Two out of 50 top contractors ain't bad

Two Tampa Bay-based contractors appear on this year's “Big 50” list in the latest issue of Remodeling magazine: RKD Construction of Valrico and Rossi Construction in Tampa. Both firms make a strong case for continuing to stay in business at a time when new home building is rare.

RKD, owned by Ron Drummonds, largely relied on bank renovations, working over weekends when no tellers and customers were around. Unfortunately, banks began closing branches over the last two years and RKD went from $150,000 interior remodels to $5,000 maintenance jobs.

Now RKD is doing more kitchen and bath remodels, and is also buying foreclosed and short-sale homes to remodel and resell. Drummonds, who has an active real estate license, has cash reserves from when the market was booming as well as a credit line through a brokerage firm. “That helps us get a better price because we can close in one day,” he notes.

Meanwhile, Rossi Construction changed its mindset to go after small jobs now that might lead to big jobs later. Owner Jason Rossi now offers a 16-point “premier service program” for homeowners that covers just about everything from roof inspections to smoke-detector batteries for $150 plus material costs.

Another area in which Rossi specializes is working with the Veterans Administration to make homes more accessible to disabled veterans — something to think about this Memorial Day weekend.