Legal Question in Construction Law in Florida

Hired an unlicensed contractor, now what?

We hired our neighbor's brother to replace roof. Supposedly he is licensed in another state and was in-process of being licensed here. We have been unable to verify either licenses.

We signed the proposal, gave him 50%, and he told us in the interim to pull our own permit, with us as contractors, just listing the cost of supplies.

The deal is starting to go sour - it has been 4 weeks, we have no supplies, and he is AWOL.

We just want to know the easiest way of cleaning this up and not getting ourselves into trouble. Some questions:

Should I cancel the building permit? Will I get into trouble if I tell the city why or what happened, even if we say that we didn't understand at first and now we do which is why we are cancelling? To date, I have inquired with the city about cancelling the permit and just said that we were going to do the job ourselves, but may end up hiring someone, and so might be cancelling.

Also, is there any way to get this guy into trouble with regard to him running off with $4000 of our money, doing inlicensed work, etc?

We're not sure where we should start and are afraid to ask any city or state officials in case we get into trouble.

Thanks


Asked on 10/25/04, 4:54 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Randall Gilbert Gilbert & Caddy P.A.

Re: Hired an unlicensed contractor, now what?

Fla. Stat. �489.128 generally states that contracts entered into by an unlicensed contractor is unenforceable in law and in equity. See also, Deep South Systems, Inc. v. Health, 843 So.2d 378 (2nd DCA 2003) (Contracts entered into between contractor and subcontractor were unenforceable where subcontractor was unlicensed); Kvaerner Const., Inc. v. American Safety Cas. Ins. Co., 847 So.2d 534 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003) (Unlicensed subcontractor�s contract with licensed general contractor was unenforceable). However, pursuant to Florida Statute �489.103(7) owners are allowed to pull their own owner-builder permits. Either way, if the contractor abandoned the job without justification, you may have a cause of action for breach of contract, civil theft (possibly), and unjust enrichment, as well as other statutory remedies against unlicensed contractors.

I recommend showing all of your documents and contracts to an attorney. More than likely you will need to hire a licensed roofer to complete your repairs.

If you need assitance you may get in touch. Good luck.

Randall Gilbert

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Answered on 10/25/04, 6:14 pm


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