Contractor, firm step up to the deck

DEBERT - Elise Richard's faith in mankind has been restored.
After being duped by a man who claimed to be a contractor and who provided shoddy work on a deck she had paid for, another local contractor has come to her aid by offering to fix the problems for free.
Lumber for the construction is being provided free of charge by A.J. Walker and Sons Ltd.
"Everything was meant to be," said Richard.
Richard couldn't believe her luck. It was unbelievable to get that call, she said.
"I don't know what I would do if I won a million dollars but it was like I went into that kind of mode," she said.
Myron Upham, owner of M.U. Rhino Renovations, called Richard to make the offer the day after seeing her story in the Truro Daily News.
"I just picked up the Daily News and looked at it right quick, I thought the lady on the front looked like my mom.
"I read it (the article) and said, 'wow if that was my mother I would be pissed,'" said Upham.
So he decided to give her a call and ask if he could donate his time.
She was very grateful for the offer, he said.
But when Upham arrived at Richard's home he couldn't believe his eyes.
Not one thing about the deck was done right, he said. Somebody would have hurt themselves on it sooner rather than later, he added.
Nothing fit like it was supposed to, it wasn't level, much of the wood was split and he didn't even use the right screws ... when he bothered to use any at all, said Upham.
Out of the whole construction there was one screw that was where it was supposed to be, he said.
"I've seen worse jobs but it's usually some homeowner who has tried to build a deck themselves without any carpentry experience."
Upham and two of his employees spent Friday pulling the old deck apart while trying to salvage as much of the materials as they could. They hoped to be done by the end of the day.
"I just want to give them all a big hug," said Richard.
Seeing something like this happen is frustrating because it gives legitimate contractors a bad name, Upham said.
If you ever get an offer from someone who offers to do a job for significantly less money than another contractor, red flags should start going up, he said.
"There's a lot of good contractors in this town and this makes it bad for those of us who do good work and take pride in our work."