TAMPA, Fla. — Real estate investor Adam Turem hired Jeremiah Klotz and his company, GLK Construction, in 2022 to renovate a 100-year-old Tampa house.
What followed, Turem said, was months of inactivity, failed inspections, and cost overruns.
"It would be months at a time that I would go without any activity, anything happening," Turem said.
Turem is not alone.
A pattern of problems
Since 2024, the I-Team has reported on a series of troubled GLK Construction projects.
A nursery was not completed before a baby arrived.
A bonus room sat under construction through two football seasons.
The county halted a mother-in-law suite because the contractor failed to get an inspection.
"This is supposed to be my baby's room," customer David Crane said.
"This was supposed to be my man cave," said customer Moses Harmon.
"This is for my mother-in-law. She is trying to stay out of the nursing home," customer Darren Kunz said.
When I first spoke to Klotz about the issues in early 2024, he blamed a hurricane, the holidays, and his subcontractors.
"There's delays that happen in construction," Klotz said.
Months later, former GLK employees contacted the I-Team saying Klotz owed them thousands in unpaid wages.
"He's hurt a lot of people. A lot of contractors," former employee Robert Pallan said.
Lawsuit, judgment and a missing contractor
Turem sued Klotz and won a nearly $40,000 judgment in March.
But when it came time to pay, Klotz did not appear.
"We were trying to find him and that's been a very hard thing to do. I've actually hired a private investigator to try to help us find him as well," Turem said.
It turned out Klotz was not that hard to find.
A single phone call reached him, and he agreed to meet at a Davis Islands park one week later.
Klotz speaks out
At that meeting, I presented Klotz with recent court judgments involving former clients and building materials — totaling $50,000, $50,000, $82,000, $11,000, $136,000, and Turem's $39,000 judgment.
"We're trying to work out payments with everybody to get everybody paid," Klotz said.
Klotz says GLK Construction is now out of business, claiming it collapsed after a major project went sideways.
"I was doing a multi-family project in Cape Coral and then it got — one day we're working and then the next day we were told that it got foreclosed on," Klotz said.
"I was stuck with over $300,000 on my credit. I owed subcontractors money, you know, because I did the work there," Klotz said.
Klotz says the contractor who hired him for the apartment complex job failed to pay him nearly $400,000 for work his company completed and for building supplies.
That company did not respond to an email seeking comment.
"A 180 from what it used to be"
As for the local lawsuits, Klotz says he could not afford to fight them.
"I didn't have the money to keep funding the attorney. So if you don't show up for court and you don't have an attorney to represent yourself as a business, then of course, you know, defaults will get entered against you," Klotz said.
Klotz says he has learned his lesson and no longer manages the financial side of projects.
He also says he paid back the original customers the I-Team interviewed who had problems with his company's work.
He says he now focuses only on simple projects.
"Now we stick to very simple things. We do concrete, masonry, and framing, and that'sit," Klotz said.
When asked whether he expects to face similar problems in the future, Klotz said no.
"The way that I do business now and you know how I do the work is a 180 from what it used to be," Klotz said.
When asked what he would say to the people he owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to, Klotz offered this:
"Things fell apart, but all I can do now is, you know, try to push forward and find a way and find a solution," Klotz said.
Klotz says he has worked out payment plans with the attorneys of customers who currently have judgments against him.
The I-Team will continue to follow this story.
Share Your Story with Adam
Adam Walser has spent more than a decade fighting for what’s right in Tampa Bay as part of the I-Team. He’s helped expose flaws in Florida’s eldercare system and held leaders accountable for questionable HOA practices. Reach out to Adam with any issue you think he needs to investigate.
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