Welder says firm’s failure to pay ruined him

A welding contractor says a company’s failure to pay him for repairs he made to a federally contracted property cost him his business and forced him to sell nearly everything he owned.

Michael Bell, 40, was hired by the Ohio-based Millennia Housing Management to work on Sandpiper Cove Apartments in Galveston. While the development is privately owned, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development subsidizes the rent. Tenants pay 30 percent of their income after deductions, or a minimum of $25 per month.

Millennia hired Bell in early May to address building code concerns related to walkways, stairwells, gates, guardrails and handrails, according to a contract Bell provided.

Bell said Millenia exercised an option in his contract calling for him to be on-site to repair any issues identified by inspectors during a walk-through.

He charged $8,500 for the project and said he stipulated he’d need payment once he had to put his own money into the job.

Nearly three months later, Bell says he’s out $6,375. He sold his couch, his recliner and his 73-inch television. He spent two weeks living in his truck.

“I could pay my help or pay my bills,” he said. “So I lost my business and my home.”

Bell packed up and moved from Kemah to West Texas.

Millennia did not to repeated for comment.

Bell’s contract states a vendor will be paid for completed services within 30 days after receipt of the invoice. As of 2018, according to a letter from Millennia’s chief executive included in the contract, the company no longer allowed vendors to charge late fees.

When he did work at Sandpiper Cove, Bell said, he noted a number of safety issues. respond requests

The gaps between stair railings were wide enough for babies’ heads to slip through.

One of the buildings had a swinging gate that wouldn’t shut properly and hit an electrical box. The supports on several staircases had rotted out, he said, so those stairways were only supported on the side.

“It wasn’t safe at all,” Bell said.

For years, tenants have complained the 192-unit complex was basically unlivable, pointing to mold, rats, sewage backups and ceilings that fell down. The property continually passed HUD inspections despite violations such as broken smoke detectors, with Millennia disputing nearly every fault found since it bought the property in 2015.

The tenants, however, often have nowhere else to go: They cannot afford market-rate apartments, and the island has a severe lack of public housing.

Sandpiper Cove is the only privately owned, HUD-subsidized apartment development in Galveston.

Sandpiper Cove failed its most recent federal inspection in May.

“It’s a good bunch of people stuck in a situation in life through circumstances,” Bell said of the Sandpiper Cove tenants.

In late June, a Millennia official emailed Bell it would be mid-July before a payment could be made. A month later, Bell said he called three Millennia executives and was ignored.

“I did get irate with them,” he said. “I told them, ‘If you think I’m gonna go away, I’m not.’ I’m a small contractor, and I don’t know why $6,375 is a big deal to a major corporation. It’s pennies in a bucket for y’all, but it’s a lot for me.”

Millenia manages over 250 apartment properties.

“I lost my business and my home to a corporate entity that has millions and millions of dollars,” Bell said. “How do you sleep at night?”