Ithaca has a large transient population of younger academics and graduate students who are often homeowners but who have little experience owning (and maintaining) homes. The people who've been here a while and need work done on their houses have established contact with the reputable contractors in town; the rest of us have to struggle with a pool of semi-reputable and disreputable contractors who prey on those new in town. I've been the victim of one of the latter, and since I know a lot of people find themselves in my situation, I've decided to make this experience public, so that anyone using a search engine will find at least some first-hand information.

This is a page I've set up to describe my experience with an appallingly bad and dishonest roofing contractor by the name of Robert Mandigo, aka BNM Contracting, based in Ovid (2137 W, Wycoff Rd,  Ovid, NY 14521), who does a lot of work in Ithaca.

I contracted with Bob Mandigo in July 2006 for replacement of the roof on the two-family house I'd just bought. The job involved removal of two layers of asphalt and one of wood shingles, redecking, doing structural work in the attic, and installing a new steel roof. The job was supposed to cost $30,000.00 - a lot, but not much higher than other estimates, and within reason given the expense of the steel roofing system we'd chosen (ca. $8,000 just for the steel). The contract we signed specified a payment schedule of $15,000.00 in advance, $7,500.00 at half-way point, $7,500.00 on completion. Mandigo tore off the old roof and began structural work in August, requested the additional $7,500.00, which I paid. (This was a very bad move. I should have demanded that all the materials be at the job site before paying the second instalment.)

Then he stopped work, having taken $22,500.00, and leaving a roof covered with tarpaper that leaked whenever it rained until May 2007, when we finally hired another roofer.

For a while he responded to complaints about leaks (which occurred frequently, in four of the five rooms of the upstairs apartment and two rooms downstairs), but the fixes were inadequate and new leaks started. He did some of the structural work but was (apparently) unable to figure out how to complete it. At two points he tried to collect more money from us for "additional expenses" - though he never did anything not specified in the original contract. He was obviously broke (at one point told me that he couldn't get out to work on the house because he didn't have gas money!) and apparently never ordered any of the steel (at least, none of the local suppliers - including the supplier from whom we'd originally got his name - had received any orders from him).

The tenants in our upstairs apartment moved out in February. I couldn't enforce their lease, since their apartment has been basically uninhabitable since Mandigo started work. The leaks were just the beginning. At one point, one of his employees fell through the ceiling, sending a 3' x 4' patch of plaster falling onto the diaper changing table. (The tenants had a newborn. Luckily the baby wasn't hurt.) The hole that was left in the ceiling they covered only with a plastic tarp; the apartment was cold all winter. (Needless to say, Mandigo had assured me in advance that the whole house would be hapitable, and dry, throughout the work.)

We had the job looked at by several roofers this spring (some of whom had given us estimates on the work last summer). The estimate we got for the work Mandigo had actually done (tearoff and some structural work) was ca. $9,000-10,000. I've asked him for a partial refund, plus the 3.5 months of rent we lost on the upstairs apartment. He's said he won't give us anything. On Monday I'll file a complaint with the state Attorney General's office, since I think he's guilty of fraud in addition to breach of contract. I'll post the results when I have them.

Meanwhile, advice to new Ithacans: avoid Robert Mandigo (aka BNM Contracting) at all costs.

And if you've also been a victim, get in touch: mktkshouse@yahoo.com