Jacksonville roofer surrenders license after more than a year of accusations

The CEO of Jacksonville-based roofing company Carlson Enterprises agreed to surrender his licenses in Florida after more than a year of accusations.

An Action News Jax Investigation in Oct. 2017 was the first to expose a string of accusations against the company.

On Tuesday, 64 customers who filed claims with the Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation got a big yellow envelope in their mailboxes to notify them about the development.

Jennifer May was one of those customers.

She and her cats finally have a safe roof over their heads a year-and-a-half after Hurricane Irma damaged it.

She said her insurance paid Carlson Enterprises more than $7,000, but the company never did the work on her home, which is in Jacksonville’s Sans Souci neighborhood.

“So, we ended up having to find another roofer. And I had to replace the insurance money, plus pay my deductible,” said May.

CEO Adolph Carlson’s settlement with the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board does not require him to pay restitution.

It's possible a judge could order the company to pay up as a result of pending lawsuits from the Florida Attorney General's Office and individual customers.

If customers are unable to get money from Carlson, they may be able to get it from the Florida Homeowners Construction Recovery Fund.

It’s a last resort fund paid for by contractors’ licensing fees.

“This is the one piece of information that we were waiting for as homeowners, to be able to file the last piece of the claim with the recovery fund. My concern is, I don’t know how much money is in the recovery fund,” said May.

She’s right to be concerned.

The fund caps the maximum total payout to customers of a single roofer at $150,000.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit accuses Carlson Enterprises of stealing far more than that from Florida homeowners: more than half a million dollars.

The fund also caps the amount each homeowner can recover at $15,000.

That means the race is on for customers to apply to the recovery fund.

The payouts are handled on a first-come first-served basis; once that $150,000 cap is reached, the next people in line are out of luck.

Cox Media Group