Crew takes ‘entire roof’ off wrong Kansas home — then vanishes, homeowner says

Update, Aug. 8: A Kansas homeowner has a new roof days after he says contractors mistakenly tore the roof off his house, which is used for short-term rentals.

Steve Kornspan’s guests were trying to sleep when they woke up to “banging on the roof” at about 7 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2. He immediately tried to figure out what was happening and later learned the roofers were at the wrong home.

They disappeared at about 8 a.m., before Kornspan and his maintenance partner could get to the home. Video surveillance captured photos of the workers and their unbranded van, though.

Kornspan told McClatchy News he went looking for the roofers twice that day, and at about 3 p.m. he found the workers at a house about 10 blocks away on the same street.

He called police and the owner of the roofing company, which he decided not to name publicly. He says the owner was “awesome” and apologetic, adding that the owner gave him a check to pay for his new roof, which was completed by another company.

While it was a disruption in his week, and while he wishes the workers would have said something before vanishing, Kornspan says, “It was just a roof.”

Because this was a mistake, the Overland Park Police Department filed a civil — not criminal — report.

The original story is below.

A crew of contractors “tore the entire roof off” a Kansas home before disappearing — as they were at the wrong place, according to the homeowner.

The Overland Park man believes the workers left “when they realized it was the wrong house.” He took to Nextdoor and Facebook in hopes of finding out who was actually supposed to get their roof replaced the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 2.

In the meantime, Steve Kornspan says he has contacted police and his insurance company. He also now has his own roofer working on his home.

A public information officer with the Overland Park Police Department confirmed Kornspan filed a report the same day.

“Right now we’re looking at this as a civil matter,” Officer John Lacy told McClatchy News. “We’re not looking at this as a criminal matter because this was a mistake that they made. They were supposed to get another home and were supposed to rip up that roof but they got the addresses switched.”

Police are unsure if there was damage to the inside of the home, but rain is expected to hit Aug. 3.

McClatchy News reached out to Kornspan for additional information on Aug. 3 and was awaiting a response.

Overland Park is about 10 miles southwest of downtown Kansas City.

This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 11:01 AM.