The pastor of a Detroit Church says she paid a contractor thousands of dollars in January to get work done to the building, but has been getting the runaround.
The church has been around since the 1960s and the pastor says it needs a lot of work. She also says getting a good contractor has been her biggest challenge.
Virginia Broadnax has been the pastor at Hills Chapel Church in Detroit since the 90s.
The roof is leaking and there are buckets with water building up from the roof. Also, the brickwork on the building is buckling and in danger of falling.
Pastor Broadnax says she paid G & H Renovations $4,000 to do roof work, which they did, but the leaks are getting worse. Around the same time, she says she gave the contractor a deposit for $3,000 to do the brickwork and put in some windows - but the work has not been done yet - and that was in January.
She says the work needs to get done, it's a city violation.
We've learned G & H Renovations is no longer insured. We were able to get a hold of them on the phone today. The president of the company tells us he hasn't been able to finish the work due to a financial hardship.
The pastor and her congregation are praying they do get their money back.
We will stay in contact with the pastor and the contractor to see if the money is returned.
The pastor says while she's waiting for that, she has to come up with a way to get all the work done before the church is fined again.
In the meantime, some things you should consider when hiring a contractor - don't pay all of the money upfront, get references and check with the state to see if they have a license and if they are injured, just in case they get injured on the job.
