Rather than a nightmare, it could be a homeowner’s dream come true: a big goof leading to a free roof.
Deborah and Scott Senner came home to one in Oklahoma City worth about $30,000, after a couple of uneasy days away from home.
Deborah, former longtime president and CEO of Allied Arts, and Scott, senior loan officer of InterLinc Mortgage in Edmond, told the unlikely tale on Facebook last Saturday.
“Crazy story alert!” Deborah posted. Scott and I were in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday as that is where he does a large part of his business. Meanwhile, here in OKC we had a big roofing work crew show up at our house bright and early Monday morning to begin replacing the roof. They had our entire roof torn off in record time — about two and a half hours! The only problem here is we didn’t order a new roof!!!!”
Oops. Graco Roofing & Construction goofed.
Wrong house re-roofed in OKC: ‘comical and a little bit embarrassing’
Deborah went on, “Imagine our surprise when we get a call Monday morning in Broken Bow from the project manager informing us that a mistake had been made, the crew went to the wrong house and we no longer have a roof!”
Her husband added, “Yes, this actually happened!! We kind of felt bad for the project manager when he called us because you could tell he was REALLY REALLY nervous making the phone call to us!”
“Eating crow,” is how Graco Roofing owner Doug Gray put it.
“It’s kind of comical and a little bit embarrassing,” he said.
Big goof, wrong roof, in Oklahoma City
Usually, shingles are delivered the day before a roofing job starts, but not this time, he said. A Graco employee used GPS to get materials to the house, in northwest Oklahoma City, but didn’t check the address on the Senners’ mailbox. The house actually needing a new roof was down the street.
“They just got to work, tearing off that roof, going to town,” Gray said.
When the crew discovered the mistake, there was no turning back. A discombobulated salesperson called the boss, confessed the big goof. Gray said he replied, “Dude, I’ve been in this business since 1995, in the roofing business, and I’ve never had this happen.”
Roofer asks neighbors for help tracking down owner of the wrong house
With the Senners out of town, the crew sent someone door to door in the neighborhood, trying to find someone at home who knew who the owner was. They finally found out and called them in Broken Bow.
“I had to apologize: ‘Obviously, it’s yours. The only thing I can do is fix it,’ ” Gray said, but he did more than that. Graco made good for the mistake and made better on the roof, installing one with upgraded materials and impact resistance.
Gray said his company took a hit but that he was glad to fix the mistake with an improvement. He said his integrity was at stake.
“It is what it is. It’s a rare occasion,” he said, noting that he had heard of it happening to other roofing companies. “It stinks. We screwed up.”
All’s well that ends well for OKC homeowners with unsought roof
The Senners, despite it all happening while they were away, are happy with the way it turned out.
“This is by no means a rant on a local company. It’s actually a rave!” Deborah posted on Facebook. “Because the company realized a mistake had been made and addressed it quickly by doing all the right things. They owned the mistake and were determined to make it right.
“They tracked us down in Broken Bow to inform us what had happened. Then we got a call from the owner of the company, and gave them permission to proceed with replacing our roof with an upgrade from what we had! Yes. An upgrade.”
They came home to a roofing job that Gray said would retail for $30,000. Before long, Gray had gone to Senner’s office to apologize in person.
“If you are in need of a roof and want to work with a reputable, well known, ‘do the right thing kind of company, call Graco Roofing and Construction!!! We highly recommend them!” Deborah wrote.
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Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize. You can support Richard’s work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1.
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