UNDERWOOD, N.D. (AP) — The union boys are coming to help save a disabled veteran and his wife from financial ruin and finish his handicapped-accessible home.
The unfinished house is on a new street on the south side of Underwood, snow piled around and the yard littered from the contractor’s unfinished projects.
Chuck Stewart, 56, a career U.S. Air Force man, sits in the family car outside, tethered to oxygen for his pulmonary fibrosis and unable to make the trip inside the house in the cold.
He and his wife, Sue, started building the house last year after their two-story Minot home presented too many physical obstacles for him.
They loved that old Victorian-style house but agreed that an open plan and main-floor bedrooms were necessary given his condition.
They hired a reputable contractor, who died in January of a massive heart attack at the age of 54.
A few months later, at the urging of the banker, they hired another general contractor. Now, $86,000 later, that contractor has disappeared, with very little progress to show for it. A lawsuit against him is in progress.
At this point, the couple is in for more than $300,000 for an estimated $250,000 house that still needs wiring, plumbing, Sheetrock, painting and flooring. Their truck and car are pledged as collateral and their construction loan comes due for payments in April.
“We’re trying to hold up,” Sue Stewart told The Bismarck Tribune (http://bit.ly/1rDr6sd ). “I feel like I’m in a nightmare.”
Union members with the Carpenter and Millwright Local 1091 and its training academy in Center heard of the Stewarts’ plight and decided to take on the house as a way to train apprentices, engage retirees and help in the community.
Travis Beck, the local business manager, Bill Marlenee, a millwright instructor, and John Doubek, carpenter instructor were at the house Wednesday afternoon, looking at the work that has been done and at what remains to be done.
“We’re going to get at this and help get it done,” said Beck, adding it’s an honor to give back to a veteran who served for 20 years. “I feel terrible for these people.”
John Doubek, who teaches apprentice carpenters and worked for years as an instructor at the Minot Jobs Corps, said he hopes to get going by Dec. 8. He said he’s already got some donated Sheetrock and will be looking for some 5/8-inch sheets for the ceiling.
“I’m just going over what we can do,” said Doubek, pointing out that Minot Builders Association might get involved as well as other union trades.
The Stewarts have been living in a fifth-wheeler in Minot, a situation that was supposed to be short-term between selling their old home and moving into their new one and has now dragged on for almost a year.
Melissa Stewart lives with her folks and provides backup care for her dad. She said the unions will be a lifesaver.
“Otherwise, it would just be me and my mom with so little construction knowledge. We don’t know how,” said Stewart, adding that it has been hard to watch her parents go through this ordeal.
“The unions will make a difference; there are some good people out there,” she said.
Out in the car, kept company by the family’s two brightly and warmly dressed dogs, Chuck Stewart watched the union guys come and go from the chilly house. He was visibly cheered by the activity and the promise of progress.
“It’ll be great to get out of the motor home and into a place where I can breathe. It’s a blessing to have someone help out,” he said.
