Print edition: 
One of the first contractors to work on a Wichita home under a state lead abatement program won't be paid or allowed to work on other homes after his workmanship was found to be subpar, a state official said.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment's Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Prevention Program won't let Joe's Remodeling, a Kansas City, Mo., company, bid on more projects, said Tom Langer, director of KDHE's Bureau of Environmental Health.
Joe Spencer's work at Wichita resident Anna Smith's home raised questions about how KDHE vetted contractors hired to do jobs under the program, referred to in Wichita as Safe at Home.
Spencer said he stood by his work and didn't do anything wrong. He did say he had never worked with the particular windows he was asked to install at Smith's house.
Smith told The Eagle that Joe's Remodeling was one of 16 companies that came to her house to bid on the project. She said KDHE told her Joe's Remodeling submitted the lowest bid.
Records from KDHE show that three other companies submitted lower bids initially. But the department's notes for Smith's house say that those companies had already been awarded two projects each.
"An offer was made and accepted by Joe's Remodeling to complete the project for the total sum of $5,760," records say. The low bid was $4,800.
Smith said Spencer showed up at her house midmorning Oct. 12 in a Lincoln Town Car without equipment to replace her house's windows and a door that had tested positive for lead.
Over the next few days, Smith said, Spencer asked to borrow supplies, banged up wood trim inside her house and used caulk to fill places where the windows didn't fit correctly.
At the end of the project, three of Smith's nine new windows at her house southeast of Pawnee and Seneca wouldn't open, she said, including an escape window in a bedroom.
Wondering about his work, Smith asked Spencer for a business card.
"He said he didn't have one," she said. "I don't know where he got his certifications."
Smith said she questioned how KDHE came to hire Spencer for the program, which is using a $3.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to abate lead in 200 homes in Sedgwick County and 120 homes elsewhere in the state.
Langer said Spencer had the required lead abatement training, certification and license but did substandard work at Smith's home.
An inspector from KDHE made Spencer correct a problem on the job site — sealing covered items with tape at the floor level.
Lead dust is dangerous, especially to children. Homeowners in the program must have a child 6 years or younger who lives in the house or visits more than 10 hours every week. Smith has two children, ages 7 and 4.
Set requirements
Shannon Steinbauer, director of the Healthy Homes program, said contractors participating in the program weren't required to have trucks or business cards.
KDHE lists training and business requirements for contractors who work under the program.
Everyone on the job site must be certified as a lead abatement supervisor or worker. Langer said Spencer is certified as a lead abatement supervisor. KDHE is looking into whether to suspend his certification.
To bid on projects, companies must be licensed as a lead activity firm with Kansas, have $1 million in general liability insurance, have worker's compensation insurance and have insurance coverage for any vehicles used on a job. Spencer showed proof of insurance to KDHE.
KDHE's website also says companies must obtain an occupational license in the county in which they are working, be registered with the Kansas Secretary of State's Office and use window suppliers authorized by the state.
Spencer did not have an occupational license from Sedgwick County, and Joe's Remodeling was not registered with the Secretary of State's Office.
Langer said Spencer was not required to have an occupational license for the job at Smith's home because it was not extensive enough to require one. He also said that because Spencer is a sole proprietor of Joe's Remodeling, he was not required to be registered with the Secretary of State's Office.
Asked why KDHE would list those requirements if they do not apply to some contractors, Langer said, "If there's confusion there, trust me, we can correct that. Call it a loophole if you will. Those do exist in the world."
Sixteen contractors are approved to do work for the Healthy Homes program, Langer said. The list does not include Spencer.
Spencer, Langer said, "did not live up to the requirements of quality of workmanship and doing the job the right way."
Spencer, who said he "tried to be nice" to Smith and do what she asked him, has not been paid for the work he did at Smith's home.
Another contractor will redo the work at no cost to Smith, Langer said. He declined to say how much that might cost.
Smith said Spencer used a pry bar or crowbar to pull out the old windows and "dented up all the trim inside and out. He chipped up Sheetrock and left marks on the trim inside. His work was so sloppy and he cut the framing unevenly that he filled it in with three inches of caulking."
Spencer also used high-gloss white paint on the trim and on part of the windows, which Smith said were vinyl and should not have been painted.
Spencer has done lead abatement for programs in the Kansas City area, including Wyandotte County on the Kansas side. Langer said he was not aware of any previous problems.
Contractor's rebuttal
Spencer, who said he does work only for government programs, said he did not do shoddy work at Smith's house. He added that he was working with windows he hadn't worked with before.
He said he worked overtime and "tried to show her (Smith) I was dedicated."
He said he used a spray bottle on the job to reduce lead dust, used the proper vacuum and covered furniture with plastic.
"I've done everything in the requirements that they recommend for a lead abatement job," Spencer said.
'We will not pay for slipshod work'
But Langer said that on this project, Spencer "did not seek out the proper information from the window supplier to install their windows. That just will not stand."
Langer said he often hears from the public that the government should act more like a business.
"I am acting like a business here," Langer said. "This is not the way we expect work to be accomplished. We have a fiduciary responsibility to maintain the value of our program and safeguard those funds that have been placed in our charge. It is not our money. This is money that belongs to the residents of our state in actuality. We will not pay for slipshod work.
"He has failed, and he has failed just miserably. The consequence of that is he will no longer be qualified to do this kind of work."
Langer said KDHE is evaluating whether "did he in some way, shape or form violate regulations that would cause us to suspend his license and certification?"
"He is being looked at exceptionally close right now," Langer said of Spencer.
Langer said that this particular problem was isolated and "absolutely the exception and not the rule. I do not like spending good money after bad. This is not the way it's going to work. If this were a problem that was recurring, I guarantee you I would be looking at our processes to find out why."
