An Ottawa homeowner is out tens of thousands of dollars after what started as a small home repair, turned into an alleged scam involving a fake city inspector.
Jocelyne Caloz says it began in August when a man knocked on her door offering to fix some of the cement, known as parging, along the bottom of her house.
“He said we’re working down there, we’re very willing to help you out,” she said.
The man claimed to be from a company called Homesense Contractors and quoted her $11,500 for the job, but Caloz says once construction began, new problems appeared and the price quickly started to climb.
“They dug right to the bottom of the basement, said they needed more equipment and foolishly, we gave them more money than we should have,” said Caloz.
By the time the digging stopped, Caloz says she had paid $90,000.
She says the workers never came back, leaving broken cement, dirt and damage to her property.
Then came another knock at the door.
This time, Caloz says it was a man identifying himself as Kevin Smith and claiming to be a City of Ottawa inspector.
“My husband answered the door, but he had an official tag on saying he was an inspector of the city, and then on the reverse he’d been a former police officer,” said Caloz.
Caloz says he recommended another company, named “Harbour Trade Construction,” to fix the damage. This company had no phone number, no address and no website linked to Ottawa.
Caloz says she was asked for another $43,000 which she refused to pay.
The city confirmed that no inspector ever visited her home.
“Building Code Services (BCS) reminds residents that inspectors carry City of Ottawa identification on them during site visits. Residents are encouraged to request this identification or contact 3-1-1 to confirm the site visit before allowing access to their property,’ said Scott Lockhart, deputy chief building official in a statement.
“Suspicious behaviour should be reported to the Ottawa Police Service or through 3-1-1.”
CTV News called Homesense Contractors, but the call went straight to voicemail.
The address listed on the company’s website leads to another business.
Ottawa Police confirm they’re investigating and say scams like this are common in spring and fall, often under different names including the “Irish paver scam,” the “roofing scam,” or the “foundation scam.”
“It’s all the same,” said Detective Shaun Wahbeh with Ottawa Police Services. “They give you a price, it keeps going up, and eventually they walk away.”
“If someone comes to your door, it should be an instant red flag, do not hire anybody soliciting construction work.”
Caloz says she has lost the money and will also have to pay to repair the damage left behind.
“By bringing this attention to many other people, particularly older people, we’re very trusting sometimes, and we perhaps shouldn’t be as trusting as we are,” Caloz said.
The City of Ottawa says it’s exploring options to license contractors, though there’s no timeline or guarantee it would have prevented what happened.
Police advise homeowners to get multiple quotes and never hire someone who shows up uninvited.
