FIRST ONSITE Property Restoration

John O'Donnell

10 months ago

First Onsite was called by my condo building to remediate and repair water damage cause by the Building’s main water pipe leaking into my unit in January 2023. Since the water originated from the main water line in the building, the Building’s insurance covered all damages. First Onsite “finished” the job, but failed actually to dry my unit. Months later, they inadvertently admitted to me that they forgot to remove the moisture barrier in the floor, which was required to dry it out. My renter was moving out In May, so I inspected the unit. I discovered that they never dried out the floors, or replaced the floors. They had to return to finish the job (did they just forget?) and they noted that the subfloor was completely soaking wet from the water and the subfloor was destroyed and needed to be replaced and asbestos remediation was now required. Realizing their failure to repair the floors and their responsibility for water sitting in my subfloor for months, First Onsite decided to lie about what happened. They tried to blame this water damage to my subfloor on an imaginary “new” water leak and they refused to continue work until I agreed to pay them directly, instead of the submitting additional new damage claims to Building’s insurance company. I am certain if they submit this new claim to insurance it will be denied, due to their failure to properly remediate the water intrusion in January, and they would be stuck with the bill. Since First OnSite had ripped up all of the flooring in my unit and had asbestos exposed, and I had a new tenant who was in the process of moving in, I had no choice but to immediately pay to get the asbestos removed and the rest of the unit repaired, out of my own pocket. In June, before any repairs were conducted, I hired an expert plumber and they conclusively rejected the possibility of any new leak, and confirmed the water damage was due to the original water leak in January. The level of destruction was due to the water sitting, pooled, for 5 months in the subfloor. I have $7K+ in damages. I contend that all damages are due to the negligence of First Onsite. My insurance company has started an investigation into the actions of First Onsite. The General Manager of First Onsite, Greg Orndorff, even went as far as to lie, stating in an email to me, “When we came out to perform the floor installation you were the one that pointed out there was a new leak issue”. This blatant lie is just flabbergasting. I have always denied that there was ever any other leak, the only leak that has ever existed was the Building’s main pipe water leak. For this company, let alone the General Manager, to make such a false statement is beyond me.