As a custom home builder in the State of Florida, I’ve always felt it to be very important to actively participate in the Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA) and the Northeast Florida Builders Association (NEFBA), two organizations that each represent the industry’s interests with the state legislature and local government entities in Florida. I have been a member of the FHBA for more than 15 years and have served in a variety of leadership roles culminating with my tenure as President in 2020.

The ultimate goal of the FHBA is to protect the Florida home building industry from overregulation so that building affordable housing remains possible. Our membership spans the scope of the home building industry, from general contractors and subcontractors to mortgage bankers and material suppliers. During my time as President, the COVID pandemic hit our country hard and threatened to shut down our statewide home building industry as it did many other businesses in Florida. The priority of our legislative team was clear. We needed to convince the Governor’s office to designate the building industry as an “essential service” so that our industry could continue to be operational during any shutdown that might occur. Fortunately, thanks to the great work of our legislative team and the support of Governor DeSantis, we were able to accomplish that mission during my time as President. Our industry remained open by enforcing reasonable health and safety precautions, which is in stark contrast to many other states where the home building industry was either partially or fully shut down for many months.

A second notable achievement during my time as President was our efforts to preserve the 2020 Southeast Builders Conference in Orlando. This important annual industry event attracts hundreds of construction industry leaders and government regulators throughout Florida and provides a forum for discussion on a broad range of industry issues. Since large group meetings like this one were not possible during the pandemic, our leadership team and event organizers had to get creative in order to transform the conference from an “in person” event to a “virtual” event. Thanks to the efforts of everyone involved in planning and implementing the program, the conference went on as planned virtually, enabling participants to continue interactions with their colleagues during a particularly difficult economic period.

In order for the Florida building industry to survive the pandemic and even thrive, we had to change the way we did business. One adaptation was to the health and safety requirements on the job site. We also had to adapt to a variety of labor and supply chain issues, including lumber and other material shortages and increased supply cost which are still challenging today. The Florida home building industry is a close-knit family and with the help of our members and the support of state regulatory officials, we managed to ride out the storm and come back strong to what is today a healthy housing market in our state.

Thank you for your past support. I’m honored to have served as President of the Florida Homebuilders Association.

Michael Bourré

President, Bourré Construction Group

Fleming Island, FL