The Town of Fort Myers Beach has put a stop work order on Town Council candidate Greg Scasny’s new home being built on Andre Mar. Greg and his wife Marcia lost their home in Hurricane Ian and hired Joe Orlandini to build their new home. Here’s what happened.
Last week the town’s Building Official Joe Specht posted a notice to vacate and demolition notice in front of the Scasny home after the town received word from the private inspector Orlandini said he was using, Steve Brockman, that he never inspected the house. Brockman told Beach Talk Radio on Monday, “I was never called. Work proceeded.”
Specht told Beach Talk Radio Monday afternoon that Brockman’s name was on file as the 3rd party inspector for the Scasny home. Specht said Brockman called him to tell him that he was never hired for the job. That raised a red flag for Specht who immediately put a stop-work order on the home.
Most homeowners rely on the contractor they hire to follow all the building procedures put in place by a local municipality. In this case, something went awry. Orlandini told Beach Talk Radio that everything is being fixed, and the proper paperwork is being submitted to the town. Orlandini put the blame at the feet of Brockman stating that “he never finishes his paperwork.”
A homeowner can choose to hire a private inspector – or have the town inspect. Hiring a private inspector is not unusual. It’s often done to try to speed up the building process. If hired, that private inspector must sign off on the work as it’s being completed according to the original design plans submitted and approved by the town. That’s where it appeared this went off the rails for Scasny. Orlandini says he has e-mail correspondence with Brockman claiming he did communicate to Brockman to inspect the house. We’ve requested that paperwork from Orlandini. In the end, the town did not have any inspections on file for the Scasny house, according to Specht, yet the work continued.
Since the town red-tagged his home, Scasny has been frantically trying to save his new home from having to be demolished. He had his design company (Ashmore) take a look at the house. They found several things done incorrectly but the company believes they are easily fixable. If Scasny can get those issues corrected it’s up to Specht to allow the build to continue. What’s unclear at this point is if all the fixes that need to be made are visible. Is there something in the concrete that wasn’t inspected that also needs to be fixed?
Specht is the sole decision-maker when it comes to new construction on Fort Myers Beach. It’s his job to make sure all the inspections are on file and structures are built safely. At this point he considers the Scasny home an unsafe structure.
It’s a very unfortunate bind Scasny is now in when all he was trying to do was get his new home built and get his family settled again. They have been living in a trailer and with others for nearly two years now.
According to Specht, there’s a chance the home can be saved and he’s working with Scasny to put the home back in the safe category. It’s all going to come down to pictures. Scasny will have to go through this additional process – and expense – and hope that Specht, in the end, allows the build to restart.
Scasny says he’s taken pictures of the home nearly every day along the way and sent them all to Specht. He’s hopeful Specht will see that the house was correctly built and to code and is safe to live in when complete. He certainly does not want his wife and son to live in an unsafe house.
To help convince Specht the house is safe it may also need to be x-rayed which is not cheap. Specht said without those pictures, and if Scasny did not have anything else to offer him as proof, the home would most certainly have to be demolished. Scasny said, “Specht has been extremely helpful in helping him get through this process.”
As far as Orlandini goes, Specht said, “I have some concerns he has done something like this (work without inspections) on other properties on the island.” Specht says he has just not gotten them to the unsafe category as of yet.
Scasny is one of 4 candidates running for 3 seats on the Fort Myers Beach Town Council this November.
Hey Everyone – I want to thank everyone for their kinds words and support, as you can imaging this is an extremely stressful time for my family and I. There is a lot of talk about who to blame, etc,etc,etc.. From my standpoint, blame is not important at the moment.
There was a f***up, and a big one. My standard operating view when there is a large f***up it to take ownership, find solutions and make massive moves towards those solutions. This is how I run my company, and this is what I am doing here (I am a huge fan of the book Extreme Ownership from Jocko Willink, and the concept of extreme ownership). I am taking ownership of the problem, and I am working diligently with the Town and all parties involved to solve the problem and get my home back on track.
Getting my family expeditiously back into our only home is my #1 goal.
I will also say the Town and the Building Official are doing what they can to assist me. I have met with them and I understand what and why they have to do this. I am very appreciative of the phone calls and meetings they have had with me and their willingness to find an amicable solution. We have a path forward, and now I just need to execute it.
I also don’t blame BTR for running the story. Ed reports the news, in his own unique way. The fact we are friends has nothing to do with what needs to be reported on the island. When I chose to run for Council, I accepted the responsibility that my life on this wonderful island would be scrutinized, and that’s OK. It’s a worthwhile sacrifice to me.
Trust me. It will get worse before it gets better. Ask about #Estero
Your Sir are a class act! Love the 100% ownership of all things within your life. On decisions made and not made. Bravo
With all the permits, inspections etc. why would anyone want to buid anything on or near FMB. Good luck to all the people willing to take part i. All
Of it
Orlandini has always been one to ask for forgiveness instead of permission. The town knows his track record.
The question is, why did Orlandini continue construction without waiting for the inspections? The town should be asking that and consider proper discipline against the contractor.
This house should have gotten a 1) Footer inspection, 2) Column Inspection, 3) First floor tie beam inspection, 4) Second Floor Tie Beam inspection, 5) Under Construction Elevation Certificate. All of these inspections are required before pouring concrete into the footers and forms. The Elevation Cert is to verify the finished floor height meets FEMA Base Flood Elevation and you should never pursue construction until this is verified. EVER. If there have been no inspections, then either, A) the engineer of record needs to write a letter of accountability to pass it, (which I don’t think he will) .. B) X-Ray equipment must be used at roughly $5,500 per day in an attempt to see what rebar forms were there before the solid pour. At that point, it is up to Building Official Specht’s discretion. The X-Ray process on this house is likely 2 days. Who is paying for that? I know the Scazny’s well. I know that I am not alone in the local construction community who will make every effort to help them.
I don’t understand how this person continues to get the jobs building homes for people when he has the reputation of cutting corners and doing work under the town’s radar along with hearing stories of years ago of him paying off town inspectors for not following the building plan and he’s gotten away with it multiple times. One of the latest being he told a lady he’s going to rebuild her house for her, the costs was going to be covered by him, and then back tracked saying he needs money to move the project forward as the project was just sitting after putting in the pilings, was going to sell t shirts to fundraise the money for the house. How he still has a building license is beyond me.
He doesn’t have any license but a real estate license. Joe is not a licensed contractor, he works under a licensed contractor and this is legal in FL. You can verify this here.
https://www.myfloridalicense.com/datamart/loginFLDBPR.do;jsessionid=zBPCIo_EblWb7v7OiKcjQY9MtSu1vPIwZw9SUMAv.DBPR-WPAP041:VO-Server-Five
Folks should always a licensed contractor and ensure they are licensed and ensure they are on the job daily.
Feel for this family and the contractor should be responsible for any additional costs to bring the project to within acceptable requirements. Why would the city have not realized earlier that no inspections had been filed up against the permit – that should have been a flag – if they do not monitor perhaps they should do so in the future?
It is the contractors responsibility to request the inspections whether private or via county and they too should have not proceeded until those inspections were done and paperwork filed to show completed. The home owner should be asking these questions of the contractor as well and yet one would think that a licensed contractor should be doing their jobs…
Sad that so many people in Florida are taken advantage of at all and especially during such stressful time.
We just received our letter from FEMA yesterday. It was made clear if Lee county and the city’s don’t fulfill the requirements the flood insurance program may be removed/revoked from all structures in the county. I’m not sure how but it states it would be illegal to purchase private flood insurance if coverage is revoked. This is exactly what FEMA is watching for. The inspector will have no choice to make sure compliance is met.
Isn’t Orlandini the person that built the two homes just south of the old Junkanoo years ago and the one house was too close to the beach and had to be partly demolished/chopped off to get it back away from the beach. Just a recollection.
Wasn’t that next to the “Beach Bar”?
I am thankful I decided NOT to use this builder. I was ready to sign… and then asked around and was told by multiple people, to run (and not walk) towards a different contractor. Sorry to say… and at the time it was confusing as I thought the business was a local “staple” of the community. I’m so sorry for the Scasny family. My heart goes out.
The process on large and small levels is ambiguous, each step is met with costly support people to achieve small end roads. if you have developed a few properties, that experience will help you navigate the fmb code. In talking to many contractors on various projects they all say its very difficult to build on fmb. Has it improved? Absolutely it really could not be avoided as in my opinion codes at that time were designed to make progress and overdevelopment difficult as people wanted a small town vibe. My hope is we can get to a place where we support people’s decisions to either remain and rebuild, or welcome new people to the island. This story is public but i am sure not the only one.
I went through a similar situation in Punta Gorda. My contractor didn’t have certain inspections done and approved multiple times and it cost me a lot of money in fines,delays and extra engineering to confirm certain work was completed. It’s not up to the homeowner, this completely rests on the contractors shoulders! The problem is that the homeowner ends up paying for a contractor that cuts corners.
It needs to be made very clear that any comments and/or anger need to be directed in one direction. Pointing the blame towards someone not doing their paperwork is maddening and laughable at the same time. Even if that is the case, whose fault is it for continuing to do work after a stop work order is issued? How do you allow construction to continue to this point with zero inspections? What are you trying to hide?
I normally would not speak out on this but something has to be said. Putting people’s safety and financial futures at risk to try to continuously side step a system all while trying to point the blame towards someone’s else should tell you everything you need to know.
This family and others have put their trust in people to provide a service for the future of their families. And like many times before are now suffering the consequences of decisions made that are completely out of their control. It’s not only maddening, it should be criminal if it is not already.
This is just another example to very diligent in selecting who helps you rebuild you lives. Be involved, insist on consistent updates, ask a lot of questions if you do not understand, do not be afraid ask for help if you feel you’re not getting what you paid for. It’s much better to catch a problem before it gets to a point like this case.
Well said Dan. Owners have a responsibility to make sure their contractors are following the towns processes.
Town inspection is a joke! I built two garages prior to IAN, it took four months of badgering from Kristen and permitting ofc over FEMA regs, I was using Ashmore as my architect who are very competent. My Contractor did NOT follow the drawings for the FEMA required materials under Bulletin 2, yet ALL inspections “passed” (by Mark) in my absence! Once I discovered the violations I met with Jason at permitting office (Kristen unavailable) only to be told the Town takes NO responsibility for the contractor complying with the drawings, period, that’s the homeowners responsibility!!! So what’s the purpose of inspectors?? And why are you ramrodded during permitting only to learn town doesn’t care what you build?? That’s my experience, quite a joke!
Have you permitted anything since Ian? I will not argue the fact permitting was a mess pre Ian. No one will. This case is not a permitting issue at all.
This is not a town problem. This lies squarely ln the builder… period. Ide be scorching the earth, if I were the Scasny family.
This is pretty sad. No homeowner should have to go through this. Greg is going to now have to spend money to fix what should have been an easy process for any contractor. A homeowner should be able to trust that the contractor is following all of the required steps during constructoin. One of the biggest steps is calling for inspections as each major component is completed. And it doesn’t matter if it you are using a “Private Providor” company or using the town’s inspection process, there is always a paper trail. Everyone should search for their permit on the town’s permit portal. When you find your permit, you can look under the “inspection” category and you will see every inspection that has been called for. You will see if you passed, failed, or had to reschedule an inspection. You will also see comments from the inspector. If you used a private providor, the portal will still list those inspections. Greg’s house should have had at least five structural inspections by now. All are critical to ensure the house is built to plans/specifications and building codes. This mess is totally the fault of the contractor. Now, everyone needs to be on top of their GC to make sure they are doing what they are saying they are doing. If you are far along in construction and don’t see any inspections in the portal, or inspections that failed that never got resolved, then there is a major problem. Also, take 1000 plus pictures of your project, they will help for other reasons too.
Use the link to search for your permit. https://portal.iworq.net/FORTMYERSBEACH/permits/600