Company that repaired Chairman Gray's house lacked license

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By Jeffrey Anderson THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The politically connected company that arranged for a home renovation plan and supervised repairs this summer at D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray's house lacked a business license to provide home improvement services, according to records released Friday by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.

The records also show that two of the companies hired to work on Mr. Gray's house by WCS Construction, a company wholly owned by W. Christopher Smith Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of mega-developer William C. Smith & Co., are not licensed to do business in the city.

Licensing issues and questions about whether building permits were necessary have prompted the city's consumer affairs agency to "look into what may or may not have been required" at Mr. Gray's home, a spokesman said.

"We are not ignoring it," DCRA spokesman Michael Rupert said Friday.

Mr. Gray, who has publicly stated that he is considering a run for mayor and has been a vocal critic of the Fenty administration, has bristled at suggestions that the $5,000 in incidental home repairs performed in July and August were inappropriate. The council chairman has said the repairs arose after he turned to Mr. Smith, his longtime friend, to arrange for architectural plans, with an eye toward hiring WCS Construction to do a more complete home renovation because he trusted his friend's work.

Both Mr. Gray and the company have challenged suggestions that Mr. Gray received special favors and sought to portray the transaction as ordinary. A company spokeswoman said that acting as a contractor for minor repairs was unusual but that the company has performed home renovation services like the project Mr. Gray was preparing. She could not provide an example.

But D.C. databases of licensed contractors and DCRA officials have no records that would indicate that the construction company had a home improvement contractor license or a home improvement salesman license that, prior to Oct. 1, was required of companies that contract to repair or remodel homes, according to the DCRA License Center.

WCS Construction on Oct. 1 obtained a general contractor's license, a new category of license offered by the city that allows the company to oversee myriad construction jobs, including home improvement projects.

WCS spokeswoman Carol Chatham did not return several calls for comment.

Mr. Gray has said he also had exterior work performed on his property two years ago, but has insisted that William C. Smith & Co. and WCS Construction had nothing to do with it. DCRA records show that Mr. Gray has never obtained a building permit for the Hillcrest home he has owned since 1984.