Federal bankruptcy court proceedings regarding the now-defunct roofing company Lexington Blue revealed a piece of information that might have played a role in its downfall: the owner doesn’t know how to install a roof.

Lexington Blue went out of business in April, leaving hundreds of customers in Kentucky without proper roofing work. Owner and CEO Brad Pagel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June, but the proceedings have since changed to a Chapter 7 liquidation case.

According to reporting from the Lexington Herald-Leader, the company declared it owed at least $3.2 million to former customers and employees. During proceedings that took place Nov. 3, a homeowner questioned if Pagel felt responsible for customers like himself who paid $18,000 and still had a leaking roof. The homeowner’s attorney, Adrienne Southworth, said if Pagel cared about the homeowners, he could’ve fixed their roofs himself.

“Why don’t you, personally, bring your hammers and nails, and I will buy the roofing material,” Southworth said.

To this, Pagel admitted under oath that “I don’t know how to install roofs.”

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, during the meeting, Pagel shifted between boasting about building “the largest roofing company in the state of Kentucky” to ignorance about its financial details.

The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation into Lexington Blue earlier this year. According to the complaint, in 2024 alone, the company accepted $4.8 million in payments for more than 300 projects, the majority of which appeared to be unfulfilled.

More than 70 Kentucky consumers have filed reports with the Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection, with complaints of making deposits for roof construction projects that never occurred.

“We are constantly on guard against predatory organizations that try to take advantage of Kentuckians, and we will hold these bad actors accountable,” said Attorney General Coleman in a written statement. “We’re sending a strong message to scammers that they will face serious consequences when they operate within our Commonwealth.”

In the Nov. 3 meeting, when questioned, Pagel reportedly couldn’t verify company records, produce balance sheets or recall when he last reviewed correct financial statements. He instead relied on his general manager and financial director to keep him informed via quarterly meetings.

Pagel said that his business collapsed under its own weight, and expressed sympathy for the customers, but said he wasn’t “legally liable for an accidental business failure.”

Lexington Blue Timeline

It’s not entirely uncommon for a roofing company’s owner to not know the ins and outs of installing a roof, but it appears Lexington Blue was having problems paying the subcontractors who did.

In 2021, Lexington Blue completed over 7,500 projects, but later that year relied on “a series of high-interest MCA loans, initiating a cycle of aggressive repayment that quickly depleted the company’s cash flow,” according to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing as reported by NBC-affiliated LEX18.

In 2023, due to account freezes and check holds caused by switching banks as well as failures in collections and oversight, the company failed to pay vendors and subcontractors.

By 2024, vendors suspended credit and demanded repayment, and in 2025, customer complaints and requests for funds “overwhelmed customer service operations,” and layoffs began last February. By April, the company announced its closure.

In June 2025, the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office announced a court order to Lexington Blue to immediately cease operations and marketing while the office investigates its “alleged unlawful activity.”

The order prevents Lexington Blue and its operators from transferring or liquidating assets and freezes the defendant’s corporate and personal financials. In October, a judge ordered these assets, as well as those of other defendants, to remain frozen indefinitely.

In a separate court case, the Attorney General’s Office is suing the company, Brad and Courtney Pagel, as well as other employees, under Consumer Protection statutes.