JACKSONVILLE, Fla – A Jacksonville-based roofing company at the center of an I-TEAM investigation is now coming under scrutiny from a second state agency. Carlson Enterprises, LLC is already being sued by the office of Florida's attorney general, and now faces possible fines and could lose its construction and roofing licenses.
The agency that regulates licensed contractors, Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, announced it filed 25 administrative complaints against Adolph W. Carlson, the CEO of Carlson Enterprises, The complaints allege a total of 53 violations of Florida laws related to construction businesses.
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According to the complaints, Carlson Enterprises took money from customers across the entire state, from Jacksonville to Sarasota, but stopped working on the jobs for more than 90 days. Additionally, the state alleges that when each of the jobs was abandoned, the percentage completed was less than the percent of the contract price which the customer had paid to Carlson Enterprises.
Two of the complaints additionally claim that Carlson Enterprises failed to pull required permits within 30 days of accepting a deposit, and one accuses the company of not notifying a consumer of their rights under the Florida Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund.
In April, the state sued Carlson Enterprises, alleging violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The lawsuit sought to force the company to return money to customers whose jobs weren't completed. Later, a judge froze the company's assets, so that customers could potentially get that money back.
Carlson has filed a motion to have the state's lawsuit dismissed, but no ruling has been made on that motion yet.
One of the complaints filed by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation involves an Orange Park day care damaged in Hurricane Irma.
Patricia Tauch told the I-TEAM that she had paid Carlson Enterprises more than $16,000 in November, 2017 to have the day care's roof repaired. The company promised to start work the following month, but then employees stopped returning her calls. The state's complaint alleges Carlson abandoned the job.
In the administrative complaints, regulators ask the state's Construction Industry Licensing Board to impose penalties on Carlson Enterprises that could include probation, a reprimand, revocation or suspension of the license or a fine of up to $10,000 per violation.
Carlson has 21 days from the receipt of the complaints to ask state regulators for a hearing.
The attorney general's office said that Carlson Enterprises had active offices in Daytona, Orlando and Tampa, in addition to the Jacksonville office.
If you have a complaint against Carlson Enterprises, LLC, you can file complaints with the following organizations and agencies: