John Martineau put a new roof on his Downtown DeLand building just before Hurricane Ian hit Florida in late September 2022.

Ian tore up the new roof. So, with the help of his insurance company, Martineau re-roofed Wholesale Computer Outlet LLC again at 106 N. Woodland Blvd.

Then the City of DeLand fined him $10,500 for not doing the work fast enough.

With the 2023 hurricane season looming, Martineau’s story is a cautionary tale about the potential pitfalls of dealing with contractors, insurance companies and city regulators after a storm blows through.

Read the City of DeLand’s statement about Martineau’s fine

Like many Floridians, Martineau had been told in early 2022 that if he didn’t replace the roof of the building where he has operated his Wholesale Computer business since 2003, his property insurance would be canceled. He wasn’t having any leaks, but he needed insurance.

After a search, he found a roofer and the work commenced in May 2022. It was slow going, in part because the company’s crew was small, and because much of the work had to be done at night and on the weekends because of limited access to the Wholesale Computer roof — a problem shared by many property owners in the close quarters of Downtown DeLand.

By September, the roofer had finished, Martineau said, and Martineau had paid him. But shortly after that, Hurricane Ian barreled through town, bringing high winds and rushing water that killed seven people in Volusia County — and wreaking havoc on Martineau’s brand-new roof, as well as the gutters and downspouts.

Martineau didn’t know it, but his roofer had never gotten a final inspection of the roof job. The building permit the contractor had pulled, No. BD22-1065, remained open and would soon expire. And now the roofer wasn’t returning Martineau’s phone calls.

The status of the building permit was the last thing on Martineau’s mind. Water leaked into his building in the hurricane, threatening computers and other goods for sale.

“I had leaks throughout my store: front, middle and back,” he said.

He needed a new roofer and another new roof, but so did hundreds of other Volusia County businesses and homeowners.

“I needed a new roof, again, and I needed to get a different contractor,” Martineau said.“You don’t realize how many contractors I called who said they’d come out, and they would not show up.”

Martineau scrambled to get tarps on the now-leaking roof, and to make his insurance claim. The adjuster came out promptly, but told Martineau that his insurance covered only the contents of his store, not the building.

Martineau did have insurance on the building he has owned since 2005, but a snafu in the way his agent had filed the claim caused a delay while that was confirmed.

In the meantime, the damaged roof was still leaking, and Martineau — while running his business and trying to keep the leaks at bay — was still searching for a roofer who had time in his schedule to help.

Mercifully, Hurricane Nicole, in November, spared Martineau. He kept searching for roofers, despite having no assurance yet that his insurance company would pay for the work.

“Even though the hurricane happened in September, my claim didn’t even get started until December,” Martineau said. “I wanted to make sure that I had money to pay for everything.”

In the aftermath of two hurricanes toward the end of 2022, roofers and insurers were slammed and materials were in short supply. Martineau didn’t get estimates from roofers until February 2023. Meanwhile, the city, which owns the building next door, had called him to a code-enforcement hearing to answer for why the work wasn’t done.

“I had just gotten one or two [estimates] when I went to the first hearing in February,” Martineau said.

He chose a roofing contractor, who pulled a permit for the second roof on March 30, 2023.

Three months earlier, a City of DeLand worker had noticed the tarps on Martineau’s roof. The worker had been inspecting the new roof on the city’s building next door, and reported that the situation at Wholesale Computer Outlet might be causing problems on the north side of the city’s building, which shares a wall with Martineau’s building.

“Any leak in the area of our north wall will be due to this mess,” the worker wrote in an email to the assistant city manager.

The city swung into action, notifying Martineau in a Jan. 4, 2023, letter that he was in violation of city statutes requiring him to maintain his roof, gutters and downspouts “in good repair and free from obstructions.”

The city also cited Martineau for the incomplete and now-expired permit on the first new roof — the roof that by now had been destroyed.

The city gave Martineau 10 days to correct the violations.

That wasn’t possible, so Martineau was called to a hearing before DeLand’s code-enforcement magistrate on Feb. 23, 2023. Arriving for the hearing, he found the door to City Hall locked, and — after knocking for admission — was chastised by a city employee for not arriving on time, he said.

Like many cities, DeLand years ago replaced its Code Enforcement Board of citizen volunteers with a hired magistrate — usually someone with legal training — to decide code-enforcement cases.

Once in the hearing, Martineau explained that he was doing all he could to get a new roof, stop the leaks in his store, and get a fair settlement from his insurance company.

As for the incomplete permit, Martineau explained that his former roofer wasn’t returning his phone calls.

That should have come as no surprise to the city, as the building department told The Beacon it had sent 12 emails to that roofer about the incomplete permit, also with no response.

Martineau asked the magistrate for 90 days to sort it all out. The magistrate gave Martineau 30 days.

Martineau — already out about $11,000 for the first roof — contracted with the second roofer, despite not yet having full assurance of adequate insurance coverage for a job estimated at $25,000.

“By the time he could actually get to it and start it … it was already going into the second hearing,” Martineau said.

Martineau had to report to City Hall again March 23. He told the code-enforcement magistrate, again, about negotiations with the insurance company and the difficulty of getting roof work done. With leaks endangering his business, no one wanted a new roof more than John Martineau.

The magistrate was unsympathetic, and imposed a $250-per-day fine, to run until the violations were corrected.

“I felt so powerless, because I could do nothing to fix the problem,” Martineau said.

City codes prohibit a building owner who isn’t a licensed roofer from doing his own roofing.

“I tried to do right by hiring a contractor,” Martineau said.

The fine was halted May 3, when the final inspection on Martineau’s second new roof was logged into the city’s permit system. On May 5, Martineau turned in required paperwork — and paid a $100 fee — to request that the $10,500 fine be reduced.

That hearing will come up in June, Martineau said. Until then, he’s hopeful, both for a fine reduction and a more peaceful hurricane season this year.

Quick action

It took City of DeLand officials less than three hours to begin code-enforcement action against John Martineau, owner of Wholesale Computer Outlet LLC in Downtown DeLand.

Before launching that action, no one called Martineau or visited his business to discuss the problem.

The City of DeLand’s facilities manager visited the building next door to Martineau’s on Jan. 4, 2023.

In 2022, the city had replaced the roof on its building, which houses the Museum of Art – DeLand. The worker was looking for a possible cause of seepage that was staining ceiling tiles on the city side near the northern wall, which is shared by the museum and Wholesale Computer Outlet.

At 11:36 a.m. Jan. 4, that worker emailed the assistant city manager, including photos of the tarps on Martineau’s roof: “Any leak in the area of our north wall will be due to this mess. It has been ‘under construction’ since we had our roof replaced.”

At 1:12 p.m. Jan. 4, the assistant city manager wrote to the chief building official about the situation: “… it seems the lack of maintenance [at 106 N. Woodland Blvd.] on their side of the property line is negatively impacting the City-owned building (100 N. Woodland) … .… Is there anything that we can do to get the building owner to make improvement so that it does not adversely impact our building?”

At 2:12 p.m. Jan. 4, the building official responded: “We can issue a Preliminary Notice of Violation that would give them 10 days to correct the situation. If it isn’t corrected by that time we can issue a Notice of Violation then have them appear before the Magistrate if they choose to do nothing. I will have [the code-enforcement officer] get on this.”

The preliminary notice-of-violation letter Martineau received a few days later was dated the same day.

— From City of DeLand email records

City of DeLand statement regarding this case

DeLand city officials issued the following statement May 31 and asked that it be added to our story about the Wholesale Computer Outlet code case:

“The city’s records show that roof repair work originally began at Wholesale Computer Outlet in March 2022, though shortly thereafter Mr. Martineau’s contractor became unresponsive to him and to the city. A final inspection was never completed and the original permit expired – though it is our understanding that Mr. Martineau was under the impression work had been completed. Later in September 2022, his roof reportedly sustained damages brought on by Hurricane Ian.

“In January 2023, water intrusion was reported at the historic Fish Building, which is owned by the city. Our contractor determined the water was coming from Mr. Martineau’s damaged roof. A notice of violation was then posted for the expired permit and the damaged roof.

“Once Mr. Martineau became aware of the violations, he acted to obtain another contractor. Work was initiated at the end of March and the roof was found to be in compliance on May 25.

“Code enforcement fines are generally only issued after a minimum of 60 days has passed without a property owner addressing identified code violations and are meant to bring properties into compliance, and in this case, it worked. “However, after reviewing the totality of Mr. Martineau’s case, the city will work with him toward the opportunity to reduce the amount of the fines in accordance with the city’s ordinances.

“Staff is working to revise its procedures to ensure property owners are made aware should a contractor not follow through to obtain inspections and close out a permit as required by state building codes. We also urge all residents and business owners to thoroughly vet contractors before hiring them to do work on their property.”

— Chris Graham, APR, MBA, Community Information Manager, City of DeLand