In one of the more recent decisions released by Florida’s Construction Industry Licensing Board, a general contract had his license put on probation for 2 years and was fined $8,500.00 for pulling a permit for an unlicensed contractor, despite the fact that the homeowner involved was not damaged by the unlicensed work.
In July 2016, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (“DBPR”) charged a general contractor with (1) assisting an uncertified or unregistered person or entity in the practice of contracting, and (2) obtaining a permit without having entered into a contract to perform the work specified in the permit. The general contractor denied the allegations of the charge.
As part of its investigation, the DBPR determined that the general contractor was the primary qualifying agent of Abacoa Construction, LLC. In October 2015, a homeowner entered into a contract with another individual, doing business as All 4 One Project, LLC to perform renovations to his condominium. All 4 One was not licensed and did not have a primary qualifying agent. The general contractor and owner of Abacoa knew this.
In December 2015, the general contractor and owner of Abacoa pulled a building permit for the renovations for which All 4 One had contracted. All 4 One proceeded with the renovations. Neither the general contractor nor Abacoa supervised the construction, nor did either of them receive compensation for the project. Importantly, the work appears to have been completed properly, because the home owner did not indicate that it had suffered any financial loss.
Based on these facts, the DBPR found that the general contractor violated section 489.129(1)(d), Florida Statutes, which, prohibits the following conduct by contractors:
Performing any act which assists a person or entity in engaging in the prohibited uncertified and unregistered practice of contracting, if the certificateholder or registrant knows or has reasonable grounds to know that the person or entity was uncertified and unregistered.
The DBPR also found that the general contractor violated section 489.129(1)(i), Florida Statutes, by virtue of violating section 489.127(4)(c), Florida Statutes, which states:
A certified or registered contractor, or contractor authorized by a local construction regulation board to do contracting, may not apply for or obtain a building permit for construction work unless the certified or registered contractor, or contractor authorized by a local construction regulation board to do contracting, or business organization duly qualified by said contractor, has entered into a contract to make improvements to, or perform the contracting at, the real property specified in the application or permit. This paragraph does not prohibit a contractor from applying for or obtaining a building permit to allow the contractor to perform work for another person without compensation or to perform work on property that is owned by the contractor.
Based on these findings, the DBPR recommended that the general contractor’s license be placed on probation for two years, that he be fined $8,500.00, that he complete an additional seven hours of live CEU, and that he pay costs. As part of the probation, the general contractor was required to make an appearance before the Construction Industry Licensing Board every six months.