Chad Shirley Is Not a Licensed Contractor… He Ripped Me Off

The Sinking Ship

To understand Chad Shirley’s business model, you can’t start with the handshake and the smile. You have to start two decades earlier, in 1997, with a bankruptcy filing. This wasn’t just a stumble; it was the first chapter in a long story of financial desperation, a story that would come to define his “career” as a contractor.

A contractor’s business is built on trust and stability. Chad, it seems, had neither.

The real pressure begins in the mid-2000s. A Contempt of Child Support charge in 2004, and another in 2005. These aren’t just line items; they are personal, legal obligations he’s failing to meet. The hole is getting deeper.

Then comes 2010, the year the facade truly cracks. The Georgia Department of Revenue hits him with a tax lien for $1,404 in April. In July, they hit him again for another $2,778. Suddenly, his company, “Metro Home Designs,” goes silent. Its Facebook page posts for the last time in August 2010 and is never heard from again.

This is the pivot. When a legitimate business fails under the weight of state tax liens, what’s left? A contractor needs cash, and he needs it fast—before the state, his debtors, or his family obligations can lay claim to it.

From this point, the story accelerates into a full-blown spiral. The legal filings paint a picture not of a businessman, but of a man on the run.

• 1992: Driving without a license.
• 2003: Driving on suspended license.
• 2004: Contempt for failure to pay child support.
• 2005: Contempt for failure to pay child support.
• 2007: Driving vehicle with suspended or revoked registration, resulting in a bench warrant.
• 2011: Contempt for failure to pay child support.
• 2012: Sued for failure to pay rent.
• 2013: Knowingly driving on a suspended registration.
• 2014: Contempt for failure to pay child support.(July).
• 2014: Driving with an expired driver’s license.
• 2014: Contempt for failure to pay child support. (September).
• 2015: Contempt for failure to pay child support. (June).
• 2015: Evicted for failure to pay rent (July).
• 2015: Garnished for the money owed from the eviction (November).
• 2016: Contempt of Child Support. Arrears of $26,760.43 (excluding interest), resulting in an arrest for contempt.
• 2017: Failure and refusal to pay TD Auto Finance LLC, amount owed:  $17,115.86 (principle), $1,112,27 (interest), and $1,736.58 (legal fees).
• 2018: Failure to pay rent, $3,802.31 (back payments) + legal fees and an additional $39.93 per day up to the date of judgement or vacancy.
• 2019: Contempt for failing to pay child support resulting in DHS intervention and order non-compliance and arrest.
• 2019: Failure to pay rent.
• 2020: Violated the Family Violence Act, resulting in 12-month protective order and order to vacate family home.
• 2020: Garnishment of wages in relation to 2017 case brought by TD Auto Finance LLC.

He is a man living judgment-to-judgment, eviction-to-eviction. He can’t keep a roof over his own head, yet his entire livelihood depends on convincing clients to trust him with theirs.

This is the motivation. This is the “why.” Every new client, every deposit, isn’t a “project”—it’s a patch. It’s a desperate cash grab to plug one of the many holes in a sinking ship before the water swamps him. The money isn’t for materials, labor, or permits. It’s for the last crisis: the overdue rent, the outstanding lien, the child support he’s in contempt for.

Then comes the climax.

On September 15, 2017, Chad Shirley is served. TD Auto Finance LLC is suing him for $20,201.01. This isn’t a small lien or a missed rent payment; it’s a five-figure torpedo. He knows the game. Court records show he fails to even appear, and TD Auto Finance wins by default.

But it’s what happens between those dates that tells the real story.

Just four days after being served for over $20,000, on September 19, 2017, Chad Shirley walks into a new client’s home. He gives the pitch, he makes the promises, and he collects their deposit.

Knowing the $20,000 lawsuit is waiting for him, knowing he has no intention of even showing up to court, that deposit is no longer a down payment. It is, as the client later realized, an act of sheer desperation. He isn’t building a business; he’s just trying to stay afloat until the next wave hits.