8.a.
Board of Examiners of Contractors *CANCELLED*
- Meeting Date:
- 07/14/2020
- Re
- Alan W. Haley vs John Kurutz dba ROVB, Inc. - 1714 Frances Ct.
- Submitted For:
- Shaun Coss
SUBJECT:
| Contractor/Qualifier | DBA | Competency Card No. | State License No. |
| John Kurutz | ROVB, Inc. | 20 00030616 | RR282811695 |
CASE INFORMATION:
| This is a Contractor Complaint case, in which the Complainant, Mr. Haley has indicated that the Respondent, Mr. Kurutz has failed to provide construction services as agreed upon in the contract in a timely and appropriate manner. |
BACKGROUND
| Mr. Haley signed a contract with Mr. Kurutz December 20, 2018 for $350,000 to construct a new 2,300 square foot, single-family home on 1714 Frances Court. Mr. Haley indicated that he was informed by Mr. Kurutz that he would be in the new home by Christmas, 2019. May of 2019, Mr. Kurutz informed Mr. Haley that the home would not be built on time and offered a cousin's home for rent. At this time Mr. Kurutz also informed Mr. Haley that the submittal package was ready, however Mr. Haley indicated that it would not be submitted for another six (6) weeks. Once it was submitted, Mr. Haley indicated it was rejected by the Building Department four (4) times. Mr. Haley indicated that Mr. Kurutz and his engineer did not submit the engineering under current flood plain regulations and missed the elevation by 3 1/2 feet. Mr. Haley also noted that had Mr. Kurutz used the "Residential Plans Checklist" provided by the Building Department, the project would probably have progressed more quickly. Mr. Haley indicated that, for cost control purposes, it was agreed that 3 bids for any work would be obtained, and most were only solicited from the contractor's family (Commerce Glass, Barker Air Conditioning) and friends. Mr. Haley felt that there were 2 reasons why multiple bids were never pursued: Lack of commitment or effort, and not in the interest of ROVB to build the house at a lower cost as the contract is cost plus 20%. Mr. Haley also had the additional expense of $1,500.00 to rent a large, vibratory compactor to compact 18 dump trucks of fill that were offloaded onto the site, creating a problem with the 12" lifts that were agreed upon in detailed conversations between Mr. Haley, Mr. Kurutz, and his superintendent. As of January 13th of 2020, Mr. Haley terminated the contract after the rough plumbing stage, and paid for work completed in the amount of $108,000.00. Mr. Kurutz presented Mr. Haley with an invoice for work not performed in the amount of $525,000 even though the agreed upon amount was $350,000.00. Mr. Haley then received a letter from the Kirwin Norris law firm as well that said a lien would be placed on the property. Mr. Haley filed a complaint with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation; however, the Division of Regulation stated that they do not oversee complaints with regard to Registered Contractors, but only Certified Contractors, and referred the case to the City of Fort Pierce Building Department for review. |
TIMELINE
| December 20, 2018 | Contract signed for construction of new single-family residence. |
| February 4, 2019 | Floor plan agreed upon. |
| February 21, 2019 | Meeting to approve floor plan. |
| June 23, 2019 | Permit application submitted |
| November 15, 2019 | Permit issued. |
| December 13, 2019 | Construction begins. |
| January 13, 2020 | Contract terminated. |
| March 20, 2020 | Building Dept. receives letter from Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation regarding case. |
| March 26, 2020 | Mr. Kurutz is sent Notice of Complaint |
| April 21, 2020 | Mr. Haley submits Contractor Complaint Affidavit to Building Dept. |
| May 21, 2020 | Mr. Kurutz is sent Notice of Hearing for June 9, 2020 meeting, however case is postponed to July due to Coved -19 Ordinance. |
| July 2, 2020 | Notice of Hearing for July 14, 2020 is sent to Mr. Kurutz. He is also emailed. |
ALLEGATIONS
| Per Mr. Haley's complaint form he alleges that "the contractor has failed to complete the work and has not acted in good faith." |
ALLEGED CHARGES:
| (2) | Committing fraud or deceit in the practice of contracting |
| (3) | Committing incompetency or misconduct in the practice of contracting |
| (6) | Committing mismanagement or misconduct occurs when: (a) Valid liens have been recorded against the property of a contractor's customer for supplies or services ordered by the contractor for the customer's job; the contractor has received funds from the customer to pay for the supplies or services; and the contractor has not had the liens removed from the property, by payment or by bond, within seventy-five (75) days after the date of such liens; (b) The contractor has abandoned a customer's job and the percentage of completion is less than the percentage of the total contract price paid to the contractor at the time of the abandonment, unless the contractor is entitled to retain such funds under the terms of the contract or refunds the excess funds within 30 days after the date the job is abandoned. (c) The contractor's job has been completed, and it is shown that the customer has had to pay more for the contracted job than the original contract price, as adjusted for subsequent change orders, unless such increase in cost was the result of circumstances caused by the customer, or was otherwise permitted by the terms of the contract between the contractor and the customer. |
| (7) | Substantial departure from, or disregard, of plans or specifications without the consent of the owner or his duly authorized representative; |
RECOMMENDATION:
| To be decided by the Board. |
Attachments
Form Review
- Form Started By:
- Karen Murphy
- Started On:
- 03/25/2020 02:44 PM
- Final Approval Date:
- 06/05/2020