Ken Kelly Buys Back Kelly Roofing's Debt and Assets After Shutdown

What happened

Ken Kelly, whose father founded Kelly Roofing, has bought the debt and assets of the Naples, Florida, roofer, weeks after the company shut down when its lender froze its bank accounts. Kelly told WINK Investigates that he did not reacquire the business through equity. Roofing Contractor reported that he met with the team, negotiated with the bank and completed the purchase in less than a week, and that he is back in the president's seat. Neither Roofing Contractor nor WINK reported a purchase price.

The seller

Kelly Roofing has worked in Southwest Florida since 1972, replacing and repairing tile, shingle, metal and flat roofs on homes and commercial buildings, with gutters, skylights, insurance-claim work and Tesla Solar Roof installation alongside. It is a perennial name on Roofing Contractor's Top 100 list.

Monument MicroCap Partners, an Indianapolis private equity firm, closed a recapitalization of Kelly Roofing Holdings in September 2020, when Ken Kelly was the company's president. Three add-ons followed, in Jacksonville, Palm Beach County and Orlando. The last, Integrity Roofing & Gutters in January 2025, brought multifamily and commercial work in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, and by then Brian Sullivan was Kelly Roofing's chief executive.

The shutdown landed on customers. WINK reported that refund checks bounced once the accounts were locked, that work stopped midway on some roofs, and that supplier ABC Supply Co. began placing mechanics' liens on homeowners' properties to recover the cost of unpaid materials. Kelly attributes the collapse to performance problems across the wider portfolio and a legal dispute with Integrity's founder, which he says squeezed the company until it broke its debt covenants. "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," he said of the lender.

The buyer

Ken Kelly ran the family business for three decades and is a former winner of Roofing Contractor magazine's Contractor of the Year award. He told WINK he retired three years ago, after selling much of the business to Monument six years ago. Kelly Roofing announced on Aug. 7 that he had "officially reclaimed" the company. According to Roofing Contractor, the return began with a phone call from employees who feared they were about to lose their jobs.

"I wanted to take care of my employees, my customers, and my vendor relationships," Kelly said. "Our immediate plan is to get up on the roofs and start working on any jobs that were left open." Among the lessons he draws from private equity ownership, he told Roofing Contractor: "When the founder leaves, sometimes the soul of the organization leaves with it."

What this means for roofing owners

Kelly bought the debt and assets rather than reacquiring the entire business through equity, and he says the customer proposals and deposits came with them, which is what lets him take on the abandoned jobs. The lesson here for owners is specific: after closing, the brand answers to the platform's lender and to every company added later, because by Kelly's account it was trouble across the portfolio that broke the covenants. Who lends to the buyer, on what covenants, and across how many acquired businesses deserves as much scrutiny as the price. Our guide on whether to sell your roofing business to private equity covers the questions to ask before you sign.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with roofing businesses in Florida.

Own a roofing business with $5M–$100M in revenue? We’re glad to give you an honest read on what it’s worth and who would buy it — no pitch, no pressure. Get a free valuation.

Source: Roofing Contractor - https://www.roofingcontractor.com/articles/102540-ken-kelly-brings-a-founders-mentality-back-to-kelly-roofing