SWFL contractor expands services, nears $50M in revenue

When Duane and Jennifer Lopez founded Extreme Painting & Contracting in Cape Coral in 2016, it wasn’t their first foray into the building and remodeling industry. They’d owned past companies both locally and in Illinois that specialized in services like pressure washing, concrete resurfacing, painting and remodeling. 

But Extreme Painting & Contracting was just the beginning of their multi-entity business that now operates under the umbrella of Extreme Companies of Florida. In total, the Extreme entities do nearly $50 million a year in revenue with some 200 employees across all the units. A core challenge — the uncertain economy — is also a motivation to consider new options. “The economy is definitely slowing right now,” says Duane. “So we’re always thinking of what we can add to what we’re already doing to keep us ahead of the curve.”

The first venture after Extreme Painting & Contracting was Extreme Disposal, which the couple started in 2018 and sold in 2021 to Southwest Waste after growing the business from one roll-off dumpster truck and 50 dumpsters to 23 trucks, more than 1,000 dumpsters, and three locations in Fort Myers, Tampa and Panama City.

That sale didn’t include their demolition and land clearing services, so Extreme Demolition & Land Clearing was born in 2021. Later that year they formed Extreme Florida Roofing in partnership with Jami Hagy and Justin Lee, who’d been working in the roofing industry for years.

Their latest venture is Extreme Florida Metals, a spinoff of the roofing division that fabricates metal roof panels, gutters, soffits and other components both used by Extreme Florida Roofing and sold to other roofing companies. All of the companies are now based out of Fort Myers, with a second office for Extreme Florida Roofing in the Tampa Bay region. The business also has a recycling yard in Cape Coral that recycles concrete waste from demo jobs into crushed concrete and horticulture debris into mulch and compost.

“They all flow together,” says Duane Lopez, 48. “That’s one of the reasons why we formed Extreme Companies of Florida, to put all of these entities under one hat, because they do feed off each other. We’re able to go and sell a job, and we can do the demolition and the land clearing, but then we can also help with your rebuild. We can do your stucco, drywall and painting; we can install your windows all the way to the roofing. They all gel together, and we’re able to go into places and sell everything as a whole package deal.”

Hurricane Ian in 2022 really kicked the business into high gear, with all of the damage incurred throughout Southwest Florida. “It was chaotic at first, because you’re trying to come up with all of these new systems on the fly,” says Jennifer Lopez, 46.

“We had a lot of new systems put in place that had to get put in place quickly,” says Duane. “We weren’t geared up for the sheer amount of work. We had to triple our workforce, then we had to bring in management, which we were able to do. And most people are still here today.”

Photo by Stefania Pifferi

There was a huge demand for debris pickup and demolition, and Extreme Demolition & Land Clearing has been involved in high-profile demos at Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club; Outrigger Beach Resort, Sandpiper Gulf Resort and Chapel by the Sea on Fort Myers Beach; and the Cape Coral Yacht Club. It’s also demolished almost 2,200 residential structures since the hurricane.

“It’s bittersweet to see what these people go through,” says Jennifer. “How do you get up and walk away from all your belongings and property? That’s why we get involved in sponsorships and charities. It’s important to us to give back and help out the community as much as we can.” 

“We actually just demoed a trailer for a 90-year-old lady who couldn’t afford her demolition, so we went ahead and did it for free,” says Duane. “We like to do a lot of stuff like that.”

Extreme Companies of Florida finished 2023 with $48 million in revenue across its four entities. And the business shows no signs of slowing down. The Lopezes recently added a residential remodeling division to Extreme Painting & Contracting that’s experiencing early success. 

“That’s been a great add on, because with the economy slowing and with the interest rates, people aren’t building new houses right now,” says Duane. “But they’re remodeling their current houses big time. So that division has actually taken off for us heavily and very quickly.” In fact, Duane says Extreme Painting & Contracting already has doubled its 2023 revenue at this point in 2024 thanks to that new addition.

Extreme Companies of Florida has about 200 employees across its four divisions; many have been on staff since the inception of each company, and that helps build trust and dependability throughout the entire business. “We’ve recruited people that we know would run it like we would run it as owners,” says Duane. “We’ve built a team that Jenn and I could leave for two months and it’s still going to operate.”