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REVIEW SUMMARY
Who. Al Zichella
Organization. Florida Home Builders Association
Key. Remove the obstacles now to allow for future growth.
As politicians wail about cutting spending and taxes in the recession, they're quickly realizing what homebuilders have been saying all along: Growth really does pay for itself.
And looking back, bureaucrats and elected officials are also concluding that growth paid for a lot more than the roads, schools and parks that were built with extortionist taxes on homebuilders.
“Growth paid for everything,” says Al Zichella, the new president of the Florida Home Builders Association and longtime Gulf Coast builder.
You can bet Zichella will get a more welcome reception in Tallahassee than his predecessors ever did during the boom years.
With municipalities and anti-growth groups on their heels because of the recession, Zichella plans to push for legislation that will curtail excessive regulations that hinder growth. “Housing will lead us out of the recession,” he says.
That's the story of Florida.
Housing has always led the state out of previous recessions, but this time excessive regulations threaten to slow any recovery when it happens. Zichella's job will be to ease those burdens so the state can recover more fully.
Friends and colleagues say Zichella, 56, is well suited for the job because of his deep understanding of the industry, his passion for defending it against bureaucrats and his well-developed political connections. “Al is the right leader for the right time,” says colleague Michael Greenberg, the CEO of KD Merick & Co. in Naples.
State Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, says the priority for lawmakers is job creation. “The economy has forced various decision makers to ease up on some of the restrictions and obstacles to growth,” he says. “Jobs will be driven by growth.”
The builder's association now finds itself in the unusual position of being the toast of Tallahassee.
“I can tell you right now, for the first time, they need us more than we need them,” says Chuck Fowke, a Valrico homebuilder who is handing over the presidency of the association to Zichella. Fowke says he's never seen such a welcome in the 30 years he's been building homes in Florida and advocating for the industry.
A passionate advocate
Zichella is an outspoken opponent of what he sees as unfair taxes and regulations on homebuilders, a fact that has made him unpopular in Collier County government halls. Indeed, Collier has the highest taxes on new construction in the state, even after lowering so-called “impact fees” recently.
Under Zichella's leadership, the Collier Building Industry Association sued Collier County over its sky-high impact fees. The effort was unsuccessful because state law permitted these taxes, but it cemented Zichella's reputation as a confrontational leader.
Zichella says he was acting on behalf of his association members and he bristles at suggestions that he's not open to compromise. “I'm not out there tying cans to cars,” he says. Colleagues and friends say it's unfair to mistake Zichella's passion for the industry for a confrontational style.
One thing is certain: You know exactly what Zichella stands for and many find that attitude refreshing.
“It will sometimes get you in hot water with people who don't want to hear it like it is, but the reward for taking that risk is people trust you,” says Richter. “I think he's open to changing his mind, but he's not open to changing his principles.”
“Al understands how to compromise and he knows how to say I learned something new and changed my opinion,” says Greenberg. But you'd better be prepared to debate Zichella with facts. “He's a prolific reader,” Greenberg says. “He goes to the table educated about a topic.”
Fowke jokes that he has to pull out a dictionary before having a conversation with Zichella. “When I think of Al, I think of intelligence,” Fowke says. “He'll be a consensus builder.”
Expert builder
With WCI and other companies, Zichella built hotels, condominiums, commercial buildings and single-family homes. “The depth of his technical knowledge is significant,” Greenberg says.
Building large, complicated structures such as hotels and condominium towers requires working closely with professionals such as mechanical engineers, architects and other well-educated professionals. “He's a great delegator with accountability,” Greenberg says.
What's more, Zichella has always participated in industry functions, locally or statewide. “One of the things we all fail to appreciate is the people who volunteer to be the officers of statewide organizations invest a considerable amount of their personal and professional time,” Greenberg says.
Zichella says the builder's association takes a collegial approach in Tallahassee. “We've never been combative,” he says. “If you have a real problem, it'll get attention. As long as we have integrity, we will be able to make the case.”
Zichella plans to focus on big issues that affect the industry broadly, such as reforming the growth-management laws. “We're not there to lobby for a cheesy little deal that'll make our members richer,” he says.
For example, Zichella says it's not realistic to expect impact fees to be abolished without an alternative source of funding for essential services such as roads.
“I'd love to see a transfer fee on all real estate transactions to replace impact fees,” he suggests. That would spread the cost more fairly and raise more money for municipalities.
Fundamentally, Zichella is a builder who believes in the industry's altruistic concerns for communities. “He has a lot of old-school pride about that,” Greenberg says. “Al owns his work. There's a personal pride in everything he does.”
Builder outlook
The recession's toll on homebuilders and associated trades is staggering. Membership in the state builders' association fell from a high of about 21,000 in 2005 to 9,000 today.
“Unfortunately, I don't see the market changing enough in the next 12 months,” Zichella says. “But what I do see is a change in attitude in the marketplace.”
To put the recovery on solid footing, Zichella says existing-home sales need a banner year and the huge inventory of foreclosed homes needs to clear. In addition, builders need to regain access to bank credit, though that's not something the association can fix. “This is a federal problem,” Zichella says.
After supporting Bill McCollum in the Republican primary, the homebuilders association now supports Rick Scott for governor. “He speaks our language on those issues,” Zichella says.
Builders with cash, particularly publicly traded homebuilders with access to the capital markets, will likely be the ones to make the first moves. “You'll see people who bought right,” Zichella says.
The much-anticipated wave of Baby Boomer buyers in Florida has been interrupted but not arrested. “That's why it's so important for Florida to be competitive,” Zichella says.
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