South Charleston woman calls contractors' work on her home 'shoddy'

CHARLESTON – A South Charleston woman claims contractors did a shoddy job in building a deck and other work on her home, and she wants compensated for it.

Jennifer Snyder Briant has filed a lawsuit in Kanawha Circuit Court against Tim Elswick, Roger L. Province Sr. and Mountaineer Waterproofing.

Elswick is a Charleston contractor, while Province of St. Albans worked as a contractor on her home. Mountaineer Waterproofing is located in Charleston.

In the suit, filed by attorney Jennifer D. Meadows, Briant says she contracted the defendants to build a deck with the corner of her home, install handrails and construct steps down to the pool area of the deck. She agreed to pay $7,800 on April 12, 2005.

Three days later, she entered another contract with the defendants for more work at her home, which included replacing a culvert in her driveway, installing a drainage system and building a retaining wall. That time, she agreed to pay $26,000.

But Briant says the defendants failed to perform their work properly and in a substantially workmanlike manner, which was in breach of their contracts.

She says they failed to properly install a foundation for the deck, causing the deck to sink into the ground and making it unsafe for use. Briant said she had to hire another contractor to tear the deck down and rebuild it.

She also says the defendants failed to erect a retaining wall in a workmanlike manner. Again, she says she was forced to hire another contractor to properly build the wall.

Briant also says the defendants did not install the drain pipe in a workmanlike manner and, during installation of the pipe, caused sink holes to form in and around her driveway.

"In fact, virtually all the work performed by the defendants was not performed in a workmanlike manner," she says in the suit.

Briant sues for breach of contract and negligence. She says she paid the defendants $31,000 for this "shoddy, unworkmanlike and unsatisfactory work" and had to hire another contractor to perform work the defendants should have done.

She seeks compensatory damages to be determined by the court and a jury. She also seeks attorney fees, court costs and other relief.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 05-C-2806