ATLANTIC BEACH, FL — Barbara Brown hired a contractor for improvements, but he left her home in shambles.
“I was disgusted,” Brown said, “I was upset with him and I just couldn’t understand why he took the money and didn’t do the work.”
Brown was a victim of an unlicensed contractor.
They often blend in with the rest of the bunch, advertising their plumbing, roofing, and electrical services in print and in cyberspace.
It was on Craigslist where investigators with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation found eleven individuals from the First Coast advertising for jobs that require a state license.
“We called their cell phone numbers and had them come out to a location at Atlantic Beach,” said Sandra Rentfrow with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Rentfrow says their investigators teamed with the Atlantic Beach Police Department to cite and fine the bad contractors.
She says people are prone to get played year round, but especially during hurricane season.
She recalls a few years ago when the First Coast was hit hard by rough weather.
“It was overbearing the amount of people who were out taking money from individuals to do work on homes and they would take deposits and then never show up again.”
Rentfrow says the Department is constantly checking to try and prevent stories like Barbara Brown’s.
“We take ads out of the newspaper, we take ads through the mail, and we sweep neighborhoods,” said Rentfrow. “If we see people working on properties or on homes, we’ll stop and check and see if the people doing the work are in fact licensed.”
Rentfrow says be sure you ask for referrals, and if a contractor asks you for money up front, it’s often a sign something may be wrong.
Go to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s website to check on a contractor’s license status, or call the local office at 904-727-5591.
The people cited and fined $1000 were Roger Carl Vining, Jarrod Durdin, Larry Couf, Hector Cerrillo, Charles Bruce Vann, Robert L. Fourman, Michael King, Reginaldo Ridolfi, Jarred Urso, Keith Shipman, and Graig S. Dry.
Source: FirstCoastNews
Speaking as former licensed contracting professionals that were in the building business for @ 30 years, I would like to say that I was truly appalled by how trusting homeowners were. I have gone to a potential customer’s house to give a bid on, say, a new driveway. I would measure the area, do a detailed sketch with measurements of any additional sidewalks or parking area they wanted, and give a bid based on that. I have been startled to hear the homeowner say “Okay. Let me go get the cash” (or check, or combination thereof).
“NO!” I would blurt out, and do my part for consumer education in an attempt to keep them from making the same mistake in the future. “You should NEVER pay until the job is completed to your satisfaction.”
“Well, you don’t look like a thief.”
“It doesn’t matter! What if I were to be run over by a bulldozer tomorrow before I can get back to your house?”
Nobody except for professional builders EVER asked for a copy of my license and insurance. I used to carry a folder around with copies to hand out, but I finally just threw it away. This is very important. The license and insurance is for the homeowner’s benefit. The license indicates that maybe I know what I’m doing. The insurance is also for the homeowner’s benefit. If one of my men were not paying attention when a concrete truck was backing up and a chute hit him in the head, well, if I didn’t have workmen’s comp insurance, the homeowner is going to have to pay the hospital bills. If one of my men were smoking crack and decided to knock down the homeowner’s house with heavy equipment, my insurance would cover it IF I were insured.
“Can you get started this afternoon? I have a party this weekend and would like the driveway replaced by then”, is also a common inquiry. The answer, unless construction is really horrible as it is in Florida right now, would be a resounding “NO!” Good contractors are booked for weeks in advance. They have to be to cover the fixed costs of equipment, as well as the variable costs of labor. If I have a skilled crew who were good at what they did (and I did), I have to keep them busy or they’ll go to someone else who can.
Unfortunately in times of perceived economic downturn (or just to save a buck), homeowners decide that the licensed contractor with well-paid, skilled employees who is carrying the proper insurance are too expensive, and turn to an unlicensed individual that picks up day labor that can be found standing beside the road waiting to be hired for plumbing, grass mowing, roofing, concrete work, whatever anybody needs, they’re experts at. In some cases, having the “contractor” take the money and run would be the least expensive alternative for the homeowner. Having a bad contractor actually build something that has to be completely gutted and redone or repaired extensively is going to be expensive. Very, very expensive.
Update: SwampMan reminded me of the homeowners that would call asking if our employees wanted to do something “on the side”; i.e., unlicensed contracting at a cut-rate price. Then they would call to ask to borrow our tools.
