Same old problems hit home builders The latest installment in the perpetual story of involves Coral Bay Construction of Spring Hill and was first reported in the Times April 30. Coral Bay filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection on Friday, which is the same day that the Hernando County Sheriff's Office announced it is investigating the company to determine if company officials have committed grand theft or lied to clients.
St Petersburg Times Same old problems hit home buildersA Times Editorial Published May 18, 2006
The story is all too familiar. Home builder, whether through negligence or on purpose, can't or won't live up to the contract he has with home buyer. Home buyer tries to recoup losses and still get house finished. Home builder seeks protection in the courts from creditors and subcontractors, who also have been left holding the bag. Even if a court rules in their favor, the cash-poor builder rarely has enough money to cover their losses. And the ending of the story is nearly always the same. Everybody loses. For home buyers, it may be their retirement nest egg or life savings. For the subcontractors it usually means a lesser, but still significant, loss of revenue. And for the builder, it often is the loss of his business, his assets and his reputation. The latest installment in the perpetual story of builders who leave behind half-built homes involves Coral Bay Construction of Spring Hill and was first reported in the Times April 30. Coral Bay filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection on Friday, which is the same day that the Hernando County Sheriff's Office announced it is investigating the company to determine if company officials have committed grand theft or lied to clients. Coral Bay has 77 permits in Hernando and several more in Pasco and Citrus counties. Coral Bay's president, Steve Bartlett, says he is guilty only of overextending himself by taking on too much work and not accurately anticipating the rise in expenses for materials and labor. That may be true, but it provides absolutely no solace to home buyers who are paying dearly for his miscalculations. In the past 15 years the list of home builders who have vanquished the dreams and bank accounts of unsuspecting homeowners has reached an alarming number. In the Tampa Bay area alone they include Lighthouse Builders, Wysocki Homes, Andres Homes, Premiere Homes, Springwood Homes and Beacon Homes. It is no wonder that construction contractors continue to draw more complaints than any other profession at the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation. It also is no surprise that in an overdeveloped state where home builders carry extraordinary clout with lawmakers, home buyers are left at a disadvantage. Eleven years ago the Legislature made a halfhearted attempt to balance that inequity, but the Home Protection Act fell far short of being meaningful. The home builder's lobby made sure the most consumer-friendly provisions of the bill were left out. Until legislators amend that law to provide for more accountability and stiffer penalties, the scales will continue to be tipped in favor of home builders, not home buyers. At the same time, law enforcement agencies and lending institutions should crack down on contractors they suspect are mishandling money or exploiting their customers. It is in the best interest of all responsible builders to support such reforms and to weed out their reckless peers. In the meantime, anyone who is contemplating hiring a contractor to build a home should heed the wisdom in the Latin phrase caveat emptor . The more well-known English translation is "Let the buyer beware." http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/18/Pasco/Same_old_problems_hit.shtml |