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ELECTRICITY
AND POOL – A DEADLY MIX?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
September 19, 2014
Make
no mistake: We all should know that water and electricity
don’t do well together, especially if certain safe guards are
overlooked.
In
Eric’s case there was a happy ending – but it could have
easily ended in a tragedy.
There
is a reason why certain jobs should only be done by licensed
contractors – as required by law. There are even penalties for
not following the licensing laws.
Florida
has a government agency – the DBPR – in charge of licensing
professions and professionals. Let’s not discuss in the moment
how effective this agency is.
Hiring
some “Fly-By-Night” fixer may be less expensive in the short
run, but never forget: If the repair doesn’t turn out well –
there is no insurance to pay for possible damages caused by
unlicensed work.
We
see it all the time that board members – often with the help
of their management company – hire unlicensed contractors –
even for million-dollar jobs. We have even seen cases where
attorneys filed lawsuits against owners who complained that
contractors hired didn’t have the necessary license.
Board
members hiring unlicensed contractors are acting irresponsible
and put the whole association at serious financial risk.
Imagine
this sad scenario: A kid is getting killed by an electric shock
in the community pool. The investigators find out that the
repair of the defect pool-light was done by an unlicensed
contractor. Can you imagine some ambulance-chasing attorney
licking his chops in expectation of a million-dollar verdict –
paid for by the members of the community?
Make no mistake: Barely any community has a liability insurance
policy that would pay for all the zeros awarded as punitive
damages!
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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