DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.,None — Daytona Beach police started hurricane season with an undercover sting to bust unlicensed contractors. Police used a house and got contractors to come in to bid on repair work.
The contractors were not arrested, but they're facing criminal charges and fines of up to $5,000. They were all advertising in local papers that they could do repair work.
The contractors could repair windows, do electrical work and they could even do it for a bargain price, if the buyers kept quiet and didn't ask about things like permits and licenses.
Police said a half-dozen local contractors prepared to fix up the Daytona Beach house were willing to do it illegally.
Over two days, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation invited 22 people to the house. The undercover "owners" said they wanted electrical work done on the house, maybe some plumbing, but they really just wanted to know if the men would do the work legally.
"Several of them told us they didn't have a license. They used to have one, but they lost it because of different things," undercover "owner" Michael Lester said.
The repair men were chosen out of the Pennysaver, both in print and online, and on Craigslist, where they advertised affordable home repairs. Skip the city permit process, some contractors told agents, and the price for repairs could go even lower.
"Plus it's bad for all the other contractors in the area. It's unfair competition. They start off underbidding them because of not having to buy a permit or get the inspections," Lester said.
Unpermitted, unlicensed work is a continuous problem across Central Florida, state agents said. They have made 20 cases this fiscal year from Orlando to Clermont to Titusville. And all that work came before the busy storm season, when the number of unlicensed workers tends to rise.
Homeowners put themselves at risk, facing fines of up to $5,000, plus fines from cities and the cost of having to re-permit and inspect work on the house.