LIBERTY, Mo. — A Liberty woman says mistakes made by a plumbing company created a muddy mess in her front yard.
In March, a sewer backup flooded Jennifer Heater's basement. She hired Calvert Plumbing Heating and Cooling to do the job. Nearly six weeks later, Heater's front yard is still a mess.
"It's a mess. You know, it's not even just the yard, it's the fact that there's mud now everywhere," Heater said.
Soon after the project began, it ran into some trouble. The city of Liberty said the lines were marked by Dig Right, a company that contracts with the city. Heater said Calvert Plumbing dug five holes in her yard before finding the correct line.
41 Action News reached out to Calvert Plumbing. No one would go on-camera, but the owner said over the phone that the lines were marked incorrectly.
"The city was out here and they didn't say that they were off," Heater said.
Heater said she had to apologize to her neighbors for the mess that's been created. She also put a sign up in her front yard, asking for the public to call Calvert Plumbing and request the company fix her yard. She also posted the sign on Facebook.
"People slow drive by my house, which was kind of what initiated the sign because people creep by just to look at the disaster, and I just want them to know that I don't just do this for fun," Heater said.
Calvert Plumbing told 41 Action News that it is not a landscaping company. The owner said they tried to fix the situation by offering Heater $800 to fix the yard but asked she take down the sign and the post on Facebook. Heater said the money was not nearly enough to fix the damage.
"I don't feel I should have to come out of pocket to fix their mess," Heater said.
After hiring another plumbing company to come out to her home, Heater said the work done by Calvert Plumbing was done wrong. She hired a new company and was given an estimate of $6,000 to fix the problem. Heater said she will pay the extra cost to get her yard looking like all the others on her block.
"I just want to be able to look out in my yard and not have almost a panic attack looking at it," she said.
City officials said the work by Calvert Plumbing was not approved. They said inspectors went to Heater's home, but the work had already been covered back up with dirt.
Calvert Plumbing sent photos of the job to the city, and the city said it was done incorrectly and would not have been approved.
While Heater's yard is being cleaned up, the city also said she will not be fined for the mess.
