Florida Structural Group, a company several condo associations and property owners on Fort Myers Beach had hired to help them with building repairs after the recent hurricanes has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.
The April 18th filing has left the property owners scrambling to find contractors to finish the work Florida Structural Group started. We spoke to several condo owners on Fort Myers Beach as well as in Fort Myers that were completely caught off guard. We were also told that employees of the company didn’t even know what was about to happen and they are now trying to find work.
Royal Pelican condo on Fort Myers Beach had a contract with Florida Structural Group to work on 9 buildings on Bay Beach Lane. 4 of the buildings were finished, the other 5 were not. A contact we have at Royal Pelican told us they were completely blindsided. “We were told last week they were going to take off early for Easter. By Friday we learned they filed for Chapter 7.”
The good news for Royal Pelican is that they are not out a ton of money. They did not front the company a bunch of cash and have to try to recoup it. It’s more of a headache to have to now go out and find reliable contractors to restart the work, especially after nearly 2 and a half years of waiting after Ian, and with another hurricane season creeping up on us.
What others who’ve been using Florida Structural Group have to now look into is will they be on the hook for any subcontractors that have completed work on their property. The state of Florida protects subcontractors. If all of their paperwork is in order and they can show they completed work and the General Contractor did not pay them, the property owner must pay that bill.
Florida Structural Group, from the nearly 20 people we’ve spoken to about the bankruptcy, had millions of dollars worth of business. The Florida Structural Group website details projects here in Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach and Key West. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is total liquidation of a company. And as you can see in this graphic below, Florida Structural Group now lists only $50,000 in assets.
The President of Florida Structural Group is Brian Peachey from Fort Myers. Peachey is well known on the island. In fact his company was a corporate sponsor for the annual Grouper Grappler Fishing Tournament on Fort Myers Beach. The bankruptcy was news to the team at Tunaskin that organizes the event.
We reached out to Peachey by phone and text. He never responded. Two phone numbers at the Florida Structural Group offices went right to voicemail.
With so much work on Fort Myers Beach alone we asked a few construction experts how a company could go belly up. They said it could range from poor management to getting over your skis with too many bills that can’t be covered, to fraud.
From our research we discovered that Peachey does not have a General Contractor’s license. He uses what they refer to in the construction industry as a qualifier. That qualifier is basically loaning out their license for others to do the work, most likely for a fee. In Peachey’s case, Jack Alvin Lewis out of Texas is listed as the General Contractor for Florida Structural Group.
We got our hands on Lewis’ cell phone number and called him. He told us he knew nothing about the bankruptcy and even though he’s listed as the GC said only that he had done work with Peachey in the past.
If you’ve been impacted by Florida Structual Group or if you need recommendations for trustworthy contractors please contact edryan@beachtalkradio.com.
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I started a project with them and gave them 83k just a week or two ago and they told me to my face to send another 40k and that there not going out of business and have 120 employees. 33k a year and a half ago for a dock they never started. They sent a barge to my house to pretend that they were about to start and subcontracted another company to start dredging so it created the appearance of them starting just to convince me to give them more money. Never paid the dredging company all the money. How many other people gave this company deposits and they never started the work. This is FRAUD 💯.
How much did you get paid for this article. Sounds like a commercial not news.
Huh?? Did you actually read the article?
How is reporting on a BANKRUPTCY a “commercial”? 🤦♀️
They need to pay ALL their workers their last paycheck!!
ITS NOT RIGHT to avoid calls and messages from employees.
Fake news about 4 building’s have been finished, nothing is completed and here we sit
Isn’t that just peachy?
I am an owner in Royal Pelican. Not one building is finished. You were misinformed. It’s been almost a year of work, without a single building being finished. I’ve seen skyscrapers get built faster. It’s no wonder why this company went out of business.
What ya talking about they did sooo much work with concrete and docks and steel I never had one problem with them and anytime I needed advice I would call them and they would come look and give me advice for free or take on the job.
What I’m talking about is exactly what I said. Almost a year in, and not one building completed. I’m speaking solely about Royal Pelican. They did not work on any docks, so I don’t know where you’re talking about.