EAST LAKE -- Residents of Nature's Watch townhouses knew it would cost a bundle to repair the scores of units experts say were damaged by water seeping in around shoddy construction. 

At a meeting Tuesday night, they got the estimate: 

About $92,000 per homeowner. And that figure could rise.
 

This is absolutely at the nuclear stage," resident Chuck Badgley said. "The only thing you are going to hear Wednesday morning is moving trucks."  The repair cost almost equals the value of the complex's smaller villas. What's more, the court-ordered assessments put dozens of residents in the precarious position of deciding whether to walk away from their homes, declare bankruptcy or find some other creative way to hold on.

Michael Jenkins holds a piece of wood from a Nature's Watch townhouse.

Some residents worry that if their neighbors start bailing, the cost will balloon for those who stick it out. 

"Everything is going to start caving in," Badgley predicted. "At a certain point, this is going to collapse." 

The problem at Nature's Watch is water. It has seeped in around windows, doors and balconies and through roofs, causing millions of dollars in damage. Residents of the 182-unit community in northeast Pinellas fought in court over who should pay and how much. 

A judge decided all homeowners must pay equal shares to make repairs. The court appointed a receiver, Andrew Bolnick, to take over the homeowners association, make the repairs in stages and assess the homeowners to pay for it. 

Each homeowner has been assessed $28,000. But four months ago, the beleaguered residents demanded work stop until their total hit could be determined. 

At a ballroom in East Lake Woodlands Country Club on Tuesday night, engineer Robert Reinhart of Tampa told residents he had inspected test cuts in random buildings and determined it would cost $9-million to $12-million more to make the buildings safe. That puts the total repair bill at $17.6-million. 

"It's about the worst news we could have gotten," Bolnick said. "I really feel bad for these people. These people are just screwed. They did nothing wrong." 

Resident Lara Shane thinks residents are being victimized at every turn: by a developer who built the shoddy homes from 1992-1998; by a judge who took control out of the residents' hands; by a county building department that failed to ensure homes were built to code; by a receiver who is overdoing reconstruction to protect himself against being sued; and by construction firms seeking to create more work. 

"They are destroying 182 families for the sake of saving these houses," Shane said. 

Bolnick said the Reinhart report validates what structural experts said all along: The buildings are heavily damaged and need extensive repair. 

"Let's say they bought a Cadillac," Bolnick said. "They think I'm putting a Mercedes back. But what they got originally was a Gremlin, and I'm giving them back a Cadillac." 

Bolnick said he has become a target because, "They have to scream at somebody." 

Bolnick said he fears many residents will simply walk away from their homes, leaving the remaining residents to pick up the slack. Twelve homeowners face foreclosure. 

To keep up with assessments, residents have dipped into retirement funds and college savings. Many are tapped out. 

The homeowners association has sued the developer, Richard Geiger; the builder, Tim Giddens of Bama Construction; and the engineer who drew up the plans, Ralph Hansen. That suit accuses them of conspiring to maximize profits by building substandard housing. 

Last month, the state began investigating whether Geiger paid Giddens, a licensed contractor, to pull permits for the project, then built the homes himself. For Geiger, who was not licensed, that would amount to unlicensed contracting. Giddens stated in an affidavit that Geiger agreed to pay him $150 apiece to pull building permits and that he (Giddens) had no further responsibility for the construction. 

Last month, Geiger denied Giddens' claim and maintained there was no problem with the construction at Nature's Watch. 

The problem, he said, is the buildings were not properly maintained by the residents or the management company they hired. The buildings must be repainted and recaulked every five years, he said, and that was never done. 

He also said a maintenance company hired by the homeowners association power-washed the buildings and knocked out caulking. Water then seeped into the buildings for years and caused the existing damage, he said. 

More than 100 residents had agreed to sue the Pinellas County Building Department, but now might simply give up, Badgley said. 

"By the time the suit is settled, we'll all be gone," he said. 

County building inspector Robert Nagin said the contractor and designers are responsible for construction defects, not his department. 

"I have never denied there are code violations," Nagin said. "But I don't agree it is the responsibility of this department."