Ted Corriher, the proprietor of Everything Attachments, expressed his excitement about the future of his business in September 2021.
He was announcing plans to expand his Conover-based company, which makes blades, buckets, and other attachments for machinery like tractors and excavators, by around 150 new jobs and $20 million.
One and a half years later, Corriher is now speaking in a different manner. He apologises to the neighbourhood and says sorry.
He expressed regret that the business hasn’t been able to create the employment or finish the expansion he promised two years ago. The fact that the business engaged into agreements for hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax is a major source of regret.
According to Corriher, the community is curious as to why the corporation has not finished the project.
Since so many people keep asking me “When are you going to do something with that new building?” I now hardly ever go out in public. said Corriher.
He claimed that due to the ongoing legal dispute between Everything Attachments and Neill Grading & Construction Co., the Hickory-based contractor the business contracted to build the new plant, he is constrained in what he can say about the massive, new manufacturing building.
According to Everything Attachments, Neill Grading has given them a new structure that they are unable to occupy. Everything Attachments’ general manager, Nate McAbee, refers to the plant as “105,000 square feet of dead space.”
Neill Grading, on the other hand, intends to respond with its own counterclaims against Everything Attachments.
Liens and litigationSince he announced the expansion, Corriher has claimed that they have done everything in their power to uphold their half of the bargain, including investing about $10 million in new machinery.
However, they still don’t have a certificate of occupancy for the new structure. The business blames Neill Grading for this.
In the lawsuit filed in October, the company’s precise allegations against Neill Grading are listed. Under the business identities TC Corriher Implement Co. and Landshark Attachments LLC, Everything Attachments filed the lawsuit.
The business claims in court documents that Neill Grading performed subpar work, altered building plans without authorization, and “refused to deliver the plans and financial records in order to conceal faults and other misdeeds.”
According to the documents, the firm also claims that Neill Grading presented “doctored specifications for the heater to the inspector in an attempt to pass the inspections based on fraud” and fraudulently claimed to have passed inspections.
They specifically assert that the documentation Neill Grading provided inspectors for the minimum installation heights for the heaters was in variance with the data provided by the heaters’ manufacturer.
The lawsuit states, “Neill Grading then asserted that its subcontractor ‘altered’ the requirements.”
Director of Communications and Marketing for Catawba County Amy McCauley said when asked what steps would need to be taken to obtain the certificate of occupancy: “We are unsure, at this point. To find out, the owner or a representative would have to ask for an examination.
Although Neill Grading has not yet officially reacted to the particular allegations in the case, it has said it will do so soon by making assertions of its own.
According to a statement from the business, “Neill expects to file a counterclaim to the owner’s lawsuit on or before February 1, 2023, for breach of contract and to enforce its liens against the real property.”
For failure to pay, the business intends to file $2 million in liens on Everything Attachments. The lawsuit states that Everything Attachments delayed payment from Neill Grading and claims that this was due to Neill Grading’s purported contractual violations.
According to Corriher, the business is suffering because the company can’t relocate to the new structure. Numerous orders have been put on hold, and the business receives daily questions about when the new plant will start producing.
Walking behind the existing factory, McAbee points to the many metal products the company now has to keep outdoors because of the lack of space. He said the company has to pay employees more than $30 an hour to buff rust from the inventory.
“We have never stored metal outside until we had to,” he said.
What about the incentives?Both Corriher and McAbee are adamant they have not taken a dime of the tax incentives from the county or city of Conover. The city and county have both confirmed the business has not received any payments.
When local governments grant tax incentives, they agree to refund a certain amount of the property tax paid by the given company.
Both McCauley and Conover Public Information Officer Madeleine Epley said the company would be eligible to start receiving payments this year provided they met certain contractual requirements. Both also said that the company has not requested payments.
In this case, Catawba County agreed to pay more than $376,200 over six years. Conover’s incentives were for nearly $228,000 over a similar time frame.
Both local governments said the company has not breached its incentives agreements with them and is not in danger of breaching those agreements until Dec. 31, 2025. That is the date by which the company is obligated to meet its jobs and investment commitments.
Both McCauley and Epley said their respective local governments are not concerned about the project because of the safeguards in place that would prevent the company from receiving public money unless they deliver on their obligations.
“Because the contracts are performance-based, no public funds are expended without verification of progress towards contractual commitments,” McCauley said. “At the end of the performance period, if total investment commitments have not been met by the company, the incentive contract contains claw-back provisions whereby the county would recoup any incentive payments received by the company up to that point.”
