Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 4-29-22

Woman Displaced From Her Home Since 2018; Contractor Says More Money Is Needed
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
In 2018, a Tampa woman put her belongings in storage, thinking she’d be away from her home for the next 4 months (120 days) while her new home was being rebuilt. It’s been nearly 4 years and she’s still waiting for the com- pleted home. In the mean- time, she has been spending more than $500 in monthly storage fees.
“There’s not a room in that house that I can live in,” Mrs. Mary Browning said of the 3 bedrooms, 2 bath home on E. Caracas St.
On the other hand, the construction company, Hopps Construction Services, owned by Mrs. Victoria ‘Vicki’
Hopps, says that after changes in the initial plans were made, more money was needed, which the owner did not want to pay. Mrs. Browning says she con- stantly asked for receipts for the money submitted, but could never get receipts. “I have the proof to show that I asked for receipts on more than one occasion,” she said.
After giving the company $69,700 as a down payment, Mrs. Browning says she has paid more than $166,000 for the home she still cannot live in. She says there are several incompletions – the concrete floor is cracking, steps and driveway are not level; there are gaps in the doors and win- dows, wrong size doors, the framing was not approved by
VICKI HOPPS
...Says this is the first com-
plaint filed against her.
the proper officials, there is no landscaping. “Three houses have been built across the street since they started on my home and I still don’t have a place to live.”
Regarding the room addi-
This recent photo shows the garage to the home that has been incomplete since 2018, is filled with building supplies.
This is the back of the house that Mrs. Browning says she paid for slab and wooding, which has not been comleted.
tion, Mrs. Browning says she was told she didn’t need an additional contract for the addition, just pay for the plumbing, electrical and air conditioning. She has receipts to show that these things have been done. The air condi- tioner is sitting in her family’s garage waiting to be installed.
Mrs. Hopps says she never said anything about switching out the services for the room addition. The house went from 1,364 square feet to 1,900 square feet, which added $53,000 to the cost of the house. But Mrs. Brown- ing didn’t want to pay that. “I told her I’d find someone who would do the work for the $26,500 she thought the addi- tion was worth. I’ve paid over $28,000 out of my pocket al- ready on this property. I have a family and cannot afford to give this kind of money to clients.” The original cost of the house was $150,000 +
$15,000 for the land. Hopps says an additional $37,200 is needed to complete the house.
City engineers were on the property last Friday (April 8th), with the owner and builder present, and Mrs. Hopps said she was asked to provide letters showing work on the framing and the mix- ture for the floors. She has done that.
Mrs. Hopps said she of- fered to connect Mrs. Browning with someone to help find a program to help continue the construction, but that fell through. Mrs. Browning says it fell through because the woman Mrs. Hopps told her to contact, said she needed to get more info from Mrs. Hopps, and vice-versa. “I got tired of play- ing phone tag and no one was doing anything; we were not getting anywhere,” she said. “I just want to get in my house,” she concluded.
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