PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (WBBH) – About a half block from the Peace River in Port Charlotte, Gregg Wood’s house remains to be standing after the hurricane – however standing a bit crooked now.
“It looked like a bomb had went off here,” Wood recalled about returning to his property.
“Some of the piers here have tilted. You can even see how they’ve tilted,” Wood mentioned, pointing to the underside of his house. “Something caused some of the pilings underneath it to come loose.”
And not simply that. Wood’s roof – like so many others – suffered harm within the storm.
“That whole section came up and separated,” he defined, trying up on the tarp that now covers what’s above.
Wood is now speaking together with his insurance coverage firm and with contractors a couple of repair. It’ll price tens of 1000’s of {dollars} in all, he suspects, and certain 1000’s of {dollars} of his personal cash.
That’s why he’s cautious in deciding who to rent.
“It’s critical, right. You could end up losing a lot of money,” Wood mentioned.
“Out-of-state contractors are not welcome in the state of Florida. Plain and simple,” Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis mentioned at a news convention in Lee County Monday.
Last week, Terence Duque was arrested in Charlotte County after the sheriff’s office mentioned his roofing firm was doing enterprise with out a Florida license.
Deputies mentioned Duque defined he thought a lately signed emergency order allowed out-of-state contractors to do enterprise within the state. While the order does ease some restrictions for contractors, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation instructed NBC2 they nonetheless must have a Florida license.
“Currently, there is no executive order that authorizes out-of-state contractors without Florida licenses to engage in contracting in Florida. However, DBPR Emergency Order 2022-03 does clarify that the installation of non-permanent, emergency tarps to relieve damage caused by Hurricane Ian falls within the exemptions listed in section 489.103(6), Florida Statutes, so a contractor’s license is not required to install such tarps,” a DBPR spokesperson mentioned in an e-mail to NBC2.
“DBPR Emergency Order 2022-03 is currently the only DBPR emergency order pertaining to the scopes of work that certified or registered contractors can perform in Florida. It provides that, in counties specified in the Order, certified or registered general, building, and residential contractors are not required to subcontract roofing work for the repair and installation of any roof type. Also, registered contractors, provided they follow certain requirements specified in the Order, are not subject to geographic scope limitations or requirements as provided in section 489.227(2)(b) and (c), Florida Statutes, when providing contracting services within the counties specified in the Order,” the spokesperson continued.
“(Homeowners) are going to get claim money from their insurance carrier. They need to use a licensed Florida contractor to do that work – nobody else,” Patronis mentioned.
“You never can be too careful,” Wood defined. “People get into a state where they’re ‘hurry up and get it done’ and they’ll pick the first person that comes off the street. Not a very good idea.”
A reality sheet relating to the emergency order may be accessed by clicking this link.