More talk about contractors, "schemes" and the Feds.

Sniffing out the truth

Dear Ms. Mazure:

I just finished reading a response to my letter in your magazine regarding ¿legal techniques,¿ saying that the IRS and the Florida State Licensing Board would have raised eyebrows about these practices and where your readers calls these techniques ¿schemes.¿

For the record, I would like to add that I am a certified state of Florida Department of Business and Regulations (our licensing board) continuing education instructor in addition to being an active state-licensed and -certified general contractor. Not to mention that I renovated the 16-story IRS headquarters at our local federal building and am very well aware of our state and federal regulations regarding the qualification of contractors and companies, being that I teach them.

For years in my classes, I have taught these and many other ¿legal¿ techniques, not to mention having lectured at the University of Miami School of Architecture, trained contractors and subcontractors, and am currently teaching in addition to running my business.

The response to my letter helps to prove the point that many contractors out there need to educate themselves on the laws and how they apply to their business so they can understand how the competition thinks.

I guess you just can¿t teach an old dog new tricks.

Respectfully,

Ayan Gonzalez

Empire Construction Inc.

Miami