CHARLOTTE COUNTY: A loophole between state and local laws has allowed unlicensed and unregulated subcontractors to work on Southwest Florida homes. NBC2 first uncovered the conflict a month ago, and now state lawmakers are being forced to examine it because we wanted answers as to which law reigns supreme.

When Vincent Arcuri walks around what is supposed to be his new home, he tends to raise his voice.

The source of his frustration is Jim Walter Homes. It has taken the builder more than 18 months just to build the concrete frame. At one point the footer had to be ripped up because steel rods were misplaced.

"So how much does Jim Walter Homes have over its homes when no one saw that 116 bars placed in the wrong place," said Erin Mullin Travis, licensing Manager in Charlotte County.

Her department not only performs criminal background checks on subcontractors, it also requires them to pass a test certifying their knowledge of local building codes.

"Building up in Michigan and Florida are two different things. They have snow loads, we have wind loads," said Travis.

She says the county has cited several builders for using unlicensed workers, but Jim Walter Homes is the only builder consistently violating the county's rule.

"Yes they are a big builder, as we have many big builders, but you don't see the other builders claiming the same protection that Jim Walter Homes does," said Travis.

The protection she's talking about is actually state law that says using unlicensed subcontractors is legal.

The problem is Charlotte County has a stricter set of standards.

So who is right?

"They're both right. If the state has a law then you should go by that but if the county wants to go further then they have a right to say that," said Florida Senator Dave Aronberg, D-27.

Aronberg says while the state sets a standard, counties have every right to raise the bar.

"I don't believe one size fits all solutions from Tallahassee work better than local government control," said Aronberg.

His Republican counterpart in the house agrees and says if the conflict continues the state may have to clarify the law.

"If there is ambiguity, and it seems like this situation is happening more often than we'd like it, then we may have to do something. We don't like to see confusion because of the way a statement is drafted," said Florida Representative Jeff Kottkamp, R-74.

Both Kottkamp and Aronberg say it's up to the county to enforce its codes. So far, instead of shutting down Jim Walter job sites, the county has backed off because they’re waiting on the state for support.

Jim Walter Homes is showing no sign of backing down either since they are following state law.

A company representative e-mailed this statement about their use of unlicensed sub contractors:

Florida statute explicitly exempts non-specialty contractors, such as those that do framing, lot clearing and concrete work, if those persons are under the supervision of a residential building contractor, such as Jim Walter Homes.

Jim Walter believes this to be the controlling statute.

Meanwhile Acruri is caught in the middle. He's under contract with Jim Walter and could lose thousands if he backed out.

Jim Walter Homes acknowledges there have been delays on some home construction, but say Acuri's story is not the norm. The company blames the delays on a tight labor and materials market from the hurricanes of the past two years.