diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilder.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilder.java
index 4b85bfa9b..ff66162c8 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilder.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContextBuilder.java
@@ -384,10 +384,6 @@ public class VariantContextBuilder {
         return this;
     }
 
-    public long getStart() {
-        return start;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Tells us that the resulting VariantContext should have the specified contig stop
      * @param stop