disclose to the decourseys that he and contractor birgh had a land investment deal. he insists there was no conflict of interest saying one had nothing to do with the other, and what about those assurances he gave the decourseys about the superior quality of dick birgh s contracting work? i said for the type of work which i was, you know, recommending, which was cosmetic upgrades, maintenance items, that i felt he provided more value for the finished product than other contractors i had dealt with. even though he wasn t licensed? i didn t pay attention to licensing for any of my subs, and dick told me that he disclosed that to carol and martin well before they ever hired him. that he was unlicensed? correct. halfway through our interview stickney tries to redefine dick birgh s business. using the word contractor. whether dick was a contractor or not, he s a handyman. dick birgh s company was a help homeowners upgrade and maintain
plaster, the roof has a dip in it, the floor is cracking, the counter is out of alignment, and so on. within weeks of moving in mark learned just how hazardous the contractor s work proved to be. i was washing the dog in the bathtub, and i put my hand in the water. the electricity from the electrified metal drain came up through the water and into my hand and down through my body, and i got a shock. now, had they gone into the tub and had a shower in there and completed the circuit, they would be dead. it would be an electrocution. the decourseys called an emergency electrician who rushed over. they really couldn t believe it. they were up and down and all over the house and found out that it was running 110 volts ac. and there was a dedicated circuit, a 20-amp circuit, right to the main circuit panel. they couldn t understand why anybody would electrify a bathtub. and who was the vp at the company that did the original electrical work? dick birgh s son, stefan.
we are in a position now being virtually on the edge of financial ruin. for example, i ve lost my i.r.a. we had to borrow against life insurance policies. we had to cash in one-time irreplaceable investments. we had to run up credit cards. with no financial resources and nowhere to turn, the middle-aged couple has taken to trying to make the repairs themselves. we used to enjoy going to theater or opera. forget anything like that. forget it. it s just work, work, work, work, work. for two years this mild-mannered homemaker has taken to city hall, protesting and warning other homeowners of the pitfalls of home repair. ma am, would you like a pamphlet? the biggest shock, they say, is not that dick birgh was a bad contractor. it was learning that this man, their trusted real estate agent, paul stickney, was a corporate officer in contractor dick birgh s company, hih. we found out that paul stickney is actually the vice
me get set up for just a sec. you have a financial partnership with richard birgh, the contractor? i do co-own some land with dick, yes. that was something that we ve done for years. uh-huh. it s something we ve done for years. but in regards to that, it was a innocent and unfortunate, non-intentional issue. according to dick and you could, you know, call him and chat with him. yeah, we are. he said that he called me in 2001 and he said that he was at the secretary of state when he was incorporating home improvement help and he needed a third name according to the secretary of state. okay. and he said it was no big deal, he just needed a name. he but you didn t benefit financially at all from this partnership with richard birgh? zero. but you had a financial relationship and were vice president of the corporation that did the work on the house. but i didn t know i was vp.
their house with what i call little stuff. doors and trim is little stuff. but these documents show that paul stickney recommended home improvement help to do much more than just the little stuff. in fact, he recommended hih to six other real estate clients. there was another revelation about the home stickney was selling that day. whose house is this that we re at right now? who owns this house? stefan birgh. it s the contractor s son. it s his son. you get a commission. if i do a good job selling a house, that s what i do. what about the man, dick birgh, who was paid $164,000 by the decourseys to remodel their home. he says his company didn t exist before their remodel. there was no company. the company was formed for the benefit of them.