A Florida homeowner thought she was agreeing to a personal loan for air-conditioning work.
Months later, she says she discovered something much more serious: a lien connected to the Jacksonville home she had already sold.
“They caught me hook, line and sinker,” 76-year-old Mary Bennett-Harvey told The Florida Trib, which published a sweeping investigation Tuesday into Florida licensed contractor complaints and the difficulty consumers can face even when they follow one of the state’s most common pieces of advice — hire someone with a license. Read The Florida Trib investigation
The investigation focuses on allegations involving two home-repair companies, Lickety Split Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electrical and Florida Roof Specialists, which does business through Minorcan Construction Group.
Both have been the subject of consumer complaints, while state licensing records show contractors associated with the businesses holding current, active Florida licenses.
The companies have not been found liable for all of the consumer allegations described in the investigation. Florida Roof Specialists has denied allegations that it participated in an unlawful scheme or routinely made false or misleading damage claims, according to court filings reviewed by The Florida Trib. Lickety Split did not respond to repeated interview requests from the publication.
Jacksonville homeowner says $20,000 repair led to unexpected home-equity debt
Bennett-Harvey told The Florida Trib she contacted Lickety Split in May 2025 after receiving a mailed coupon for an air-conditioning inspection.
She said workers told her the ductwork for both systems in her Arlington home needed to be replaced at a cost of about $20,000.
When she said she could not afford that price, Bennett-Harvey said she was offered financing and signed documents on an iPad. She told the publication she believed she was getting a personal loan.
Instead, she said, she later learned the financing was tied to her home.
Bennett-Harvey sold the property in October 2025 and said she did not learn until June 2026 that there was a lien on the house, according to the investigation.
Her case is not the only complaint surrounding the Jacksonville-area company.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office told The Florida Trib it is investigating 92 consumer complaints involving Lickety Split. The Better Business Bureau currently lists more than 100 complaints against the company over the last three years, although BBB complaints represent consumer allegations and are not by themselves findings of wrongdoing.
Florida’s official licensing database lists Thomas Wayne Noland under Lickety Split Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electrical with a current, active certified electrical contractor license scheduled to expire in August 2028.
Pinellas homeowner says roofing dispute ended with a lien and $21,000 lawsuit
The investigation also details the case of May Kurimai, an 86-year-old Pinellas County homeowner, who said a Florida Roof Specialists salesman approached her in 2023 and told her he could see storm damage on her roof.
Kurimai said she agreed to the work after being told she would pay her $2,500 insurance deductible and that the contractor would accept the amount paid by her insurer.
But the dispute did not end there.
According to The Florida Trib, Kurimai later faced disputed charges and, in January 2025, was sued for about $21,000 while a lien was placed on her home.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office has separately sued Florida Roof Specialists and related company Minorcan Construction Group after receiving hundreds of consumer complaints.
As of July 17, the office had received 209 complaints, according to The Florida Trib. On July 24, state lawyers asked a judge for an injunction that would stop the company from operating while the case proceeds, citing what they described in court filings as an increasing number of allegedly improper liens and foreclosure actions against consumers.
Florida Roof Specialists has denied the state’s allegations in court.
There has also been movement in Kurimai’s individual case. The investigation reported that the company recently said her invoice had been paid and the lien would be removed. Florida Roof Specialists filed a motion on Aug. 17 seeking to dismiss its lawsuit against her and remove the lien.
Why the state license matters
The cases raise a question that could concern homeowners across Florida: How much protection does a state contractor license actually provide?
Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, or DBPR, licenses contractors and can discipline or suspend licenses for certain violations.
But The Florida Trib found that the licensing and renewal process does not automatically disqualify a contractor simply because the company has accumulated consumer complaints or is involved in litigation.
DBPR told the publication that it has limited resources and tries to direct them toward protecting the safety, health and welfare of Floridians. The agency did not answer the publication’s detailed questions about the two companies before the investigation was published.
State records reviewed Wednesday show Minorcan Construction Group, doing business as Florida Roof Specialists, associated with current, active certified building and roofing contractor licenses.
That distinction matters in a state where hurricanes, aging homes and a large retiree population create a steady demand for roofing, air-conditioning, plumbing and other expensive repairs.
A license can verify that a contractor has met state requirements. It does not guarantee that every transaction involving that contractor will be free of disputes.
What Florida homeowners can check before signing
The investigation highlights several precautions consumers can take before committing to expensive work: look beyond the license number, check complaint histories and court records, get a written estimate, insist on receiving complete copies of anything being signed and slow down when a salesperson pressures for an immediate decision.
Consumers can verify contractors through the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and review complaint information from multiple sources rather than relying solely on a company’s advertisements or the fact that it holds a state license.
The Attorney General’s case against Florida Roof Specialists remains pending, and its investigation involving complaints against Lickety Split has not resulted in a finding that the company committed the alleged misconduct.
For the homeowners already fighting loans, liens or lawsuits, however, the larger question raised by the investigation remains unresolved: whether seeing a Florida license number gives consumers the level of reassurance they think it does.
