Homeowner's Unsettled Repairs

A Ouachita Parish homeowner is still very upset with an area contractor who claims to do quality work on houses. The work quality has left the homeowner in strong disagreement with the contractor. However, what makes the homeowner even more infuriated with the person that she hired to work on her house is that individual is working on another house, leaving her home just the way it was when he stopped working on it. Robert McFarland started working/renovating a house near the ULM campus recently, but according to the homeowner, he has made no attempt to complete the work project that he started on, before beginning work on the house on which he is currently working. What makes matters worse is that the homeowner had to find out about it, questioned McFarland, and asked "why is he treating her in this manner". According to the homeowner, all that she has received is silence from McFarland, as he has not made any attempt to come back and finish the work. The homeowner said that this is one decision that she regrets making, but she thought that she was doing "something good" for an African-American businessman. None of her many phone calls have been answered. One other thing that made matters even worse, was that she gave McFarland "up front money" just to begin working on her house.

When this reporter made a site visit to the house near ULM and at the homeowner's house, one could see that it appears a more concerted effort from outward appearances is being done to satisfy the homeowner of the house near ULM. The homeowner's whose house McFarland appeared to have abandoned, showed shoddy work done on the fence, which included space/gaps between the boards, loose hanging wires, incomplete overhang and decorative yard work. It is not something that someone who makes a living of working on houses, would want others to look at, or be proud of their work. It has been months since McFarland stopped working on the woman's house, but according to the homeowner, "it is wrong" for McFarland to do what he did to her, once saying that he being an African-American businessman, would not have done to her if she were white. When she sees the work being done on another house by the same individual that left her home without coming back to finish the job, is like "pouring salt" in an open wound. Nevertheless, the homeowner says that "this is not the last" of what she has to say. She also said that she hopes that her experience will serve as a warning for other homeowners to not be so trusting of some African-American businessmen who make promises, that they can't deliver. She says that she knows that not all of them are like McFarland, but she wants her story to be a warning to others, especially women, that bad ones are out there.