Former owner buys back debt of "insolvent" Kelly Roofing to fix unfinished jobs, resolve liens

NAPLES, Fla. (WINK) — Weeks after the sudden collapse of a longtime Collier County roofing company left homeowners with unfinished roofs and thousands of dollars in limbo, the company’s former owner is stepping in to purchase its debt and revive the brand.

Kelly Roofing, a fixture in Southwest Florida for decades, abruptly closed its doors recently after management announced it could no longer meet its financial obligations.

Ken Kelly, whose father founded the company, told WINK Investigates he retired three years ago after selling much of the business to private equity firm Monument MicroCap Partners six years ago. Now, Kelly is putting his own money on the line to buy back the company's assets and debt to restore operations.

"I wanted to take care of my employees, my customers, and my vendor relationships," Kelly said. "I spent my whole life building [it]; it’s just not fair to them."

Financial strain and frozen accounts

The closure followed rapid regional expansion under Monument MicroCap Partners. The firm added several brands to its portfolio, including Integrity Roofing and Gutters in Central Florida, J&J Quality Builders near West Palm Beach, and Reliant Roofing in Jacksonville.

According to Kelly, performance issues across the broader portfolio and a legal dispute between Kelly Roofing and Chantelle Flores, founder of Integrity Roofing and Gutters, triggered a financial squeeze. The company's lender ultimately froze its accounts after it failed to meet debt covenants—key financial metrics measuring assets, liabilities, and working capital.

"What I believe happened is we simply had a fallout with the lender, the bank that was loaning us money to fund this operation," Kelly said. "They decided to tighten down their credit and caused the company to go out of covenants... and once that happened, they froze all of our assets, including our bank accounts."

Homeowners and vendors left in limbo

The sudden freeze created immediate hardship for customers across the region.

Some homeowners who requested refunds received checks that bounced when accounts were locked. Andrew Aste, who has a fixed income, said losing his deposit dealt a significant financial blow.

"We live on Social Security and a little bit of pension," Aste said. "This is like two months of income for us."

On other homes, work ground to a halt midway through construction. To make matters worse, material suppliers such as ABC Supply Co. began placing mechanics' liens on homeowners' properties to recover costs for unpaid roofing materials.

"It seems like the only person that's not protected in this is the customer," said North Naples homeowner Barry Stivers.

Subcontractors and vendors were also impacted. A former contracted Chief Marketing Officer for the overarching portfolio said she is owed more than $25,000 for unpaid work.

"To see everything go down like this was so disappointing," she said, asking to remain anonymous. "I was treated on the communication front just ghosted and continued to work for a month unpaid in good faith."

The path forward

Kelly clarified that he did not reacquire the business through equity, but instead purchased its debt and assets. His plan is to strip away the regional expansion, downsize operations, and refocus solely on Southwest Florida.

He said his immediate priority is clearing the backlog of abandoned jobs and honoring signed customer agreements.

"Our immediate plan is to get up on the roofs and start working on any jobs that were left open," Kelly said. "For any customers that had given us a proposal... and a deposit, well, I’ve acquired those, too. So our job is to get back and finish what we promised we would do, albeit a three-week delay."

Acknowledging the reputational damage the company suffered during its collapse, Kelly apologized to affected customers and expressed optimism about rebuilding trust in the community over the coming weeks.

"I apologize to any of the customers who went through this, and I appreciate their understanding," Kelly said. "We are going to come out of this bigger and better than before."