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WINK Investigates: Everything we know so far about Beattie Development

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A southwest Florida developer has now surrendered his six different contracting licenses, which include general contracting, plumbing and roofing.

Paul Beattie, owner of Beattie Development cannot build homes anymore. It’s not a permanent situation, but part of a settlement agreement with the state says he’d need to pay $300,000 before he could get a new license.

Beattie is accused of taking money and not finishing dozens of homes. Court documents show he’s in debt for $11 million.

How did we get to this point? What’s next?

WINK News started investigating after an email tip was sent in July 2024, claiming Beattie has destroyed many lives.

“To finish my house, my wife and I are out $200,000,” Jason Yoraway, the tipster and former Beattie customer said.

Yoraway blamed Beattie Development and owner Paul Beattie.

Then, a month later in August, the Beattie Development office in Cape Coral got raided. Cape Coral police still have not provided any information, despite WINK News asking several times a month.

“Obviously we’d like to see the legal case move forward with the Cape Coral Police Department. But I think the more important thing is, how do we prevent this happening again?” said Stuart Owen, another former Beattie customer.

After the raid, dozens came forward to WINK News, accusing Beattie of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars. Over the course of the next few months, lawsuit after lawsuit popped up on the Lee Clerk of Courts website.

“He was a highly respected builder at the time, and no one ever expected them to go out of business,” Owen said.

Subcontractors say they were never paid by Beattie. One said, “Things started getting piled up billing-wise, and checks stopped coming.”

In September, WINK News obtained liquidation documents that said Beattie Development is in debt for over $11 million.

In early October, Paul Beattie had a Zoom court hearing for the documents. He claimed his Chief Financial Officer for the downfall of his company.

Beattie said in the Zoom meeting, “I didn’t have control over those, those financial day-to-day operations.”

On Thursday, Beattie gave up all his licenses in a Department of Business and Professional Regulation settlement.

“Do I want ill will on anybody? No. But on the flip side, do we? Do I and do the group want justice and accountability? Absolutely, and so, again, a great first step,” Yoraway said.

“My first initial reaction was, yay. You know, it’s obviously great. We, you know, he finally kind of got something that was coming to him. But the other hand, I think it shows just how ineffective DBPR is. You know, we gotta ask who they are protecting here?” Owen said.

The DBPR disciplinary cases originate from complaints filed with DBPR about contractors, which are investigated by DBPR investigators. The investigators gather information and forward the case to the prosecutor’s office, which determines probable cause. If probable cause is established, a formal administrative complaint is filed, and the contractor can choose between an informal or formal hearing.

Rachel Clark, an attorney who is in the know with agreements like this one. She says the system worked and praised the board for taking into consideration all aspects of each case.

Clark used to be board counsel and walked me through the significance of the Beattie settlement.

“If you’ve had a license revoked, you are not allowed to reapply for a period of five years, so at a minimum, it’ll be five years before anything happens after that a contractor can reapply for a license. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll get one, because the board will be aware of the previous discipline, and they will take that into consideration when determining whether or not to award another license to a contractor,” Clark said.

Clark has seen tons of the DBPR hearings. She said abandonment and failing to pull permits are the most common complaints against contractors. Financial mismanagement can also be a problem, but it must be proven to be disciplined by DBPR.

Beattie had 43 complaints listed in the settlement.

“43 is a lot, most of the time, you see one or two. So, 43 is considerable,” Clark said.

She said overall, it’s a good process.

Owen, who hired Beattie in October 2021, disagrees that the DBPR did their job.

“We gotta ask who they are protecting here? Do they protect any consumers? I mean, here they are, months after Beattie’s out of business, and they come in and go, ‘look, we put his license away.’ They helped none of the survivors here. All they did was kind of validate what we said,” Owen said.

He went on the say the system is broken and wished the DBPR was more proactive.

“If you’re another Beattie survivor, come to us for help, because we love to help people, and we are now very much along the path of helping a lot of people get their homes done. We’re getting two to three homes done a week now, so it’s really rocking and rolling,” Owen said.

Cape Coral police told WINK News on Friday that they have no information to share. Beattie’s attorney has not gotten back to WINK News in months.

We continue to search for more information and as soon as we hear something, we will let you know.

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