Building Blocks

Building Blocks

Construction by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

A builder with 20 years experience in both Sarasota and Naples takes his views to Tallahassee.

In 2002, John Wiseman couldn't think of any reason not to run for the top elected spot in one of Florida's most well-known and powerful lobbying groups.

His wife, Tamela Eady Wiseman, was a politically active Naples city councilwoman at the time who also ran her own law firm. What's more, Wiseman, head of his own construction firm, often preached to his peers that they needed to be more active in the building community to combat those with opposing views.

Wiseman, a lifelong "sticks and bricks" guy whose appreciation for the industry began when he was 10 years old, moving block for masons during a construction project at the church where his father was a preacher, was looking to do more for his industry. So, essentially, running for president of the Florida Home Builders Association, a 21,000-member group, sounded good to him.

That was before Hurricane Charlie. Before a new set of strict building codes weaved its way through the Sunshine State's bureaucracy. Before homeowners insurance - or the lack thereof - became a growing albatross lingering over the industry. And before the run-up in home prices that pushed homebuilders to new profits brought new problems, such as the intensely debated affordable housing crisis.

Wiseman didn't expect the job to be cushy, and he's not regretting being elected president of the association for 2007, a job he officially began Oct. 14. Still, the challenges, Wiseman says, "are a lot more than I thought they were going to be when I decided to run four years ago,"

Wiseman, as well as Tamela, were both named to the Review's 40 Under 40 list of top young professionals in 2003. Wiseman, now 42, is the Florida president of CORE Construction, a national building firm that has offices in five states, including Illinois, Arizona and Texas. The Florida division of CORE has offices in Naples, Orlando and Sarasota, the last of which Wiseman recently relocated to.

Wiseman was previously president of Southern Gulf West Construction; the CORE name took over officially in 2003.

The Ohio-born Wiseman, who served in the U.S. Army reserve for six years as a military police officer, began working for the company as an assistant project manager after graduating from the University of Florida in 1987 with a degree in construction management. He hasn't worked for any other company.

The presidency of the FHBA is the continuation of Wiseman's other career as a voice for builders. He's the past chairman of the FHBA's governmental affairs committee and he's also been active in the Collier County Building Industry Association, holding all the top positions and being named the group's 2001 Builder of the Year. Wiseman also has worked on a national level with the National Association of Home Builders.

As he prepares for his year directing the efforts of the FHBA, Wiseman spoke with the Review about his positions on issues facing the homebuilding community, including property insurance and impact fees.

Impact Fees

Wiseman says impact fees are the dominant challenge facing the industry. The rise and frequency of those fees is a factor in several other issues, such as affordable housing, or what some have referred to as workplace housing.

For example, says Wiseman, there's a limited number of people who want to be a police officer in the first place, but if you are "charging him $50,000 just to start building a house, suddenly Georgia or South Carolina becomes more attractive."

In more general terms, Wiseman says it costs $150,000 in fees and outside costs just to get to the building phase for a $300,000 house now in certain parts of Florida, including several counties on the Gulf Coast.

"I think most local municipalities," Wiseman says, "whether it's county or city, it's the most politically accepted way to fund infrastructure."

That doesn't make it right though, Wiseman says.

He and the FHBA will continue to battle municipalities looking to raise impact fees, although in some cases it's been a losing battle - just look at Sarasota, Manatee and Collier counties. The FHBA is actively working against an inclusionairy zoning plan proposed in Tallahassee (See related story).

Property Insurance

The insurance issue is another one that, like impact fees, spreads out like a virus to impact the economy. Wiseman says he doesn't think there's one right answer or solution, but "we are trying to participate and deal with the problem."

One possibility, he says, is to have a catastrophic pool funded by the state or federal government. With a big pool, that can reduce the amount of wind coverage in a policy, for example. But for that to work on a large scale, Wiseman concedes, there would have to be a level of government involvement - which some, in and out of the industry, peg as one of the reasons behind the current problem.

"Homebuilders as a rule are big on property rights, private enterprise and keeping government out, but there comes a point in time when the government's got to get involved, where capitalism can no longer work," says Wiseman. "And when you start dealing with these huge loses and catastrophic events, I think that goes beyond what we can do. There has to be some vehicle so business people can measure and manage risk appropriately."

Presidential goals

One of Wiseman's goals, past lobbying for the previously mentioned big-picture issues, is to get the troops in the homebuilding trenches to become more involved. Not just in the association, he says, but in the communities they live and work in, to combat the negative image homebuilders sometimes have.

"Sometimes that's why we wear a black hat," he says. "We don't get out there as much as we should."

Wiseman is in the process of starting a leadership program for the association. He hopes it will give builders the confidence and skills to go to county and city government meetings, meet and speak with reporters and even write white papers on issues impacting the industry.

Wiseman also hopes to bring good manners back to the forefront of industry issues and arguments, as he says "one of the things I've seen happen, over the last five or 10 years, is an erosion of civility, especially in local politics. We need to get past rhetoric and try to solve some issues."

Fight Against Inclusionary Zoning Continues

The Florida Home Builders Association has been waging a 10-month legal battle against the city of Tallahassee over inclusionary zoning, a government program the city wants to impose that would require developers to build and price homes under market value or pay a fine, with the money going to an affordable housing fund.

A lawsuit originally filed in Leon County Circuit Court in February by a group of Realtors and builders, led by the FHBA and the Tallahassee Builders Association, was dismissed in late October, with the judge ruling the Realtors and builders from across the state were not going to be immediately hurt by inclusionary zoning. The group had until Nov. 30 to decide if it was going to appeal the ruling; FHBA spokeswoman Edie Ousley says an appeal is likely, although it had not been filed as of the Review's deadline.

Either way, the FHBA's position remains the same: Voluntary inclusionary zoning is acceptable, but forcing the issue with mandatory prices and rules is a path to disaster that will ultimately hurt the affordable housing cause, because other home prices will balloon to pay for the subsidized ones.

Says Ousley: "We are looking out for future home buyers."

-Mark Gordon

Helping homebuilders

The Florida Home Builders Association is helping its 21,000 members do something different than build homes. The association has launched a program geared toward helping its members enter or improve efforts in commercial construction.

Edie Ousley, an FHBA spokeswoman, says it's a natural fit, given the statewide slump in residential building. "Commercial building is booming," Ousley says, and the association is always seeking ways to help members generate more business.

The FHBA's Commercial Builders Council serves as basically another committee of the powerful Tallahassee-based lobbying group. The council focuses on education, helping members understand the complexities and differences in commercial as opposed to residential building. That includes impact fees and other extractions that change based on the location and size of the building.

While Ousley says the council has been popular, she couldn't pinpoint a number of how many pure residential builders have added commercial construction recently. Still, at least two firms in the Sarasota-Manatee market have gone that route: John Cannon Homes announced plans to open a commercial construction unit in October, and last month, Bruce Williams Homes said it will return to building commercial structures, projects it hasn't done during the past 15 years.

-Mark Gordon