Can a Roofer Put a Lien on Your House? Florida's Construction Lien Law, Explained

Repair & InsurancePublished August 18, 2026

A roofing company you already paid in full just collapsed, and now a supplier is threatening to put a lien on your home for a bill you never saw. That is not a hypothetical. It is happening right now to homeowners in Southwest Florida, and the law behind it applies statewide, including here in Central Florida.

This is general information about how Florida’s lien law works, not legal advice. If you have an active lien on your property, talk to a Florida construction attorney about your specific situation.

What Just Happened in Florida

According to WINK News Investigates, Kelly Roofing, a Collier County contractor with more than 40 years in business, went insolvent roughly two weeks ago. Material suppliers who were never paid by the company are now filing mechanic’s liens directly against homeowners’ properties, including homeowners who paid Kelly Roofing in full before the collapse. A follow-up report about a week later found the company’s former owner buying back its debt specifically to resolve those liens.

Kelly Roofing was a licensed, long-standing company, not a fly-by-night operation. That’s the part worth sitting with. Before the collapse, the company’s parent group had also absorbed Integrity Roofing and Gutters in Central Florida and Reliant Roofing near Jacksonville, so this isn’t a story confined to Naples. It’s a reminder that a roofing company’s financial stability, not just its reputation or years in business, matters to your risk as a homeowner.

How a Lien Can Land on Your Property Even After You Paid

Florida’s Construction Lien Law (Chapter 713, Florida Statutes) gives subcontractors and material suppliers the right to file a claim of lien directly against your property if the general contractor never pays them, even when you already paid the general contractor in full. The law exists to protect suppliers and subcontractors from getting stiffed by a contractor who took the homeowner’s money and didn’t pass it along. The trade-off is that the risk can land on you.

Here’s the mechanic behind it, in plain terms. You pay your roofer. Your roofer is supposed to pay the material supplier and any subcontractors out of that payment. If the roofer pockets the money instead, or simply runs out of it before paying everyone, the supplier can still go after the property where the materials were installed. Your canceled check to the roofing company isn’t a shield against that lien on its own.

What Protects You Before You Sign

A few practical steps lower this risk substantially, and none of them cost anything beyond a little time upfront.

Verify the contractor’s license is active through the Florida DBPR/CILB license search before you sign anything. A license in good standing is a baseline, not a guarantee, but a lapsed or suspended one is an immediate red flag. Ask direct questions about how long the company has operated under its current ownership and structure; a roofer that recently changed hands or merged with another company carries more financial-stability risk than one that’s been steady for years.

Understand the Notice of Commencement your contractor should file before work starts. It’s a public record of the project, and it’s part of what protects your ability to track who’s owed what. Before you make a final payment, ask for lien releases or waivers from the subcontractors and suppliers who worked on your job, not just a receipt from the general contractor. And consider structuring payments around completed work rather than handing over a large deposit upfront; a payment schedule tied to milestones gives you more leverage if something goes wrong midway through the job.

Why This Matters More for a Bigger Job Like a Full Reroof

A small repair involves a handful of materials and maybe one subcontractor. A full reroof is a different scale of exposure. Panels, underlayment, fasteners, flashing, and often a specialty crew all get ordered and paid for as one project, which means more supplier and subcontractor relationships sitting between your payment and the people who actually need to get paid. The bigger the job, the more that payment chain matters, and the more a lien claim can affect.

Documentation cuts both ways here. The same paperwork that supports a wind-mitigation insurance discount, permit records, product approvals, and proof of a properly documented install, also gives you a clear record of who did the work and what was paid for. Our insurance savings guide covers that documentation from the discount side; the same habits of asking for paperwork apply to protecting yourself from lien exposure.

Serving Palm Bay and the Space Coast

We’re headquartered right in Palm Bay, and every reroof we do is permitted, documented, and built under one license: FL License CCC1337805. That means one point of accountability for the whole job, not a chain of subcontractors you’ve never met. Our Palm Bay metal roofing page covers local permitting and the neighborhoods we serve across Brevard County.

Request a free estimate or call (321) 988-6900 to talk through your project before you sign with anyone.