by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
As a member of the Construction Industry Licensing Board, ICI Homes Division President Don Wilford sees a lot of bad contractors. Luckily for North Florida, most of them aren’t doing business here, he said.
Wilford is the only member of the 18-member board from Jacksonville. The CILB is part of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which licenses more than 376,000 professionals, including those in the construction, electrical, landscape architecture and interior design industry, among others. The board is composed of representatives from general contractors, building or residential contractors, sheet metal, air conditioning, mechanical, pool, plumbing and excavation contractors. There are two consumer members and two building official members. Wilford is serving a three-year term. He was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and his term expires in 2008.
The board meets monthly at various locations around the state and reviews hundreds of cases. The CILB is the regulating agency that consumers — many of whom are having homes built for them — go through to file an official complaint against a contractor. It’s also the agency that issues licenses on a two-year basis to contractors.
About a week before a board meeting, Wilford receives three boxes from the state with cases that will come before the CILB. He juggles his time between ICI Homes and the board, and said he didn’t realize how much work it took to serve on the board.
“I admire people like (Florida Bar president and local attorney) Hank Coxe. If I had to do what he does, I wouldn’t,” said Wilford. “(This position) gives me a better appreciation for the law as it pertains to the board that I didn’t know before.”
Many of the cases brought before the CILB are hurricane related. State prosecutors are overwhelmed with such cases and Wilford said there’s no end in sight.
He does however estimate that about 80 percent of the cases are settled before they come before the CILB. He said the work of Tom Goldsbury, the City’s chief of the Building Inspection Division, and other building officials in the market have kept North Florida consumers more protected that those in South Florida.
“We’re lucky,” said Wilford. “Our area has the fewest claims out of any geographical area in Florida. Most of the complaints come from South Florida. The panhandle and North Florida are pretty squeaky clean.”
To keep contractors from coming before Wilford and the other board members, Wilford encourages all contractors to be an “expert” on chapter 489, which explains what it takes to be a contractor.
Wilford also said contractors should realize how precious a license is and what it takes to stay licensed in the state of Florida.
“It’s mind boggling how people get their license and then screw it up. Some fall on hard luck, some probably shouldn’t have been a contractor in the first place, and others are just bad businessmen,” said Wilford.
The board gives out approximately $1 million a month to consumers who have been the victims of a bad contractor.
“We wish we could give more, but we have to cap it,” said Wilford, adding that most of the money given to consumers comes from fees on permits pulled by contractors.
Bad contractors aren’t limited to those that recently received their licenses. Wilford said people that have had their licenses for 20 years are getting them revoked.
“It just happens,” said Wilford. “But our first job is to protect the consumer.”