Contractor rips siding off wrong house in Marion

MARION, Iowa - A wrong address means a big mess for a Marion landlord, a family and a contractor.

Construction crews went to Marion last week to start a siding job. But the whole thing turned into an “oops.”

The company was working on the wrong property. The homeowner had just put his house on the market days before contractors came and ripped off much of the siding. Now the whole matter is tied up in red tape.

“I came home and half the siding on the house was gone,” said Matthew Dietz, who is renting the house.

Crews from Rausch Companies ripped off the siding on a house located at 2280 Geode Street in Marion. But, they were supposed to get siding off 2280 Agate Street in the same neighborhood.

“We just found out they got the wrong house,” said Dietz and his family. “We were supposed to have a birthday party, but there were nails all over, electrical exposed, so obviously we couldn't take the kids outside,” he said.

The Dietz family is renting from Praveen Gadkari who just recently put the house on the market. “I don't want the house to look like this," said Gadkari. "I don't want potential buyers to look like this because it's in this condition.”

Rausch Companies told KCRG-TV9 it was an honest mistake and now the matter is being handled by its insurance company.

“It seems that they are in the process of coming up with an offer or something that I am not aware of,” said Gadkari.

Gadkari has already had to pay out of his own pocket for another contractor who used this red tape to try to patch up the exterior walls so water wouldn't seep in. “On the side there's minor damage. On my deck, that was newly painted, there is minor damage,” said Gadkari.

But his biggest concern is selling this partially stripped house. “I might lose out on the ability to sell this home,” said Gadkari.

Rausch's insurance company says they're handling this claim as quickly as possible. They say recent storm damage in Benton County had many of their adjusters tied up. Gadkari says he hopes between Rausch's insurance and his own adjusters, they'll get his home patched up for resale.