Kelly Roofing told customers it is insolvent and winding down, and state records show the Naples entity was merged away in 2023

WINK News reported on Wednesday that Kelly Roofing, among the longest established and best known roofing contractors in Collier County, has told customers it is insolvent and is closing down.

Chief WINK Investigates reporter Chorus Nylander and producer Robin Wolfe reported the story and interviewed the affected homeowners. According to their account, a letter from the company said the business is "currently insolvent and winding down all operations," and attributed the timing to its lender, saying the lender "changed its mind overnight and froze the account early Tuesday morning."

The homeowners WINK spoke to described money already paid and refund checks that did not clear. Jerome and Valerie Palmieri said they paid a deposit of 10,800 dollars on July 15. Andrew Aste said he paid 5,650 dollars. A customer who was not named said 25,000 dollars had been paid on a roof replacement that was not finished. Aste told WINK that he and his wife live "on social security and a little bit of pension," and put the loss at about two months of income.

Two elements of this are confirmed here independently rather than taken from the reporting.

The first is the company's public front. As of Wednesday evening the address kellyroofing.com no longer resolves to a working site. It returns a hosting message reading "This Account has been suspended," with a link to the host. A suspended account is not a legal status and does not establish anything about the company's finances, but it is consistent with a business that has stopped operating rather than one that is trading through a dispute.

The second is the corporate record, and it is more substantial than the closure itself.

Records held by the Florida Division of Corporations show that the entity that carried the Naples operation, Kelly Roofing, L.L.C., document number L03000018206, was filed on May 20, 2003 and lists its principal address as 1360 Rail Head Boulevard in Naples, the address the business has traded from. Its status is INACTIVE. The last event recorded against it is a corporate merger, filed on August 11, 2023. Its authorised persons are listed as Kenneth Kelly and Gregory Q. Schorr.

The entity of that name still carrying an ACTIVE status is a different one. Kelly Roofing FLL, LLC, document number L20000105715, was filed on April 20, 2020, and since a change recorded on July 31, 2024 it lists its principal and mailing address as 8000 Belfort Parkway, Suite 200, Jacksonville. Its listed manager is Brian W. Sullivan.

A third entity has changed its name. What was registered as Kelly Roofing Holdings, LLC, document number L16000227099, now appears in state records as Kelly Partners, LLC, with a principal address in The Villages and Kenneth Kelly as manager and registered agent.

Counting those three, a state records search returns at least six entities carrying the Kelly Roofing name, in Naples, Jacksonville and The Villages, some active and some inactive.

What that record establishes is that the corporate structure behind the Kelly Roofing name changed substantially well before this week, and that the Naples entity most customers would recognise stopped being a standing company after a merger filed nearly three years ago. What the record does not establish is any connection between that restructuring and the failure customers encountered this week, and this brief draws none. A merger filing in 2023 is an ordinary corporate event. It is reported here because the homeowners WINK interviewed were themselves unsure which company they had contracted with, and because the answer to that question determines who they can pursue.

Several limits on this brief should be stated plainly rather than left to inference.

WINK reported that customers said they were told the accounts had been frozen in connection with a fraud investigation. This publication has not confirmed the existence of any investigation with any law enforcement agency, regulator or court, and does not report one as fact. No charge has been filed against any person or entity named here so far as this publication has been able to establish, and no court or agency has made any finding of wrongdoing. WINK also reported the existence of earlier civil litigation involving Integrity Roofing and allegations over job costs. Allegations in civil pleadings are allegations, and nothing in them has been proven.

This publication has not obtained the letter sent to customers, has not spoken to the company, and has not verified the status or division of the contractor licence the work was performed under. Requests to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation licence database did not return a record within the time available for this brief. The dollar figures, the quotations from customers, and the account of the lender freezing the account are WINK's reporting and are credited to WINK.

The corporate records described above were read directly from the Florida Division of Corporations and are linked as the primary document for this brief. The recovery fund provisions summarised alongside this brief are taken from section 489.141 and section 489.143 of the Florida Statutes.

The original reporting is at winknews.com.