear from two or three contractors before choosing the first one to bid on your project. Pennsylvanians are legally entitled to request proof of insurance and pay an advance of no more than one-third of the entire amount.
Additionally, contractors must register with the Attorney General’s office’s Bureau of Consumer Protection if they do $5,000 or more in work in a year. It is a glaring red flag if they do not have this registration.
