05/25/2026
I want to remind anyone looking to build a new home with a "Contractor" or a "Builder" to ONLY use a State of Florida Licensed Contractor where they are the license holder, they are the contractor or builder. If they cannot produce a builders license with certification that they are, in fact the legitimate license holder, STAY AWAY FROM THEM because quite possibly they are a "Third Party" person or company that is using someone else's license and are acting like the "Contractor" or "Builder". When this person rips you off nothing happens to them, it's the license contractor that gets "Nailed". But these licensed contractors are doing this to themselves by "selling" their license to the crook.
Just last week I had a guy lure me to Punta Gorda to design 4 new homes on 4 vacant lots. I drove up there and met the guy. "He was a real nice guy", clean cut, talked like he was "The Guy", acted like he had all the money in the world.
On that field trip meeting, he said "Five Star Drafting, Inc. comes highly recommended from "Bill" with such and such company. I never heard of Bill or the company. Red flag number one.
I said "You'll have to call the county of Charlotte to find out the building setbacks allowable for these smaller lots".
He said "I'm not calling anyone, that's why I'm hiring you". Red flag number two.
Then he asked "Can you follow me another 10 minutes north to look at another property?". I kinda started smelling a "skunk" here but agreed to follow him up there as a common courtesy. We got to the site, an old, old house that appeared, from the outside to have a new roof on it. When we walked inside of the house I observed that the entire interior had been gutted. It was a conc. block house, originally. They now had built new frame walls inside of the existing concrete block walls around the whole perimeter to act as the new points of bearing for the completely new conventional framed roof (this is wood rafters built on site, instead of pre engineered wood roof trusses) They had them "scabbed" together to the ridge beam with no intermediate load bearing walls. There were many, many other MAJOR demolition problems that I won't mention due to the long story. I asked (stupid question) "Do you have any drawings, designs on these major renovations and did you get or apply for a building permit?".
Both answers were "NO".
I said, as I was walking out "Sir, I am not interested in this project" but do you want me to design those 4 new homes South of here?" His answer was "Oh, Yes, for sure". We immediately stepped outside to leave when he said to me "I don't like your attitude". I said "What?, oh so you don't really want me to design those four houses for you after all?, that in fact you just need me to bail you out of this half a million dollar MONSTER MESS you've gotten yourself into?". He actually said, as I was getting into my truck "I'm sorry if I wasted your time". I said "You didn't waste my time, I still had to go to lunch anyways".
I just shook my head and left.
Now, back to the top......after our initial meeting at my home office some 4 days earlier I had saved out his contact in my phone but the next day, from a different phone number a guy called me about a major remodel project that he was looking for a designer to do the work on. I said "I wouldn't be interested in the project, but thank you for calling".
On the day of the field trip, after leaving the site of the proposed 4 homes on the way 10 minutes north to this remodel project I said, if this is the same guy I'm going to bail out of there as fast as I can. Guess what, when I asked this joker if he was, in fact the same guy and he admitted that in fact, he was the same guy.
So it turns out he never wanted me to design the 4 new homes, he only wanted me to bail him out on the "remodel". He's NOT a State of Florida builder or contractor license holder. He's a crook looking to bypass all of the laws because, in his mind he says "I don't need a license, I can do or build anything anybody else can do".
I got news for this guy........
Shame on you. You didn't fool me. I've been honestly designing new homes in Southwest Florida since 1981. That's 45 years and over 7,000 new homes under my experience.
Sorry for the long story but if this guy ever contacts me again I'm going to publish his personal name, phone number and his address in social media. WOW!
