GPS Blamed After Crew Demolishes The Wrong House

One Georgia family is understandably distraught after the house their father built by hand was demolished without warning by a crew that says they were given GPS coordinates rather than an address. The home was currently empty — but contained irreplaceable heirlooms.

“We had heirlooms in thereÖmy mom’s dining room setÖher hutch with her dishes in there,” the homeowner told WSBTV.

The demolition company said it had paperwork.

“I said, ëPaperwork for what?’ and he said, ëFor the house, to demolish the house.’ I said, ëI’m the owner of the house, I haven’t given anybody any authority to demolish this house,’” said [the homeowner]….

“I said, ëWhat address did you have?’ and he said, ëThey sent me some GPS coordinates.’ I said, ëDon’t you have an address?’ (and) he said, ëYes, my GPS coordinates led me right to this address here and this house was described,’” said [the homeowner].

[The homeowner] said he suspects the intended target was actually across the road.

The report also said that about a month ago the power box had mysteriously been removed and holes punched into the walls. They thought it was vandalism at the time, but now think that the company was preparing to demolish the house.

Guess there’s still something to be said for an address and a map. Oh, and maybe a photo of the house would have helped, too.

Homeowner Says Crews Demolished Wrong House [WSBTV via Consumer Reports]

Comments

  1. Aussiedogz says:

    Ummm…wouldn’t you need the lot and block number from the local tax map when you get your permit to demolish a house? This doesn’t make any sense.

  2. jc364 says:

    “You didn’t get the demolition notice? It’s been posted in the company’s basement for months now!”

  3. Omniboy says:

    GPS positioning can be as accurate as 3mm. It all depends on the equipment you have. I have a friend who’s an engineer that develops equipment for Surveyors, we were actually talking about this on Saturday night. Accuracy depends on the equipment on the ground, not the stuff in the sky, there are no secret codes or anything else, it all depends how much money you want to throw into your device. Garmin makes a handheld unit for $900 that will pint point you within a foot, surveyor stakes can get as accurate as 3mm or more. All depends on the what you’re using for a received, the antenna quality and how many channels the device is designed to be picking up.