Developer South Beach Group Hotels (SBGH) has filed a lawsuit against a contractor over hurricane-related damage at a construction site in Miami Beach.
The developer and its affiliates alleged that the contractor, Miami-based Allied Roofing’s Fidelity GBH Group, was negligent in its duties and had breached its contract. The suit was filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court this month.
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North Beach Properties II, one of SBGH’s affiliates, stated that the contractor left the roof on one of its properties unfinished at the time of Hurricane Irma’s arrival in the area, which led to extensive damage to the property.
Allied Roofing was hired to build new roofs for three buildings – one at 6755 Harding Avenue, the other at 8320 Harding Avenue and the last at 2365 Pinetree Drive in Miami Beach.
Marcial Garcia, Allied Roofing owner, told The Real Deal that his workers completed all three roofing jobs, but were unable to perform a complete final inspection for the roof at the 6755 Harding Avenue building – the building where part of its roof blew off during the storm.
SBGH’s suit alleged that the roofing company did not complete the roof installation, nor close the permits. Garcia has also filed a lien on the property for unpaid work.
“We are entitled to get paid for the work we did,” he said. “If roofing companies had to be responsible for the damage sustained by hurricanes, we would be out of business.”
The developer’s affiliates claimed that the contractor had used “the same inferior materials and/or inferior workmanship,” however Garcia maintained that he used materials from major roofing manufacturer GAF. The roofing company owner also said that the same crew installed the roof on all three properties.
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