MARGATE, Fla. – For 10 years, some Fairway Views homeowners say they have been making constant repairs to their roofs. Water has flooded their garages, their skylights have leaked and water has dripped through their roofs.
Residents in the Margate neighborhood blame the shoddy workmanship on the contractors hired to replace their roofs after Hurricane Wilma.
The Fairway Views Homeowners Association in Margate had hired ABC/Tri-Coast Roofing, which subcontracted the job to Taylor Contracting and Roofing, which state records show is owned by roofing contractor David B. Taylor.
This isn’t the first time Taylor has faced complaints about his work.
Taylor is currently the subject of a Florida attorney general’s investigation for bid-rigging, and was arrested twice in April for violating a stop work order in connection with a workers’ compensation fraud claim.
According to a probable cause affidavit related to his April arrest in Broward County, Taylor knowingly violated that stop work order by performing roof repair work under Taylor Contracting and Roofing at Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church Fort Lauderdale.
John Ioannou Jr., a church board member, told the Call Christina team Taylor’s workmanship was "shoddy." He said the church’s famed dome looked like an "igloo." They had to hire someone else to fix it, he added.
Related Link: Combative roofing contractor speaks to Call Christina following arrest
Taylor’s companies have been the subject of previous Call Christina investigations. That is what prompted a call into the Call Christina hotline from Fairway Views Homeowner’s Association President Sitra Friedman.
"There is roof leak after roof leak, and they were like that from day one," explained Friedman as she took the Call Christina team on a tour of the repairs in progress at the Margate community.
Roof tiles are missing on the townhomes in the community, and roofs are in various stages of repair.
The roofs were replaced about a year after Hurricane Wilma struck in October 2005. After the new reroofing job began to fail, the Fairway Views Homeowners Association hired a consultant to evaluate the work that had been done.
"A lot of them, their valleys are crooked," Friedman said, explaining the extent of the damage to roofs in her community. "You can see those little decks in front of the windows. The roof report shows that they were never replaced, even though we paid for it."
In 2014, the Fairway Views Homeowners Association hired a roofing inspector, who stated in a report, "It is my professional opinion that the design of the flat roofs and bad workmanship on the tile roofs are the primary cause of the existing leaks."
Taylor initially refused to speak to Local 10 News about the roofing job in the Fairway Views community.
"Get that thing out my face," Taylor said, as he tried to grab a microphone away from investigative reporter Christina Vazquez. "You may like things like that in your face, but I am not a fan of that."
Eventually, Taylor did speak.
"This lady’s crazy. It is all (expletive). Period," Taylor said about Friedman and her claims of his shoddy work. "Fairway Views, we did a good job and it is good roofs."
When asked specifically about leaking roofs, failing flashings and water getting into homeowners’ garages, Taylor responded with, "Do you know how big that project was?"
Taylor said he cannot recall how many units he worked on in Fairway Views because there were so many roofs to replace.
"You might have one or two mistakes," Taylor said. "That’s life."
Fairway Views is not the only homeowners association complaining about Taylor’s work.
"I called Christina when I saw the report of Eagle’s Nest," said Friedman.
In the fall of 2015, homeowners at Eagle’s Nest Townhomes in Coral Springs told the Call Christina team roofs replaced after Hurricane Wilma were falling apart.
Read: Coral Springs townhome residents question city inspection due to damaged roofs
"They are supposed to last for 20 years; they only lasted for four," Dennis Chavis, a homeowner in Eagle’s Nest, said.
Eagle’s Nest Townhomes Condominium Association filed a lawsuit against the contractors who replaced their roofs after Wilma. One of them was Taylor.
Taylor blamed bad Chinese nails for the roofing failures at Eagles Nest.
"I'm not responsible for the nails," Taylor said. "I gave them my invoices where I bought the nails. I’m helping them in any way I can. I feel awful about it."
That lawsuit is pending in Broward County Court.
In the spring of 2016, Call Christina received complaints from West Miami-Dade condo owners at the Beach Club at Fontainebleau Park. They were concerned about irregularities in the roof proposal process.
Records obtained by the Call Christina team document connections between Taylor, who won the bid, and two other companies that submitted bids.
More: West Miami-Dade condo owners allege irregularities in roof proposal process
Taylor did not deny the associations between the companies.
"It is an open bid," Taylor said. "Yes, I gave the bids out."
The Call Christina team also uncovered that Taylor was under a stop work order related to a workers' compensation case at the time he placed the bid at The Beach Club.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office confirmed they are reviewing the bid-rigging allegations at The Beach Club to determine if any antitrust laws have been violated.
When asked if they are reviewing Friedman’s complaint out of Fairway Views, a spokeswoman replied that because they are "actively investigating David B. Taylor and Taylor Roofing," they could not comment any further.
The Department of Business and Professional Regulation says it can’t confirm or deny the existence of complaints or an investigation.
Last month Taylor was arrested in both Broward and Miami-Dade counties on charges of workers’ compensation fraud.
Related: David B. Taylor arrested second time in a month
The complaint alleges Taylor "knowingly" violated a stop work order related to a workers’ compensation case.
Friedman hopes the open cases on Taylor will lead to justice for homeowners in her community and said she wants to see state regulators review her complaint and find out exactly what went wrong.
"I believe now, with all the authorities involved, we will get to the bottom of it," Friedman said.