Help Us Save the Peery

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When you donate to the "Help Save the Peery Fund", your money helps pay for the thousands of dollars in needed repairs, in order to reverse the damages caused by the Kier Corporation's negligent mismanagement and maintenance of this building.

Since November of 2009, the building has come a long, long way from the dilapidated, run down tenement, filled with drug abusers, prostitutes and system abusers that Kier had rented most of the apartments to. These tenants have since been evicted and replaced with good, upstanding and law abiding residents, who follow the rules, stay out of trouble and take care of the building as if it were their own.

The building is now under competent and involved management that works closely with the residents, the Ogden Police and City officials, to ensure that this building remains a safe, secure and family oriented property, that the residents are proud to come home to.

YES, WE'VE COME A LONG WAY
- BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP -


WHAT KINDS OF REPAIRS ARE NEEDED?

The list of repairs is seemingly endless.  You can see for yourself the numerous damages that the building has sustained as as result of Kier's negligence on our Blog Page  and in the videos to the right, but what we really need the most help with, is:





$1 , $5 ,  $10 , $20 ...?
EVERY penny makes a world of difference




Repairing the Damaged Eaves





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Because Kier failed to do any preventative maintenance around the building, countless years worth of pigeon droppings were allowed to accumulate on the building and in the rain gutters.
Over time, the rain gutters and downspouts became so packed with pigeon feces and other debris, that they became clogged, forcing the rain water to back-up into the eaves, causing them to rot.  
While Kier's attorney claims in a letter to me, that his clients cleaned the pigeon droppings from the building, "constantly"... you can see from these pictures, videos and the diagram to the right, that this claim is just not true.








In May of 2010,  I had to try and seal off these rotted areas, in order to discourage the scores of pigeons that Kier had been permitting to roost there for years.
















$1 , $5 ,  $10 , $20 ...?
EVERY penny makes a world of difference



Repairing The Exterior Drainage System

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Most of the rain gutters were custom built into the various architectural elements of the building and are constructed of 12"x12" metal sheets that were soldered together to form the roofs, rain gutters and exterior ledges around the sunrooms as well as the roofs of the front entries.

Again, because Kier failed to do any preventative maintenance, such as cleaning out the rain gutters (even though they charged me for doing it)... These metal rain gutters, packed and clogged with hundreds of pounds of pigeon droppings and soaked with rain water, worked together to form a chemical reaction, which results in a corrosive ammonia that literally eats through metal.

This type of roofing work, often referred to as tinning, is all but a lost art.  Today in Utah, there are only a handful of roofers who even know how to repair these types of roofs and rain gutters and their expertise does not come cheap. 

The cost to repair these damaged roofs and rain gutters, is estimated at $3,000 to $5,000.




$1 , $5 ,  $10 , $20 ...?
EVERY contribution makes a world of difference



Repairing The Damaged Heating System

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This was the condition of the boiler and boiler room on November 30, 2009... the day my "contract" with Kier Property Management ended.



Note that as the insulation began to deteriorate on the boiler pipes, Kier employees decided to just remove it, instead of replacing it. The fastest way to shorten a boiler's life expectancy, is to remove the insulation from the return pipes and allow cooled water to re-enter a hot boiler.

On November 30, 2009 the water in the boiler looked more like chocolate milk than water. For 4 years, Kier charged me to send somebody out to do daily checks of the boiler's chemical levels and to blow it down, (allegedly to prevent the water from becoming like chocolate milk). 

According to the daily boiler check sheets found on the premises, on November 30, 2009 Kier's last recorded daily check had been done in March... 8 months earlier.

This is what the boiler looks like today. The missing insulation has now been replaced and because we now have a maintenance man we can trust, the water in the boiler actually looks like water.... but the damage is done.


While the boiler functions today as well as it can, given the 4-years of abuse it endured, it's anybody's guess how much longer it will last...

The last estimate I got to replace this limping boiler
was over $36,000

Replacing the Defective Polybutylene Pipes

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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









$1 , $5 ,  $10 , $20 ...?
EVERY contribution makes a world of difference


Legal Representation

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As you can see here and on our Blog Page, the damages that Kier Property Management caused to this building through their gross negligence and mismanagement is appalling and at times, nearly criminal.
Although Kier had breached almost every paragraph of our contract together, (and by all accounts, had been doing so right from the beginning) their attorney, who works for one of the larger law firms in the country, maintains that Kier did everything that was required of them under our contract, and did it well too. As you can see, this claim is false.

The cost to repair some of Kier's damages has been staggering.  It has taken every dime I have and more, to pay for their negligence and put a clean, safe and sanitary roof over my tenant's heads again. 
Paying off the back bills that Kier left me with, returning trashed units to a livable condition, making repairs, hiring  exterminators, electricians and plumbers to reverse some of Kier's illegal or improper handy work, doesn't leave much money to hire an attorney that has the resources and the expertise to go up against Snell & Wilmer.
Donating to the "Help Save the Peery" fund will help off-set the enormous legal fees ahead and help ensure that Kier never treats another tenant the way they treated mine again.

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