ORLANDO, Fla. - When a Baldwin Park home was nearly sliced in two by a falling crane in September, it made local and national news.

Now the family will be able to celebrate the holidays in their home after Gold Key Roofing and Alair Homes-Orlando teamed up to complete an unprecedented repair job.

The crane was lifting shingles to the steep roof of the two-story home when it toppled. The owners were not home and no one was injured but Gold Key faced a unique challenge — unlike any it had dealt with since the Orlando-Edgewater firm’s founding more than 40 years ago.

Gold Key President Jeffrey Hewitt, whose father Sonny Hewitt founded the company in 1975, says he immediately turned to the “best custom builder in the area to lead the repair – Jim Krantz with Alair Homes-Orlando.” Gold Key and Alair have worked together in the past, and with their combined experience the unique repair job was completed in 73 days with a new roof line, new wood, truss, drywall, insulation, interior work and cleanup.

While Gold Key has roofed more than 10,000 homes throughout the years, these complex repairs could not have been done without the prompt assistance of Alair Homes, which was on site and working the very next day after the accident, Hewitt says.

“Alair Homes offered their expertise and resources to make this happen,” Hewitt said, completing a virtual holiday season miracle in record time.

“We could not be more grateful for Jeff and Gold Key and Jim and his team at Alair. From the moment, we arrived and saw the crane in our home, Jeff and Jim were there to assure and comfort us, and have been there every step of the way,” said homeowner, Steve Loncar. “Without them, we would still be staring at a very large hole in our house.”

“I cannot say enough about Jeff and Jim – they are proof there are really good people in this world,” said homeowner, Dana Loncar. “They have gone over and beyond to ensure not only that we could be back in our home for the holidays, but they have checked in to see how our family is doing throughout the past few months. They are honest, genuine people and business owners who we will recommend a million times over.”

Dana Loncar added, “There is no doubt Jim and Jeff and their teams do great work, but they put people ahead of business, and for that we are eternally grateful.”