Wrong Man's House Demolished By City Of Pittsburgh

Andre Hall got the shock of a lifetime when he came home to Pittsburgh after the holidays and found that the city had demolished his house by accident.

"I leave for the holidays, come back, and I see a backhoe sitting on my house," Hall said.

City officials confirmed that Hall's house should not have been torn down. The contractor at fault has not returned requests for comment.

WATCH:

Comments

[MJinCanada]

06:34 PM on 01/14/2011

Last year I heard someone thumping about on my roof. I ran out in time to catch the guys before they ripped our shingles off and replaced them with the ones meant for the house across the street. The contractor thanked me sincerely for saving him a couple thousand bucks. He wondered why someone would want to redo a nearly new roof, but it didn't occur to him to knock on the door and check ....

[MJinCanada]

06:24 PM on 01/14/2011

OMG, the poor family!

[SaddieMcCall]

07:57 AM on 01/11/2011

This man and his family needs an Extreme Home Makeover!

[bipolarbears60]

05:05 AM on 01/09/2011

OMG!!! What about his furniture? Family pictures? Heirlooms? (Yes, every family has them, even if it's just a sentimental something passed down from an ancestor) Is the city going to provide shelter for this man and his family until restitution is made?

Where is the rest of this story??????

[VanTroi]

01:37 AM on 01/10/2011

I dont think he moved in yet he was fixing it up. Either way they better build him a new house!

[facepalm12]

12:15 PM on 01/24/2011

Crack_Pipes!

[lmab]

12:10 AM on 01/09/2011

Same thing happened to John McCain once.

[lmab]

09:09 AM on 01/09/2011

...but John didn't know it was his house.

[Howard Castle]

10:46 PM on 01/08/2011

They will probably blame it on the Vogons...

[1donewrong]

09:51 PM on 01/08/2011

I'm sure it was just around the corner for demolition

[abuja19]

03:00 AM on 01/08/2011

This man should be compensated for his loss. He deserves a new house, fully furnished.

[vinny]

10:57 AM on 01/08/2011

city officials deserve a public flo gging

[1donewrong]

09:52 PM on 01/08/2011

I've got a couple of refigerator boxes he can use

[Hugh Mantis]

08:11 AM on 01/09/2011

How puerile.

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

11:44 PM on 01/07/2011

I doubt any contractor would tear down a house without first checking if anyone was on the premises.In the process of checking they would have noticed the gas, electric,cable and phone were working.Why was there furniture,TV's,why did the home look lived in,etc.There's a lot more to this story than we're reading here and somebody has some splainin' to do.

[peegan]

10:45 AM on 01/08/2011

If you watch the clip you will find out that the house was not lived in but in the middle of being rehabbed. There had been a demolition order on it (it was actually the next door house that was scheduled for demolition) but the county had specifically sent the contractor a notice to not demolish this house. Somebody does indeed have some explaining to do.

[Wuud52]

12:00 PM on 01/08/2011

Like I tell some of my Republican buddies; you would discover some amazing things if you actually looked at all of the information before making your comments.

[Andy Clark]

04:26 PM on 01/09/2011

While i agree with this comment, I think that can be generalized to everybody.

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

10:20 PM on 01/09/2011

Well I did watch the video and you're right I didn't have all the info.But the house did have new windows,doors and the mans tools on the premises.Any bets as to what happened to any "goodies"before the demolition started?Facts are still pretty much the same,but I will try harder not to shoot from the hip.

[Donns]

07:19 AM on 01/07/2011

OOOOPPPSSSS

[jerryjerry5959]

06:39 AM on 01/07/2011

He sues the city, who sues the contractor, both appeal and 10 years later a judge awards the now homeless man a new house who has since lost the property because didn't pay the mortgage on the non-existant house, so then the bank is sued and they appeal and then he dies of old age that same day when they hand him a check. Nice system

[BBQribsNOnapkin]

02:32 PM on 01/07/2011

Agreed.

[Turukano]

12:30 AM on 01/08/2011

What is your solution? We are a nation of laws and even the cursed government and private business have the right to appeal decisions.

[hackerblaster]

06:21 AM on 01/07/2011

Looks like someone will be getting a new house built for them.

[terriblyconfused]

12:27 PM on 01/07/2011

Yeah, years from now.

[Turukano]

12:30 AM on 01/08/2011

Ok. Get cracking. You care so much, go down there and build the man a house.

[Henry Coe]

06:01 AM on 01/07/2011

That's messed up. Happy New Year? He certainly seemed calmer about it than I think I could be. Wow. That's a major punch in the gut. The City needs to rebuild his home, ASAP.

[KDMac]

02:45 PM on 01/07/2011

I imagine there are plenty of vacant homes on the property rolls. They can find one that's mutually acceptable to give him.

[KhunDavid]

05:15 AM on 01/07/2011

This is what happens when government tries to save money by hiring 'private contractors'.

[Jack-K]

09:01 AM on 01/07/2011

Yeah. If city workers were in charge, they would have razed the house on the other side, taken 4 weeks to do it, charged 8x as much, would have ruptured a gas line or two.

But at least they would have gotten their union mandated 30 minute break at 9:00 am.

[hyperkell]

09:26 AM on 01/07/2011

you are so wrong. If it were city unions in charge of demolishing this house it would still be there because they all would be sitting around drinking beer instead of doing their jobs.

[bipolarbears60]

05:12 AM on 01/09/2011

Considering the house was in the middle of a re-hab at the time, I'm surprised gas lines weren't ruptured. The utilities would have been hooked up since the guy was doing the work himself and would have needed power and water (at the very least) on site. There are a whole lot of things about this story that just don't add up.

[KDMac]

02:46 PM on 01/07/2011

Then the city couldn't claim immunity because it was a subcontractor's faulty work.

[Dnietz]

05:12 AM on 01/07/2011

Let me guess, if this guy sues the city or the contractor, then Republicans will claim lawsuit abuse.

[Veri]

06:08 AM on 01/07/2011

Only when it is not a Republican suing. Otherwise, it IS abuse.

[1donewrong]

09:55 PM on 01/08/2011

this is Pittsburgh a Dem city they will give him a million dollars and a pension for life

[Dnietz]

10:01 PM on 01/08/2011

I hope so. I hope he wins.

But that won't change the fact that the minute he files the lawsuit, he will get attacked by Republicans for lawsuit abuse.