EDITORS NOTE: After this story was published, we received a statement from James Roofing that we have now included in this story.
Jasmine Gutierrez faced the same challenge many felt following hurricanes Helene and Milton. Thousands of dollars worth of repairs were needed after her roof was damaged.
As a townhome owner, she handles all indoor repairs, but roof repairs are the responsibility of her HOA.
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"Because of the damage, I wasn't able to sleep in that room because that whole room had to be gutted, and there are other areas here where I lost ceilings, floors, walls, that sort of thing, so I was displaced," says Gutierrez.
The roof was eventually patched, and her home was remodeled. But during the spring, the patch started showing issues.
"I even brought in somebody and introduced them to the board, gave the proposals for the roofs to be replaced, and gave that proposal to the board. I even confirmed with the company at that time, this was earlier this year, that the roofs in the community could be replaced prior to hurricane season," says Gutierrez, "All I hear is James Roofing will patch the roofs, though I have not heard anything from James Roofing, and I have major damage now again to my place."
So after several weeks of no response, Gutierrez reached out to Tampa Bay 28.
When reporter Blake Phillips contacted the property management group, they stated that the repairs had been delayed due to rain throughout the past few weeks.
"She (the property manager) has already ordered that repair, but he's a week behind, probably because of all the rain that we've had," a spokesperson for Qualified Property Management said over the phone.
Following that phone call, a representative from James Roofing gave Gutierrez a call to schedule a repair time for Tuesday, Sept. 2.
We received this statement from James Roofing: James Roofing would like to clarify several points in recent reports regarding roof repairs at the property in question. First, James Roofing has no contract with the individual homeowner mentioned and did not install the original roof. Our work at the property has been directed exclusively by the Association, which is the contracting party.
Contrary to suggestions that James Roofing was unresponsive, we had already been in communication with the property management regarding needed repairs and explained that, due to a high volume of service calls, the work would take some time to schedule. We contacted the homeowner on August 29 to set a repair date, prior to having any knowledge of the news coverage.
It has also been suggested that repairs were only made after media reports; however, the scheduling of repair work was already underway with the Association and the homeowner before those reports aired. At this time, James Roofing has only been authorized to perform temporary patchwork repairs. While we have submitted a bid to perform full roof replacements for the community, the decision to move forward remains with the Association.
James Roofing remains committed to responding promptly to all authorized repair requests, communicating directly with the parties we are contracted to serve, and providing quality roofing services in the best interests of the community.
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