Beware: 'Tis the Travelers season

The Daily Inter Lake

Flathead County sheriff's detectives are investigating what appeared to be a driveway-paving scam reported Wednesday morning.

A Foys Lake Road resident told detective Sgt. Pat Walsh that a couple men drove an asphalt truck to her property and offered to resurface the pad in front of the garage with their partial load of asphalt they said was left over from another job. The price would be $2,000, they told her.

She agreed to that specific offer, so they started work.

But soon another truck pulled up, unknown to the homeowner. She brought a halt to their work when she spotted them starting to prepare the approach to the road.

By that time, they had paved significantly more than promised.

They threatened to tear up the extra asphalt that had been laid, Walsh said.

And they reportedly tried to charge her $4,000 for their work.

The paving work itself was substandard, Walsh said, with asphalt laid to a thickness of only 1 inch at the edges.

He said his office was inspecting the work done.

Wednesday's report, and the onset of the summer construction season, prompted an advisory from the Kalispell Police Department.

Police said the all-out construction pace in the Flathead provides an opening for less-reputable people to take advantage of homeowners wanting repairs.

Established construction firms are busy with larger home-building contracts, detective Sgt. Brian Fulford said, and often do not have time for the smaller jobs.

Flathead residents need to be aware of itinerant family-clan construction companies commonly called Travelers, Irish Travelers or similar names. They specialize in construction scams nationwide.

Based primarily in the Southern United States, they have visited the Flathead on several occasions.

They offer to lay asphalt, seal driveways, roof homes and do other jobs.

Walsh said he had found no evidence Wednesday afternoon to link the two men involved in the Foys Lake Road job with the Travelers.

Typically, Travelers quote one price but in the end charge significantly more, citing problems or unforeseen circumstances. Or they may send one person to talk with the homeowner as a distraction while another member of the group enters through a back door and steals household items or cash.

Scams include all areas of construction but some of the most common are driveway pavers and roofers.

If hired, the work tends to be shoddy or never completed.

If a homeowner protests, Travelers often rely on physical intimidation or by threatening legal action. The elderly especially are at risk.

Police said these groups place newspaper ads, distribute fliers on doors and in mailboxes, and solicit door-to-door.

Some have local license plates and give nonexistent local addresses to make their victims think they are a local company.

Walsh cited instances of mailboxes set up along rural roads in the Flathead, possibly beside a driveway to a field but not to a home.