Contractor reportedly at odds with shoddy construction claims

The new town homes were purchased in 2014; problems popped up not long after.

CAMDEN -- The construction company that four Camden homeowners claim is responsible for a slew of repairs at their new Cooper Plaza town homes is reportedly arguing otherwise.

Tyrone Pitts, whose Arline Construction built the Berkley Street properties more than two years ago, told philly.com that he responded to all maintenance requests made by the project's developer.

"A failed project -- that's all that it is," Kiara DeJesus, a Philadelphia native who purchased her $175,000 home in August 2014 to be closer to work at Wells Fargo, told NJ Advance Media last month during an interview at her home.

DeJesus and Telisha Ortiz, who bought her neighboring home in mid-2014, showed off damage caused by leaks throughout the home and documents that revealed repeated attempts to get Pitts or the Camden Redevelopment Agency to acknowledge the issues.

New properties plagued by shoddy construction

According to philly.com, Pitts -- who said he's worked on tens of thousands of homes -- said that some of the problems popped up after warranties had expired and that some of the water damage was the result of work done by another company.

Attempts to reach Pitts and the property developer last month were unsuccessful. City officials also declined to comment and a message left with the Camden Redevelopment Agency was not returned.

While a few of the issues were fixed after repeated attempts at contacting Pitts, Ortiz previously said the majority are still outstanding and contributing to the decline of their homes.