Union Beach home collapse: Company unregistered

The company that is being blamed for a home collapse in Union Beach was not a registered contractor in New Jersey, according to state records.

The home, which had to be immediately demolished after it fell Monday, was being elevated through New Jersey's federally-funded Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) program, the state's largest superstorm Sandy rebuilding initiative.

RREM had assigned the Prospect Avenue home of Irene Serkus to a state-qualified builder, an out-of-state firm that believed it was permitted to hire unregistered subcontractors — a position which contradicts New Jersey law.

Serkus, a school custodian who watched helplessly as her home of 29 years lurched forward and then collapsed, said she was shocked to learn from the Asbury Park Press that the subcontractor was not registered.

"I figured, you know, with the state — they got this contractor for me. They said everybody has to be licensed and all this," Serkus, 55, said Friday. "I was going to go with my own contractor but that fell through, and then I thought (the state does) the permits, the inspections and everything. I was kind of burnt out."

How did this happen?

Everybody is blaming somebody else, Union Beach construction official Bob Burlew said earlier this week, but the official preliminary determination is that the excavation team, later identified as Solid Ground Masonry LLC, undermined the supports that were holding up the elevated home.

Multiple calls to a phone number identified as Solid Ground's have not been returned.

The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, which maintains a list of all registered home-improvement contractors, has no record of a company by that name or with the Long Branch address they provided to Union Beach Police, according to consumer affairs spokesman Neal Buccino.

The general contractor for the project was James W. Turner Construction, a Houston outfit that specializes in post-disaster rebuilding.

Turner's general manager for New Jersey and New York, Mark Healy, said they were told by representatives of the RREM program that it was not necessary for subcontractors such as Solid Ground to be registered so long as they were not dealing directly with the consumer.

New Jersey's Contractors' Registration Act, however, disagrees, stating that "no person shall offer to perform, or engage, or attempt to engage in the business of making or selling home improvements unless registered with the Division of Consumer Affairs."

RREM responds

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, which runs the RREM program, denies that anyone in the program told Turner that hiring unregistered subcontractors was acceptable, according to a spokeswoman.

The DCA "is in the process of doing a thorough review of the situation to determine the appropriate action to address the situation."

General contractors in the program are responsible for ensuring that neither they nor the subcontractors they employ break any laws, DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan said.

The DCA has instructed the companies that manage construction in the RREM program to conduct site visits at all Turner projects. They've also ordered Turner to provide the department with a list of all their subcontractors so the state can verify that they are registered.

Healy told the Press that Turner had hired Solid Ground on "several jobs" and "they all went very well."

Who will ultimately bear responsibility will be a matter for insurance companies to sort out. Serkus, who has been living in an apartment in Keansburg since Sandy, will not have to pay for somebody else's mistake, according to the state.

"We are committed to supporting her in any way we can and to helping her build a new home," Ryan said.

Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com