Piatra Inc. set to receive new city contract

Piatra Inc. is one of a handful of construction companies that racked up a number of complaints from homeowners about substandard work after the company worked on their homes under a city program to help low-income homeowners. Yet the company is now set to receive a contract worth more than half a million from the city itself. The Austin Monitor described the homeowners’ complaints in several stories about problems with the federally funded program. A January 2019 story explained how one homeowner won her arbitration case against Piatra. The arbitrator ruled that the company had not performed the work as required by the contract and ordered that the company remove and replace all the windows and siding. Piatra Inc. is no longer doing home repairs for the home rehabilitation loan program. However, according to this week’s Council agenda, the city’s contracting office plans to award a contract of up to $564,283 to Piatra for a renovation project for the Kramer Building E. Relay, which includes construction of a mezzanine above office space. The city had estimated the price tag at $420,000. Backup shows that Piatra was the only company to bid on the project and is a certified MBE/WBE firm (minority business enterprise/women’s business enterprise).