Summer 2008

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Cover Story

Commercial Interview

By David Greenberg

By David Greenberg

For Brian Crawford, building is his livelihood. But Crawford knows that it takes more than establishing a reputation as a professional, responsible general contractor, to help build a community and an industry.

That's why, in addition to being the owner of Concept Construction, a Lake Citybased general contractor, Crawford is finding the time to be involved in the Columbia County Builders Association (CCBA), currently as the president.

One of the most successful construction subcontractors in North Central Florida started as just a summer job experience with high school friends.

In 1975, Keith Perry was a student at Buchholz High School when he joined his friend, Tommy Robinson, at his father's construction company. Elwyn Robinson owned Quality Builders.

Industry News

Industry News

By David Greenberg

Looking for ways to compete with some of the national and international companies, and provide better service, two Gainesville firms that already had a connection — PPI Construction Management and Perry Construction, Inc. — have banded together to bid for and build certain commercial projects.

Members of the Alachua Chamber of Commerce recently attended the Chamber After Hours event, which was held at Copeland Industrial Park and hosted by Swift Creek Realty. Local developers, chamber members, business leaders and dignitaries enjoyed Hill's barbecue, mingled, and heard some exciting news about the variety of commercial and industrial projects planned for the area.

Supplier Spotlight

Supplier Spotlight

By Jenna Tuttle

By Attiyya Anthony

Commercial builders and their suppliers in Gainesville and Ocala are relying on Cox Business to facilitate their everyday business communications needs. Cox offers high-speed Internet services, Cox Optical Internet over a national backbone, full-service business-class telephone services and cable-television services.

With the click of a mouse, over 1,000 courses in architecture, construction, interior design, land surveying, building inspection, engineering and landscape are at your fingertips with RedVector.

Since 1999, RedVector has been providing online continuing education to licensed professionals all over the world. The Tampabased company offers e-learning and distance education courses designed to take the hassle out of renewing licenses. All classes meet state-licensing board and professional organization requirements.

Focus Section

Jake's Corner

By David Greenberg

The best way to describe lighting in the commercial setting today is to call it a moving target.

The reason for this state of flux is simple — new and changing technology.

As some of you might have noticed, my editorial cartoons no longer appear in Gainesville's local newspaper. Budget cuts brought to an end my tenure in the belly of the liberal beast.

So, now that I'm going to be aggravating folks in the various publications of Advantage Publishing, let me introduce myself.