Dave Ryder, Ace Construction Ace Remodeling Contractor Charging for a service he had no intention of providing St. Petersburg Florida

Architectural Drawings complete to the Permit Award Stage purchase. 

The drawings that I received from Dave Ryder and Ron Miller are not architectural plans completed to the permit award stage which was our agreement for the cost of $3,800.  I am unable to use these documents to obtain a permit to build or to obtain bids from building contractors. 

Issues with this purchase:

1. Licensed contractor representing a colleague as being a licensed architect

2. Person representing oneself as being a licensed architect

3. Licensed engineer stamp sealing documents representing the plans were created by a licensed architect

4. Licensed contractor accepting money for a service he had no intention of providing

 Summary of situation:

May 25, 2015              I was provided a reference from a friend for a contractor/home builder in Pinellas County. This reference was for contractor, Dave Ryder.

June 10, 2015             Initial meeting with Dave Ryder.  We met at my lot in Indian Rocks Beach, FL.  This initial meeting was to discuss the possibility of Dave Ryder building a single family dwelling new construction for me.

In attendance:  Mary Ann Schell (Customer), Dave Ryder (Contractor) and (private)(friend of Mary Ann’s).  During this meeting Dave Ryder said he was interested in the job to build my 2 bedroom 2 bath house.  He said the next step would be to have his architect, Ron Miller, create architectural plans that would get me to the permit award stage with the City of Indian Rocks Beach.  We agreed that we would set the meeting up to meet with his architect for the following week. Dave indicated these permit award stage architectural plans would cost $3,800.

June 16, 2015             Meeting at Dave Ryder’s company, Ace Construction, 5801 43^rd St. N, St. Petersburg, FL

In attendance: Mary Ann Schell (customer), (private)(friend), Dave Ryder (contractor) and Ron Miller, (architect).  Discussed was the agreement for architectural plans for Mary Ann’s house.  The agreement was to provide to Mary Ann complete architectural plans that would get her to the permit award stage for the build with the City of Indian Rocks Beach, FL, Pinellas County.  Excluded from this agreement was the soils testing requirement that Mary Ann would pay for separately. During this meeting Dave Ryder said his cost to build this single family dwelling would be between $95.00 - $120.00 per square foot depending on the required foundation to be determined in the near future by the soils testing engineering report.  The architectural plans would include the foundation plans once the soils testing engineering report was complete.  Payment of $3,800.00 was made in full by Mary Ann Schell for the architectural plans, per Dave Ryder's requirement. 

June 25, 2015             Drawings (represented as architectural plans), minus the foundation plans, were delivered to Mary Ann by Dave Ryder. These drawings were stamped sealed by an engineer.

June 29, 2015             The bid to build the single family dwelling was submitted by Dave Ryder to Mary Ann Schell for the cost of $290.00 per square foot.  Since the cost to build was considerably higher than the verbal quote Mary Ann filed for the Permit to Build as owner builder and did not sign the contract to build with Dave Ryder.     

August 31, 2015          By email, Mary Ann provided updates requested by Pinellas County and The City of Indian Rocks Beach to Dave Ryder and Ron Miller for the submitted drawings.    The permit was denied due to incomplete plan submission.

September 1, 2015     Soils Engineering report submitted to Mary Ann Schell detailing the testing results and the required foundation for the proposed dwelling.

Mary Ann Schell emailed Dave Ryder and Ron Miller the soils engineering report to allow for the foundation plans to be developed. 

At this time Dave Ryder said I should work directly with Ron Miller on the plans. Ron Miller said he had moved and did not have the time to find my plans to make any changes.  He said that he was too busy to email or hard copy deliver the soils testing report to the engineer in consideration of the foundation plan. Ron said he was too busy to do any work on my architectural plans at this time and I could check back at a later date.   

October 2, 2015          Mary Ann Schell met with a licensed architect that she found via the American Institute of Architects web site.  The objective was to begin interviews to hire an architect to complete the plans started by Dave Ryder’s architect, Ron Miller.  During this interview the architect advised Mary Ann that the plans she had were not architectural plans created by a licensed architect. He said the plans were drawings probably created by a draftsman, not sufficient for permitting or building from. 

Mary Ann Schell emailed Dave Ryder and Ron Miller requesting a refund due to the situation that the plans were not completed to the permit stage and that Ron Miller’s architectural license is not valid.  Dave Ryder requested a meeting with the 3 of us. 

October 7, 2015          Meeting with Dave Ryder, Ron Miller and Mary Ann Schell at Ace Construction office.  Mary Ann arrived with the anticipation of obtaining her $3,800 refund for services not rendered.  Dave and Ron said no.  Dave and Ron both said they had no idea why I would have thought Ron was an architect.  I reminded Dave he told me at our initial meeting the next step would be to have his architect, Ron Miller, create architectural plans for me.  I reminded Ron he told me he had been an architect for 50 years and he knew what he was doing when he questioned my 13x14 size request for the 2 bedrooms.  I asked a second time for my refund and they said no.  I left without incident. 

The drawings that I received from Dave Ryder and Ron Miller are not architectural plans completed to the permit award stage which was our agreement for the cost of $3,800.  In addition, these drawings are not detailed with specs to provide a clear guide to contractors.  I am unable to use these documents to obtain a permit to build or to obtain bids from building contractors.  

This scenario is unethical.  The contractor, unlicensed architect and engineer all seem to be working outside of the legal requirements of their trade.