Empire Community Painting

Review: EmpireWorks Reconstruction & Painting was contracted by the [redacted] in [redacted], to power wash and paint the complex in September/October, 2014.

During that that time I discovered EmpireWorks workers using water from my private faucet to power wash condominium buildings over a period of 2 days (October 7-8). Furthermore, Empire workers employed a pair of vise grips to turn on my water faucet because I had removed the faucet handle to prevent my water from being taken.

When I called EmpireWorks to complain, a representative named [redacted] admitted their unauthorized use of my water. He tried to assure me that very little water was used. (Two days of power washing does not use “very little water.”) He also defended Empire’s unauthorized use of my private water by saying my building was "a special case" and they needed my water to do the job. Finally, he chastised me for "making a big deal" out of it, saying no one else complained. I spoke to my neighbors. They didn't complain because none of them were even aware that EmpireWorks was tapping into private water sources.

My complaint covers two things.

1) That EmpireWorks workers—without my knowledge or consent—used my private water source to conduct their business of power washing the condo community where I live.

2) That EmpireWorks workers—after encountering my private water source which had been disabled to prevent use—consciously and deliberately modified my private water source so as to enable their unauthorized access and use of that water.

3) That EmpireWorks' representative, [redacted], defended the above practices and dismissed my concerns over them.Desired Settlement: 1) A written apology from EmpireWorks for tapping into my water without my knowledge or consent, and for modifying my faucet to enable them to do so.

2) Reimbursement for water taken from my private faucet.

3) A change in EmpireWorks' business policy to include written notice and authorization from private water source owners before using their water.

4) That the Revdex.com notes EmpireWorks' problem practices in its records.

Business

Response:

We have spoken with this resident, he lives in a condo association that required us to us a very small amount of water from the exterior community area faucet. We needed the water to power-wash his building. We paint thousands of homes each year and a homeowner being upset about this is very rare. We have already reimbursed this homeowner for more than 5-10 times the amount of water we used and have spoked to the homeowner at length. We apologized and changed our policies concerning this. Please close out this issue, it has been resolved with the Guy.