Report Filed: Roman Empire Builders Roberto Sevi, Robert Sevi, Roman Roads Hires subcontractors to do work, then finds ways to run them off the job and avoids paying them, threatens them with false accusations of theft Sanford, Florida!!
I was contacted by Roberto Sevi in late October of Twenty Twelve in reference to a wood flooring installation in Heathrow, FL. I met with Mr. Sevi at the entrance to the gated community after he told me to meet him there on the phone and followed him to the job site. I confirmed the wood flooring measurements, and agreed to install the flooring. Mr. Sevi called me a few weeks later when the wood was on it’s way and met with me again the day it was delivered. I helped unload a truck and delivered the materials, the following week I started the work, Mr. Sevi then began belittling me and acting as if I didn’t know my trade when I told him the wood he ordered required adhesive, it was traditional tongue and groove engineered wood flooring that required adhesive, he ended up checking with the manufacturer, not taking my word for it, and finding out I was right. He still wanted the floor floated so he bought wood glue to solve this issue and underlay padding usually associated with laminate flooring. Mr. Sevi never ordered any transitions, and expected me to match transitions for his product that he ordered. Mr. Sevi didn’t want me to have any conversation with the homeowner at all, he continued to talk to us as if we were not skilled in our own field, and he scolded us for speaking to the homeowners when they were speaking directly to us and asking us questions and they themselves began to doubt Mr. Sevi’s competence. I began to suspect that I was being taken for a ride, and I was right, I confronted Mr. Sevi and asked that he sign a contract before I actually installed any flooring. I got as far as preparing the flooring and told the homeowner that their slab needed to be properly leveled before any wood could be floated over it. Mr. Sevi refused to acknowledge this and terminated me on the spot, only after I asked for a written contract for payment. Long and short, I was able to keep and sell the home owner’s used carpet to make up for some of the loss, but Mr. Sevi made it clear he would not pay me and he was planning to file a report with the Seminole County Sheriff’s office accusing me of theft. Mr. Sevi currently has THREE current open civil cases against him in Seminole County, a contractor already filed suit against him for failure to pay for labor, another is a bank that is foreclosing on some of Mr. Sevi’s commercial property, and the third will be myself, I am going to the court house tomorrow. Fair warning to any installer, home owner or laborer, do not bother with this man, he is bi-polar and quite rude. He will tell you “you have all week to do the job”” in the morning
