Complaint Review: Industrial Roofing Specialists John Famulare President - Orlando Florida

In June, 2005, this company replaced the roof on our home, the garage and flat roof of our back porch. We have no complaints about the work done on the house and garage, however, we have many issues with the work done on the flat roof of the porch.

To date, there is a tar, or tar-like substance that is leaking, seeping and dripping from between the tongue and groove planks of the ceiling as well as from cracks and holes within the planks themselves throughout the whole porch, all the way from one end to the other.

I contacted Mr. Famulare, the company's president, on April 5, 2006 and informed him that we had a major problem with leaking tar and he told me that their company did not use tar on that roof so it was not their problem. At that time, he asked me if they did the work a year ago, and I told him that June, 2006, it would be one year. I asked him if this could be a problem left over from when the flat roof was coated with tar and gravel, he said he didn't know. I then asked him if he could at least assist us in figuring out how to get the dripping tar to stop and he said he would send someone named Remo to inspect what was happening and would call me back. I thanked him for his assistance and told him I would be looking forward to hearing back from him.

To date, he has never gotten back to me, nor am I even sure that Remo ever came out to our house. I have since called the company numerous times about this issue and all I get is an answering machine. I have left many many messages and nobody ever calls me back.

On September 18, 2006, I finally go a hold of Randy Sullivan, the supervisor who oversaw the work being done to the house. I told him about my conversation with John and how he just blew me off and has ignored me since. Randy told me the reason why John did this was because it was very close to the 1 year labor warranty. There is nothing in any of the documents I signed with the company, or received from the company that reflects a 1 year warranty on labor. I then told Randy that I was having a Seminole County Building Inspector coming out soon to inspect the work and to let me know what was causing it. Randy also emphatically denies that the company used any tar on that flat roof. He did tell me that under normal circumstances they mop tar on that type of roof, but didn't do so with ours. He said it was wrong of John to blow me off and not follow up and that I should retain a residential structural engineer to inspect the porch, that way, I would have more of a leg to stand on with John. When I told Randy that I planned on filing suit against the company besides filing complaints with every agency I can think of and he told me that if he knew John, if I did file suit, John would make sure that it would drag through the court system for years.

On September 20, two Seminole County Building Inspectors came out to the house and the first words out of the mouths of one of the inspectors was "it looks like someone mopped the deck of this porch roof with tar without prepping it or laying down a protective barrier. He also said that it wasn't going to stop dripping anytime soon. On the afternoon of September 28, 2006, a licensed roofing contractor inspected my porch and he said the very same thing, except he said that someone mopped the deck of the flat roof with a liquid tar that becomes very liquid-like when the weather gets hot. I asked him for a written report of his findings, as well as an estimate of what it will cost to completely replace everything on the flat roof.

Not only has this dripping, seeping and leaking tar or tar-like substance, rendered our whole porch and pool area entirely useless, the damages we have incurred because of this mess clearly exceeds $5,000, the maximum I can sue the company and its president for in small claims court.

I am hoping the Department of Business and Professional Regulation can assist us with this matter. I have additionally let 3 local TV stations know of our problem and hope that at least one of them would consider putting this story on the news, which will inform the public of the poor workmanship of this company and how they don't stand behind their work product.

Donna

Winter Springs, Florida
U.S.A.