Adam Turem hired GLK Construction in 2022 to renovate a 100-year-old Tampa house, but the project stalled so completely that he eventually had to hire a private investigator just to track down the contractor. When he finally reached Jeremiah Klotz, it took a single phone call. By then, Turem had already won a court judgment against Klotz worth nearly $40,000.
Turem's renovation sat idle for months, with a bonus room left under construction through two football seasons, according to Tampa Bay 28. He sued Klotz and won a judgment entered in March, one of several recent court awards against the contractor that the station reports totaled $50,000, $50,000, $82,000, $11,000, $136,000 and $39,000 across different cases. Turem told the outlet he experienced months without any activity on his renovation before finally deciding legal action was his only option.
A Pattern of Stalled Projects Across Tampa Bay
Turem was far from alone. Multiple GLK customers contacted Tampa Bay 28's I-Team in 2024 to complain about problems with their projects, and the station says it has reported on a series of troubled GLK Construction jobs since then. Darren Kunz said a GLK project was meant to help his mother-in-law avoid moving into a nursing home, while Moses Harmon said his stalled project was supposed to be his man cave. David Crane told the station his unfinished project was meant to be his baby's nursery — left incomplete before the baby arrived.
Local county officials reportedly halted work on the mother-in-law suite because GLK Construction failed to obtain a required inspection. The station's report describes a pattern across these jobs of months of inactivity, failed inspections and cost overruns, and Better Business Bureau records show GLK Construction Company LLC carries an F rating after receiving seven consumer complaints and failing to respond to six of them.
Klotz Blames Cape Coral Foreclosure and a Hurricane
When Klotz finally sat down with the I-Team's Adam Walser and Adam Turem at a Davis Islands park a week after that first phone call, he attributed the collapse of GLK Construction to a major apartment project in Cape Coral that went into foreclosure after work had already begun. Klotz said the contractor that hired him for that job failed to pay nearly $400,000 for completed work and building supplies, and told the station he was owed more than $400,000 total for labor and supplies on the project. He said the fallout left more than $300,000 on his own credit. The contractor that hired Klotz did not respond to an email seeking comment, per the station's report.
Klotz also blamed a hurricane, the holidays and subcontractor issues for the construction problems his clients experienced, and said he was owed money by subcontractors on the Cape Coral job as well. Former GLK employees reported that Klotz owed them thousands of dollars in unpaid wages. Federal safety records show the Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an inspection into GLK Construction LLC in December 2024 at the Cape Coral site, resulting in $13,638 in proposed penalties for serious fall protection violations.
Default Judgments and a Vanished Legal Defense
Klotz told the I-Team he stopped funding his attorney, which led to default judgments being entered against him when he failed to appear in court, and that he could not afford to fight the lawsuits piling up locally. He said he failed to appear when payment was due in at least one instance. GLK Construction is now out of business, and Klotz said he no longer manages the financial side of projects himself, describing his current business practices as a 180-degree change from the past.
Under Florida law, the stakes for contractors who ignore civil judgments are significant. Florida Statute § 489.129(1)(q) allows the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to suspend or revoke a contractor's license if a final civil judgment goes unsatisfied for more than 60 days, unless an appeal is filed or an active payment plan is in place, according to Elevate Legal Services. Separately, a project is legally presumed abandoned under state law if a contractor performs no work for 90 consecutive days without just cause, exposing the contractor to administrative fines of up to $10,000 per violation, per the Florida Senate.
Recovery Fund Offers a Backstop, With Strict Deadlines
For homeowners struggling to collect on judgments against insolvent contractors, Florida's Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund can serve as a secondary option. Effective July 1, 2024, the state raised the maximum payout under the fund from $50,000 to $100,000 per claim for Division I general contracting contracts, with the new limits taking effect January 1, 2025, according to MyFloridaLicense.com. To qualify, a property owner must hold a final civil judgment or licensing board restitution order against a state-licensed contractor for violations such as project abandonment or financial mismanagement, and must file a claim within one year of obtaining the judgment, per Jimerson Birr.
Klotz told the I-Team he has worked out payment plans with attorneys representing customers who currently hold judgments against him, and said he has already paid back the original customers interviewed by the station. He said he is working to arrange payments with everyone in order to get them all paid, and that he plans to push forward and find solutions for the people he owes. Klotz said he expects not to face similar problems going forward and now focuses on simpler construction projects, doing concrete, masonry and framing work himself.
State licensing records reviewed separately list Klotz as the qualifying contractor for Latitude 27 Development LLC, a St. Petersburg-registered entity offering masonry, concrete and residential build-out services across Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida, according to records cited on Scribd. Whether Klotz is keeping up with court-ordered payment plans, whether any GLK customers have filed Recovery Fund claims, or whether local building departments have scrutinized his newer business remain open questions. Tampa Bay 28 says its I-Team will continue following the story.
