| Cobb Mechanical Contractors, Issue No. 1 |
August 2002
|
The Contractors Critic
Cobb MEchanical Contractors Reporting on Safety, Productivity, and Honesty in the Construction Industry.
|
Poor Work, Litigation & Bad Debt
|
FAULTY CONSTRUCTION JOB AT THE MONTROSE
COUNTY JUSTICE CENTER RUNS OVER BUDGET
| The Montrose Board of
County Commissioners probably thought their justice center construction job
would run smoothly after they hired Cobb Mechanical to install the heating and
cooling systems. But more than a year after the $16 million justice center
opened, it was still plagued with uncorrected problems. "A laundry list of
defects surfaced at the justice center almost immediately after it opened," said
the Montrose Daily Press, in a January 14, 2000 article, include[ing], "A
malfunctioning electrical system that has caused at least one power outage...
thermostats that fail to regulate heat and air conditioning ... electronic jail
doors that do not operate properly. A vent over a dishwasher in the jail’s
kitchen that isn’t large enough to draw out steam."
The county responded, in part, by retaining over $143,000 in payments from
the general contractor, while they continue their yearlong wait to get the
repair work done. Brian Chaffee, an architect with the Fentress Braddurn firm of
Denver, who were the lead architects on the job, said, "The lengthy delay in
correcting the building problems is unusual."
And to add insult to injury, according to the article, Cobb Mechanical
requested an additional $504,383 to cover their cost overruns on the heating and
cooling system contract. Cobb’s response in part was, "If there was a problem we
certainly were not aware of it and doubt seriously that it had anything to do
with our workmanship. "
|
COBB MECHANICAL CONTRACTORS IS DISBARRED
FOR VIOLATING CONTRACTING LAWS AND REGULATIONS
COBB MECHANICAL CONTRACTORS V STATE OF
COLORADO
| Cobb Mechanical
Contractors had been disbarred just a few years before the Pueblo Convention
Center went out to bid. The Federal General Services Administration had placed
Cobb Mechanical Contractors on the "List of Parties Excluded from Federal
Procurement ... Programs," after the federal Department of Labor brought an
action against Cobb Mechanical Contractors. Part of the settlement between Cobb
and the Department of Labor was that Cobb would be debarred. But what Cobb
Mechanical Contractors didn’t anticipate, was that the State of Colorado would
enact its own debarment laws against lawbreaking contractors. The state law
automatically debarred any contractor who was on the exclusion list maintained
by the federal government. So Cobb Mechanical Contractors was out of luck when
it came to bidding on state contracts, also. They had ample opportunity to
present its case at an administrative hearing prior to being disbarred by the
state. But as the state later told the court, "...the state Purchasing Director
did not find [Cobb’s] arguments and evidence persuasive..." at the hearing and
Cobb Mechanical Contractors was disbarred.
Rather than take their lumps for getting caught violating federal law and
wait out their disbarment, Cobb Mechanical Contractors decided to sue the State
of Colorado. They filed suit, but the case was dismissed within months. | | | | | | |
