None — Action 9 has confronted the "Florida Power and Light" contractor, who many homeowners blame for ruining their roofs, as part of an energy saving program.
We've found dozens of homeowners, who claim that reflective coating damaged their shingles. But because of our ongoing investigation, state regulators want F-P & L, to fix the problems
Vernon Goodrich claims a Florida Power and Light program to lower his electric bill, ruined his roof. F-P-and-L paid it's approved contractor to spray a reflective white coating on his asphalt shingles. Within a year Vernon says it turned dirty gray and a licensed roofer told him the shingles were permanently damaged. "It would be a matter of time and it would start leaking," said Vernon.
Action 9 found that contractor treated 600 Volusia county homes and two homeowners associations tell us at least 50 roofs have damage or leaks so far. The F-P-and-L contractor was Hester Painting in St. Augustine.
(Todd Ulrich) "Homeowners claim you've damaged their roofs and it cost thousands." (Kelly Hester) "This has been under investigation this has been inspected." Kelly Hester says her company's inspections did not find damage and blamed leaks on poor roof design.
The Florida Roofing Association says coating shingles locks moisture underneath and triggers leaks. But Hester claims roofers found damage that did not exist then billed homeowners for new roofs (Kelly) "They have been fleeced, a lot of them have been fleeced." (Ulrich) "They think that's what you did to them."
Because of our first investigation, 11 homeowners filed complaints with the Public Service Commission, which just told F-P-and-L it needed to contact these owners and fix the problem.
Vernon Goodrich already spent nearly 5 thousand for a new roof. "I didn't have any choice, I had to protect my investment."
At first F-P & L would only say this was a contractor's issue. Now the company confirmed the program has been shut down and it is cooperating with the Public Service Commission.
WFTV
