Evolve Construction Lawsuit: Complaints, Criminal Charges, Civil Cases

The Evolve Construction lawsuit picture is not a single case but a cluster of them: 68 Better Business Bureau complaints over three years, 66 consumer complaints filed with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, a Michigan license revocation and $50,000 fine against the company’s listed CEO, a California enforcement action that ended with him surrendering his adjuster license, and a Minnesota criminal case in which the company’s founder pleaded guilty to intentional property damage. Homeowners in at least six states have accused the Florida-based storm-repair company of taking insurance checks and deposits for roofing and siding work that never got done.

What Homeowners Are Alleging

The complaints follow a similar shape from state to state. In Florida, homeowners told the state Attorney General’s Office that Evolve collected close to $80,000 in deposits for Hurricane Ian-related siding work that was never completed.¹ A Clarksville, Tennessee, veteran said he paid Evolve roughly $6,400 in February 2025 for storm-damage repairs and, a year later, had no work done and no responses to his messages.²

In Fairway, Kansas, Jules Kellogg told FOX4 that an Evolve representative took her insurance check with a promise to place it in escrow. Her insurer confirmed the check was cashed in October 2024. By April 2025 her roof was still not repaired, and Kellogg said the signature on the back of the check did not match the name on the representative’s business card.³

In Oklahoma, Caryn and Paul Franson signed a roof-replacement contract with Evolve in November 2024. No work began. After local news coverage of their case, they received an email from the company titled “Breach of Contract” that warned of imminent legal action and demanded $13,000.⁴ Evolve’s contract with the Fransons carried no roofing registration number; the company was not approved for roofing registration in Oklahoma until December 2024, a month after the contract was signed.⁵

The Evolve and NICA Connection

A recurring thread in the regulatory files is the alleged undisclosed link between Evolve Construction and Nationwide Insurance Claims Advocates, a public adjusting firm known as NICA. Public adjusters negotiate insurance claims for policyholders, and in many states they are barred from holding a financial interest in the contractor that does the repair work. Regulators in Michigan, California, and Texas have all looked at whether Evolve and NICA shared ownership without telling customers.²

Michigan regulators identified at least 12 instances in which consumers signed public-adjusting contracts with NICA after being approached by people who said they worked with Evolve.⁶ Homeowners believed they had hired an independent adjuster to fight for them with the insurer; the regulator’s finding was that the adjuster and the contractor shared financial interests.

Regulatory Actions Against the Company’s Listed CEO

Aleksandr Guldshtadt, also known as Alex Gold, is identified in Florida corporate filings as CEO of Evolve Construction & Restoration. Evolve representatives have disputed this and called the filing “an error,” but investigators in Michigan and California relied on those records to link him to the company.²

Michigan: License Revoked, $50,000 Fine

On November 3, 2025, the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services summarily suspended Guldshtadt’s insurance adjuster license, citing an emergency need to protect the public. The agency found he had diverted clients’ insurance settlement proceeds to Evolve, in which he held a financial interest; used unlicensed affiliates to solicit public-adjusting contracts that were misrepresented as repair agreements; charged fees over Michigan’s 10% legal limit; and negotiated insurance checks without proper homeowner endorsements. Guldshtadt did not request a hearing, and on April 1, 2026, the agency issued a final order revoking his license and imposing a $50,000 civil fine.⁷

California: Adjuster License Surrendered

The California Department of Insurance filed a separate enforcement action against Guldshtadt and NICA, seeking to revoke their public adjuster licenses and to reject an application from Guldshtadt’s wife, Evghenia Gaiju, for allegedly aiding the scheme. Investigators alleged that Guldshtadt held undisclosed financial interests in several contractors hired with client insurance funds, including Evolve, CalMaster Restoration, and WD Contractor Services. The state pointed to a claim submitted for an Eaton fire victim that totaled $215,865 and included a charge for removing creosote from a chimney that did not exist.⁸

The California matter was resolved through a stipulated order in which Guldshtadt agreed to surrender his license, pay a $10,000 fine jointly with NICA, and stay out of the insurance business for 10 years.⁶ Guldshtadt denied the allegations in May 2025, telling reporters that “there is not a single victim that lost any money due to our work.”⁸

Criminal Case Against Founder Jay Zaabri

Jaser “Jay” Zaabri, founder and CEO of Evolve Holdings (the parent entity of Evolve Construction & Restoration), was charged in 2024 in Hennepin County, Minnesota, with one count of first-degree property damage and five counts of insurance fraud. Prosecutors alleged that in 2022 Zaabri used his cell phone to intentionally damage property during home inspections to inflate insurance payouts, with potential payouts of up to $86,000.⁹

In September 2025, Zaabri pleaded guilty to a single gross-misdemeanor count of third-degree damage to property. The insurance fraud charges were dismissed. He was sentenced to probation, ordered to complete 180 hours of community service in California, where he lives, and required to pay restitution. He is barred from any construction or insurance-related work in Minnesota during probation. The conviction will be downgraded to a misdemeanor if he completes his community service and complies with all court orders.⁹

Civil Litigation

In March 2024, Dallas County homeowner Bosko Katic sued Evolve Construction, NICA, and Zaabri, alleging that an Evolve sales representative sold him roof-repair services and simultaneously signed him up for NICA’s public-adjusting services without disclosing that the two entities were commonly owned. The petition alleged no work was performed for a year and that two-party insurance checks were cashed without the homeowner’s signature. The plaintiff filed a notice of nonsuit on April 18, 2024, and the case was dismissed with prejudice.¹⁰

In March 2026, Evolve filed suit as plaintiff in Orange County, Florida, bringing a breach-of-contract action against 22 former contractors in a case styled Evolve Construction LLC v. Plunkett, Samuel et al. (Case No. 2026-CA-002609-O). That dispute concerns independent contractor agreements, not homeowner claims.¹¹

How Evolve Responds

Evolve runs a “Trust & Transparency Center” on its website and attributes disputes to insurance misunderstandings, cancellation timing, permit delays, mortgage-company procedures, and confusion between the roles of contractors and public adjusters. The company says it operates strictly as a contractor and that any public adjusters work under separate, independent agreements with homeowners.⁶

Cancellation is where several disputes have concentrated. Evolve says its contracts offer a free cancellation window of three to 10 days, after which a $10,000 “Stage 1” pre-approval fee and a percentage-based “Stage 2” fee apply. Michigan regulators flagged at least one instance where a customer was charged $5,567, which was 35% of the total insurance claim, despite no work being performed.⁶ When customers have posted negative reviews online, Evolve has in some cases responded with threats of defamation and breach-of-contract lawsuits, citing non-disparagement clauses in its customer agreements.²

If You’ve Already Paid Evolve

Investigations are still open. The Clarksville Police Department and the National Insurance Crime Bureau have both confirmed they are investigating Evolve in connection with the Tennessee veteran’s complaint.² The same homeowner filed complaints with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, the Federal Trade Commission, and Tennessee Consumer Affairs, and those channels are open to anyone in a similar situation. Homeowners in Florida can file with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, which has already received 66 complaints tied to the company.¹ Evolve continues to list active operations across roughly 20 states and six Canadian provinces on its website.¹²

1
WINK News. Evolve Construction Faces 66 Complaints Over Unfinished Work
2
Clarksville Now. Clarksville Veteran Ghosted by Repair Contractor Who Has Similar Complaints in Five Other States
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FOX 4 Kansas City. Fairway Woman Concerned Roofing Company Scammed Her
4
KFOR. Construction Company Threatens Legal Action Against Metro Couple
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Yahoo News. Roofing Company Speaks on Being Accused
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Roofing Insights. Jay Zaabri’s Website Tells One Story, Public Records Tell Another
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Michigan DIFS. Order in the Matter of Aleksandr Guldshtadt, Case No. 25-18350
8
Daily News. Encino Insurance Adjuster Tried to Scam Eaton Fire Victims and Others, State Alleges
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FOX 9. Contractor Pleads Guilty to Intentional Property Damage as Part of Hail Insurance Claim
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UniCourt. Katic v. Evolve Construction LLC et al.
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Trellis Law. Evolve Construction LLC vs. Plunkett, Samuel et al.
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Evolve Construction. Evolve Construction Home Page