Roofing company takes money from a single mom but leaves a leaky mess FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV

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CLINTON, Mon. – Heather Shinn’s house looks like it’s getting a new roof, but looks can be deceptive.

Although half of the shingles on her old roof have been removed and new roofing materials are in her front yard, it’s been almost three weeks since anyone worked on Shinn’s roof.

Shinn, of Clinton, Missouri, said every time she texted or called her roofer to inquire about where he was, she heard an apology or a blank promise. Even Shinn’s father, Bill, tried to contact the roofer.

“He closed his Facebook account,” said Bill Shinn. “You can’t reach him at all.”

That upset Heather Shinn. She is a single mom who has a full time job and goes to school. She used all of her savings to pay the roofer. She gave him $ 3,000 bail – about 80 percent of the contract.

“I have run out of money to pay someone to do it,” said Heather.

Every day she becomes more desperate. Since half of her roof is missing, the rain can hardly prevent her from entering her house. In fact, you can see water damage in her bedroom.

So who is the man Heather hired to roof her house? Travis Hurd. He lives in Windsor, a town about 30 minutes from Heather’s house in Clinton.

It was Heather’s father, Bill, who found Hurd on Facebook and was initially impressed.

“He’s a family guy and said he had seven children,” said Bill Shinn. Now he’s angry at trusting Hurd with his daughter’s house.

“If this guy is a family person he should be very ashamed,” added Bill Shinn. “You’re not doing this to someone else’s daughter.”

FOX 4 Problem Solvers called Hurd to get his site. He never called us back so we tried again the next day.

This time he picked up the phone. Hurd told us he had no idea Heather had been trying to reach him for the past three weeks. He told us he couldn’t finish the roof because it was raining. However, the FOX 4 Weather Center informed us that there has been at least a week of good weather since May 8th.

Hurd’s last excuse was that he wasn’t interested in quitting the job for fear of not getting paid. That was the weakest excuse so far, as he has already received almost 80 percent of the contract. After telling Hurd we were going to send a message about the roof problem, he promised to call Heather that afternoon. He did not do it.

So FOX 4 Problem Solvers found a legitimate roofing company that will quit the job Hurd started for free. Wyatt Zucca of Zucca & Daughters & Sons Roofing met up with Heather Shinn on Wednesday. Zucca said he and most good roofers never ask for a deposit upfront. He only collects after the job is done.

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