This site came into being with the hope that what happened to our family could be prevented from ever happening to anyone else.  We went from hoping to have our dream home built, to living a nightmare; our house, now known as “the Nightmare on Waterman Hill,” was constructed in a manner so shoddy that it would cost more to fix it than it cost to build in the first place. We were duped by our contractor, and as it turns out, we were not the only ones (more on that below).  It is a devastating thing to have your home end up like this, because just about everything you do in life starts with your home. . .when there is no refuge, no comfort, no decent shelter, the rest of your life becomes degraded as well.

A new home is quite likely the biggest expense you will ever have, and yet the laws and courts of New York State, and most likely many other states, are grossly inadequate at protecting you.  We have discovered this the hard way.  After nearly ten years of court battles, the truth becomes inescapably clear.

We have lost our savings, our chance of having a decent home, and ten years of our lives because of this.  If that isn’t a case for pain and suffering damages, what is?  If somebody twists an ankle they have the right to sue for pain and suffering damages, but victims in a construction/fraud case, have no such right.  Having been robbed of so much, most significantly, our pursuit of happiness, the courts consider it tough luck.

Never let this happen to you!

It has been more than ten years, more than fifty thousand dollars in legal fees, more than one hundred sixteen thousand dollars in damages. We cannot tell you which was worse to live through, the “offense”… or the “justice”.

Our experiences with this contractor and our journey through the legal system have left us with an in depth knowledge of what a con man can do to a family, and how the justice system helps him rather than deters him. Please read on…

While our case is very bad, the worst part is that the contractor who did this to us now works for at least three not for-profit entities using state and federal tax money (in the form of grants) to “improve” housing for low income people. One of the not-for-profits is directed by his wife. Another was directed by his friend (but now has an interim director). These not-for-profits are not subject to FOIL laws, so the money spent cannot be traced by the public, even though the majority of their funds are public funds.

HUD does perform an audit of these not-for-profits occasionally, but only to see that the money was spent where it was stated to have been spent, NOT whether the work made sense or was performed skillfully. Our case is familiar to the public locally, so we have become the unofficial clearing house for complaints against those private entities using HUD funds. One family moved into a home inspected by our builder only to find that the main support beam under the home was cracked. Another family lost two children in an electrical fire in a house where our builder was the “building and safety inspector.”

We first spoke to the Regional Director of NYS HUD, John McKay, in 1999, and several times since. Last time, he said, “HUD doesn’t care.” Then he must have realized how that sounded, so he added, “Well, HUD cares, but HUD won’t do anything until somebody sues them and wins.”

We’ve been trying to draw state and federal attention to this matter for years. Since March 31, 2004, the Attorney General’s office has had this complaint by Brooks Washburn, AlA on file, ‘I feel it is appropriate to bring this matter to your attention as the business practices of C. W. Augustine and/or O’Neill may mislead municipalities in the state into the position of being unknowingly in possession of and/or liable for engineering and/or building code deficiencies in their public buildings.”

Federal HUD refuses to do anything but refer the problem back to NYS HUD, who takes no action. Our (former) Congressman, John McHugh was unable to make them take action. NYS HUD will not police itself, it will not admit that anything is wrong, and it never will unless it is sued and a judicial review takes place.

If you know of any construction attorney who would be willing to review the materials we have and take on a pro bono class action suit against state and federal HUD, please ask him or her to contact us. We can provide an attorney with proof that resumes submitted to the state in CDBG grant applications were laden with materially false statements.

None of this would benefit us directly because our case is a private one and HUD funds were not involved at all, but it would give us a sense of hope for the people we have met who have gone through such terrible misfortune.