Boca Towers Condo Remodel

Here are pictures to a remodel that I completed in mid August. The condo was in the Boca Towers, and had breathtaking views of both the ocean and intracoastal waterway. One day while at work I glanced out to the ocean and noticed a small center console boat that was moored up to one of the buoys slightly off shore. I called my friend because I was thinking that it looked a lot like his boat, and low and behold, my friend was out there diving at the reef! It is really almost nearly impossible to beat the location and views of this condo. 

For this particular unit, we re-did the entire kitchen, all floors, both bathrooms, and framed down the entire ceiling. This unit had the old-school popcorn ceilings. There are two methods of fixing the popcorn ceiling - one is to scrape the old popcorn and then skim-coat the ceiling with drywall compound. The other is to frame down the ceiling with 1-5/8"metal and then drywall the ceiling. We opted to do the latter, which is more costly and takes much more time. The reason the homeowner chose to take this route, is because if you frame down the ceiling, you are able to conceal all wiring to any fans or light fixtures. 

The cabinets we installed are Omega, the counter top and backsplash are both Quartz, and the flooring is a 24" x 24" porcelain tile that mimics marble. The place ended up coming out beautiful and the homeowner was satisfied with the turnout. This job took approximately ten weeks to complete from the issuance of the permit.

Single Family Residence Remodel

Here are pictures to a one-story remodel that I completed back in August. We took this 1,700 sf house and put a new 5v crimp metal roof on it, we re-did the entire kitchen, both bathrooms, all flooring throughout, and basically gave every square inch of the house a little bit of love. The job turned out looking great and came in right at the budgeted amount. 

My Story from the Horses Mouth

Hello to whoever is willing to read this,

My name is Brian, and I am a young professional that has been trying to make a dent in the construction industry in the south Florida region for several years now. I am originally from Long Beach, New York, but I have been living in Boca Raton since I was in kindergarten, so I like to consider myself a true Floridian. I have a Bachelor's of Science and a Masters degree in Building Construction from the M.E. Rinker School of Building Construction in Gainesville, Florida. Yes, Go Gators!! I graduated in December of 2010 with the masters degree and upon graduation moved back to the south Florida region in anticipation of finding a job. Due to the state of the economy back in 2011, I had a tough time landing a job in the construction industry, especially in south Florida, because the housing collapse had such a great effect on the number of construction jobs that were available. When the economy got turned upside down, the banks stopped lending money, the value of real estate plummeted, and all of these things directly effected the quantity of jobs in my sector. I managed to get a job on the west coast of Florida in Sarasota for a painting and waterproofing company. I packed up my bags and away I went. My stay in Sarasota was short-lived, thankfully, and within 3 months of the move, I got offered another job with a large company in the Ft. Lauderdale area. I moved back to the east coast, and worked on the Seminole Casino of Coconut Creek for almost a year. From there I transitioned to a multi-family company, and built two 384+ unit apartment complexes, and worked as an Assistant Project Manager for the company.

When I was back at the University of Florida, my dad suggested to me that I take the General Contractor's licensing exam while I was still in "study mode." I still thank him to this day for pushing me to take the exam, because having this license has opened up a few doors that would have otherwise been closed. After working for almost three years building apartment complexes, I was granted an opportunity to go on my own and I have since opened up Beach to Bay Custom Builders Corp back in May of this year.

After having experience now for about six months operating my company, I have to say that things are different from what I was expecting, but definitely in a good way. Whenever anyone thinks of working for themselves and not having a boss, the first thing that you think is, 'nice, now I don't have to report to a boss, I'm going to work less hours, this is going to be pretty cool!' This thought process is actually a fallacy, because in reality I have actually been working harder, and trying to go above and beyond to maintain a positive reputation among my clients. I feel that it is more rewarding have a chance to run jobs and be on site on a daily basis and to see things coming together through your direction and managing.

At this point, you might be asking yourself, 'so what exactly is the point of this blog?' Well the idea to begin this blog was begat on a late weekend night a few weeks ago. I was conversing with a few friends, and one of them suggested that I begin to document the progress of the jobs that I have going on and to provide some insight on construction-related procedures and techniques that some of you readers may take an interest in. Also, I will try and offer suggestions on certain types of finishes, and provide you, the reader, with specifications on some of the finishes that go into the projects, just in case you like what you see.

I hope you enjoy the blog! If you have any questions on anything please send me an email and I would be happy to answer!!!