STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF ) PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL ) REGULATION, FLORIDA CONSTRUCTION ) INDUSTRY LICENSING BOARD, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 78-954

)

CHARLES E. SULLIVAN, d/b/a )

SUWANNEE ROOFING COMPANY, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held by Charles C. Adams, a Hearing Officer with the Division of Administrative Hearings at the Commission Chambers, Suwannee County Courthouse, Live Oak, Florida, at 10:00 A.M., September 11, 1978.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Michael Egan, Esquire

217 South Adams Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

For Respondent: C. E. Sullivan

Suwannee Roofing Company Post Office Box 999

Live Oak, Florida 32060

ISSUE

Whether or not the Respondent, Charles E. Sullivan, abandoned the construction project of his customer, Otto Kipar at a time when he had received

98 percent of the contract price and completed approximately 75 percent of the job, and whether or not such abandonment constituted a violation of Section 468.112(2)(h), Florida Statutes.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. This cause comes on for consideration based upon the administrative complaint filed by the Petitioner, State of Florida, Department of Occupational Regulation, Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board, against the Respondent, Charles E. Sullivan, d/b/a Suwannee Roofing Company. The Petitioner is an agency of the State of Florida empowered to administer and regulate those individuals who hold various licenses with the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board. Charles E. Sullivan, d/b/a Suwannee Roofing Company holds a registered roofing contractor's license and the number is RC 18162.

2. In May 16, 1977, Otto Kipar, a resident of Suwannee County, Florida, entered into a contract for the Respondent to perform certain roofing work and associated to the roofing. The terms and conditions of this contract may be founded in the Petitioner's Exhibit 2, admitted into evidence. The price of the contract was in the amount of $2,500, to be paid by Mr. Kipar in an installment of $2,450 when the roofing was finished and a $50 balance when the chimney was flashed. Among other things, the contract called for the setting of the trusses on the roof, sheeting the roof with plywood, running facia boards, putting up the jack molding and putting on roofing shingles. The work was to be done by Suwannee Roofing, which is owned by the Respondent, Charles E. Sullivan, and all of the materials were to be furnished by Mr. Kipar, with the exception of the shingles and the staples necessary to nail the shingles into the plywood sheeting.

   
   

3. The Respondent's employees went to the job site and started to install the roof. On June 24, 1977, Berl Wilson, a building inspector for Suwannee County, Florida, went to the job site and inspected the roof. He determined that the work on the roof was 50 percent completed. He found the trusses up and the sheeting and shingles installed. However, he felt that the roof construction was unsatisfactory and that the roof would eventually fall in. He immediately tried to contact Mr. Sullivan, the Respondent, and was able to speak to him on June 27, 1978. At that point, Mr. Sullivan indicated that he would work the matter out with the owner, Mr. Kipar.

   
   

4. In August, 1977, the Respondent hired some individuals to go to the job site and make adjustments to the roof, so that it would structurally meet the necessary building standards of Suwannee County, Florida, and comply with his contract with Mr. Kipar, as to that element.

   
   

5. At the behest of Mr. Kipar, the building inspector Wilson returned to the job site in August or September 1977, and discovered that the roof was not shingled over 25 percent to 35 percent of the roof area. In that particular part of the roof, only the felt paper was installed on the sheeting. This caused the roof to fail to meet the Southern Building Code, in terms of requirements of that code. It was also in violation of the contract conditions which called for the Respondent to install the shingles over the entire roof, not just part of it.

   
   

6. When confronted with the fact of the incompleted roof, the Respondent told Wilson that he had spent over $600 in trying to make the necessary adjustment to the trusses and that he felt no obligation to spend any other money on the Kipar job. Therefore, the job was left unfinished and when Mr. Wilson saw the job site on March 22, 1978, he found it in the same state as had been indicated in August/September 1977, in that the roof was still 25 percent to 35 percent without shingles.

   
   

7. The Respondent and his employees did not return to the job site to complete the roofing and Mr. Kipar had to make those arrangements himself. This abandonment on the part of the Respondent came, notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Kipar, in accordance with the contract had paid the Respondent $2,450 on May 30, 1977, as shown by Petitioner's Exhibit number 3, admitted into evidence. In summary, the Respondent was paid 98 percent of the amount of the contract, which constituted the full amount of payment with exception of $50 for flashing the chimney, and the Respondent abandoned the job when 25 percent to 35 percent of the shingles remained to be installed. This abandonment constitutes cause for

   disciplinary action in accordance with Section 468.112(2)(h), Florida Statutes, which states:

   
   

   ... (h) Abandonment of a construction project in which the contractor is engaged or under contract as a contractor. A project is to be considered abandoned after 90 days if the contractor terminates said project without notification to the prospective owner and without just cause.

   
   

8. Abandonment has been demonstrated here because the Respondent did not work on the roof after the period of August/ September, 1977, and as stated before the roof was missing 25 percent to 35 percent of the necessary shingles at that time. In addition, the Respondent failed to notify the owner of this abandonment and the abandonment was without just cause.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

9. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction in this cause.

   
   

10. Based upon full consideration of the facts reported herein, it is concluded as a matter of law that the Respondent, Charles E. Sullivan, abandoned the job and the construction project for the owner, Otto Kipar, in violation of Section 468.112(2)(h), Florida Statutes, and is thereby subject to the penalties found in 468.112(3), Florida Statutes.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that the Petitioner, State of Florida, Department of Professional Occupation Regulations, Florida Construction Licensing Board, suspend the Respondent's, Charles E. Sullivan's roofing contractor's license, RC18I62, for a period of one year.

DONE AND ENTERED this 29th day of September, 1978, in Tallahassee, Florida.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Michael Egan, Esquire

217 South Adams Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Charles E. Sullivan Suwannee Roofing Company Post Office Box 999

Live Oak, Florida 32060

CHARLES C. ADAMS

Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings Room 101, Collins Building

MAILING ADDRESS: 530 Carlton Building Tallahassee, Florida 32304

(904) 488-9675

Docket for Case No: 78-000954

Orders for Case No: 78-000954