It has taken more than three months for repair work to be done on the Carpenter family's Lobird Park home after a boulder shot through their roof

in May from the blasting being done for the Hamilton Boulevard extension.

And much of that work has only been done after the family found their own contractors to do the repairs rather than wait for Sidhu Trucking's insurance provider to see it gets done, Candace Carpenter said in an interview this morning.

Sidhu Trucking Ltd. is contracted to do the blasting for the new $15-million roadway that will link Hamilton Boulevard with the Alaska Highway at Robert Service Way.

On May 6, a blast sent rocks sailing into homes and throughout the Lobird Park.

At a public meeting held shortly afterward by the Yukon government, residents were told that, as the contractor, Sidhu Trucking would be responsible for any damages to the mobile homes.

This morning, Carpenter said it took a "good week and a half" for repairs to be done to the roof, but beyond that, it was mainly up to her to deal with getting the place fixed up and ready to be sold as the family had been planning to before the rock shower.

"The whole thing boils down to respect and compassion," she said.

The family had been waiting on word about a job her husband, Russ, had applied for in British Columbia prior to putting their home on the market when the blasting occurred.

The Carpenters' calls to Sidhu are not often returned. When they are, the family has been told workers will be coming out on a particular day, and then it doesn't happen, Carpenter said.

"Even the government tried to help me," she said.

Given the situation, the family opted to seek their own contractors to install new rugs and oak trim, she said.

The family ended up flying a friend up from Outside to do the flooring work.

While they were able to find someone available in Whitehorse to do the trim, Carpenter noted it's only because they're lucky enough to know someone willing to come in and do the work on a Sunday.

In both cases, she sent the bill directly to the government to be paid.

The government has issued a cheque for the flooring work, but has yet to do so for the trim, which was just done recently.

"Dealing with Sidhu (Trucking) and the insurance company has been a nightmare," Carpenter said.

She suggested that had the boulder caused major injuries or killed anyone, repairs might have been done faster.

Had she, her husband or daughter been sitting in different spots, the situation could have been very different, she said.

"We're the victims," she said, noting she also knows of neighbours who have had similar experiences.

Not only has it meant waiting longer for work to be done and the stress that comes with that, but it also meant the home didn't go on the market until June rather than May.

Since Russ had to get to his new job, Candace and daughter Chanae stayed behind to deal with the repairs and sell the house. It ended up selling for less than the asking price, which Candace attributes to the blasting situation.

"It's money we were counting on that's not there right now," she pointed out.

It also has meant additional costs to the family as they've maintained two residences with Russ in B.C. and Candace and Chanae remaining in the territory to deal with the sale and repairs.

Candace and Chanae will leave the territory later this month.

Jeff Boehmer, the territory's boulevard extension program manager, said that after meeting with Sidhu Trucking owners this morning, he expects all the work remaining to the trailers will be done over the next couple of weeks.

It wasn't until July 24 that Boehmer was called about work not getting done at the trailer park. With no phone calls, he said, he thought work was proceeding, though he was working with the Carpenters on their issues.

In one case, a roof still needs to be patched and wasn't initially done because the type of material that was originally used is no longer available.

A piece close to that has been found and the work is now set to be done in the next day or two, he explained.

There are a few little things that also need to get done inside some homes that will likely be complete within the next two weeks.

With a couple of trailers owned by the Lobird Park itself, Boehmer said Sidhu and the manager there are working out an arrangement where the remaining work will either be done or paid for by Sidhu.

Bills, such as those submitted by the Carpenters, have been coming into the territory and are now at a total of $41,000, though Boehmer said there's a couple - at a total of $27,000 - that will be looked at with greater scrutiny.