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In 1987, the building went under a major renovation, at the hands of the Kier Corporation.
One of the primary reasons that I hired Kier to manage and maintain the building, was because they had been continuously operating and maintaining the building since they bought and renovated it in 1987.
During Kier's renovation, the building was re-piped with defective Polybutylene tubing, which was the subject of one of the biggest class-action lawsuits in U.S. History. (Cox vs Shell Oil)
During the property inspection, it was Kier employees who were on hand to answer any questions I had about the building, and I had many. When my inspector discovered these Polybutylene pipes, I questioned Kier about their condition and previous history. Kier's lead maintenance man Kelly, stated that there had been no previous problems. (a statement which I now know was untrue).
Shortly after November 30, 2009 a Kier employee provided me with a copies of all the repair / work orders for the building. Evidently, during the 4-years that Kier managed and maintained the building for me, they logged a whopping 81 separate water leaks, yet only told me about a handful of them.
When I asked Kier why they had failed to notify me of these defective pipes, and why they had not taken advantage of the $1-billion class action settlement, which would have provided for the replacement of the defective pipes, their response was that they had no idea that Polybutylene pipes had been found to be defective, or that there had been a settlement reached. (another statement which I now know was untrue)
In this video, taken during the repair of the 82nd water pipe break in 4-years, you can see that the wall cavity is filled with mold and mildew caused from previous water leaks, which, from the evidence of previous wall repairs, Kier employees had repaired several times before. They couldn't even bother to attach the faucet / diverter to the framing (as required by code)
the resident of this unit has COPD and is on oxygen, 24/7
The estimated cost to replace these defective pipes:
$35,000 - $45,000
$35,000 - $45,000
