Paul Beattie is the new voice of builders in Lee County. The owner of Beattie Development recently took the helm as president of the Lee County Building Industry Association.
“It is a great time to be a builder right now,” he said.
It’s also a great time to get involved in working together to enhance the industry, he says. That’s why Beattie’s top agenda item is to get more young builders active in the association. The BIA advocates with the city and state to help builders get the things they need to be successful such as timely permitting and inspections.
“I want to be the voice of all those builders right now,” Beattie said.
The upstate New York native, graduated from Clemson and worked for a big builder for a while before starting his own company in 2009.
“The recession hit and I decided to go out on my own,” he stated.
It wasn’t easy starting a business in the recession so had to readjust to meet the market needs. He started building more affordable homes aimed at providing housing for teachers, firefighters and police officers. But he found it hard to compete with the big name, national builders at the same price point. So while he still has his more affordable line of homes, he now concentrates more on the higher end construction. Beattie said right now he has more than 100 homes in progress ranging in price from $250,000 to $3.5 million. The father Reese and Ross named two of his models after his children.
“We have been lucky and blessed,” he says. “We have over 80 employees. Even in the pandemic, we have grown. The whole industry as a whole is seeing amazing times right now.”
As president of the BIA he wants to enhance these amazing times and help make the tough times easier for builders, sub-contractors and vendors. There are currently more than 420 BIA members, but Beattie, 40, says he needs to get younger builders on board.
“I just wanted to get more involved and try to get this younger generations, this new generation of builders, involved to show we can step up and keep this going,” Beattie said.
Richard Durling, a past president of the BIA, said younger builders like Beattie are just what the organization needs.
“He’s young,” Durling, 62, said. “They recycle presidents like myself that have been doing this for a long time. So we are excited. We are excited to see younger professionals get involved. This is important to keep the new generations continually joining in. We need young blood."
The BIA also needs members to help with its charity work. The group holds fundraisers such as the Bricks and Sticks Fishing Tournament set for June 3-5 at South Seas and the Hearts & Hammer Hold Em Poker Tournament on Friday, April 30 at the Fort Myers Event Center. Money raised goes to their Builder’s Cares program. Builder’s Cares renovates homes for local people in need. This past year they volunteered, with Lennar Homes, to do a total makeover of a Bonita Springs home for a family with five children. Their mother has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and had trouble living in a non-handicapped accessible home.
“That is one of the big things I want to do,” Beattie said. “Builders typically get a bad name. Builder’s Care is hurting because their fundraiser has been cancelled for two years.”
Their Bands, Barbecues and Brews event at Centennial Park typically raised about $100,000, but was canceled last year and this year due to the pandemic.
Durling believes Beattie will be successful with everything from membership to fundraising.
“He is very smart and he has a lot of energy so I think he is going to do an excellent job,” Durling said.
Beattie has already started to work on his goals.
“I was honored to be nominated and elected,” Beattie said. “It’s a nice honor to have.”
This is the home that Paul Beattie built for Matthias Pommerehne in Cape Coral. Pommerehne was looking for a modern European style home. Beattie traveled to Germany to look at architecture and innovations there in order to create the perfect home for his client.
This is the home that Paul Beattie built for Walter and Marianne Grasses in Cape Coral.
Paul Beattie, President
Beattie Development