For executive, connections are key

VENICE - A leap from the director of marketing for the Sarasota Family YMCA to the leader of a 600-member group of home builders may at first appear to be a stretch.

But to Jane Goodwin, the new executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Sarasota County, her past job -- eliminated during a round of layoffs -- was perfect training for her new one.

"I've had a lot of experiences in life and they have brought me to this place," Goodwin said. "I think I can be a advocate with the county and state officials and a resource for the builders."

Goodwin said the parallels between her old job and her new post are clear to her.

"The YMCA is a great gym, but a lot of people don't know that the YMCA does wonderful work with children and families," she said. "It may sound strange but being in the home-building community allows me to reach out to those people, too."

Community connections

Goodwin, who has a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Georgia, has held jobs that dabbled in various aspects of home building.

In the 1990s she worked at companies such as Tampa's SimplexGrinnell and Minneapolis, Minn.-based Silent Knight Systems installing building control, security and fire detection devices.

At SimplexGrinnell, Goodwin worked with commercial customers ranging from Tropicana Products Inc. to the Sarasota County jail to the Manatee County School District.

But what her boss on the board of directors of the home builders group said was her biggest asset is her community connections that spread from Sarasota to Tallahassee and beyond.

"We chose her because of what she's accomplished at the YMCA in terms of community events and marketing," said David Langhout, president of the builders' board of directors and owner of DBL Capital Advisors, a Sarasota-based real estate consultant firm. "And it's been a really good fit. We're very happy."

Langhout describes Goodwin as very organized and possessing a never-ending positive attitude.

"She is going to have a very positive effect on how we go forward and get things done," he said.

First up, Goodwin said, is to thoroughly understand the needs of her members and their concerns during these lousy times in the housing realm.

"Most of the people staying the business of building are in it for the long haul," she said. "There is a hard-core group of people here that will remain, and they will find new ways to do things and survive."

One of those ways is to focus on the ever-growing trend of building "green," or ways that minimize a structure's impact on the environment.

That can mean insulated walls, shrubbery and grasses planted on the roof to minimize runoff or using drought-resistant landscaping plants that need very little water.

Goodwin said 20 of her members are in various green certification classes right now or have already been certified as green builders.

The market for renovations, Goodwin said, is starting to pick up as the glut of foreclosed properties on the market continues to grow.

"People are saying, 'I think I'll stay here right now and renovate and put in a gym or a new garage,'" she said. "That's a really good, ongoing and thriving piece of the business."

She thinks the biggest plus for Sarasota County's home builders and subcontractors are the baby boomers.

"The times of people with limited incomes is ending in Sarasota County. That model is difficult to do in today's age," Goodwin said. "Baby boomers are attracted by the arts and the beaches and those people want new homes, built green, with all the latest hurricane protection devices.

"As the amount of homes that we have existing now dwindles down I think you are going to see a fresh emphasis on that upscale buyer," she said.

The biggest challenge for Goodwin and her group is the flip side of that same coin: affordable housing for much of the area's work force -- who is going to pay for it and where it is going to go.

"They might work on Longboat Key but they have to go way out of the city to find affordable housing," Goodwin said. "That is a problem that hasn't been solved yet."

Members helping members

Dues to the Sarasota County home builders group are $595 per year for builders and $495 for businesses such as roofers and electricians.

Membership in the local group means the company or individual also belongs to the Florida Home Builders Association, which lobbies in Tallahassee, and the National Association of Home Builders, which tends to the industry's concerns in Washington, D.C.

Locally, the board of directors meets monthly and there are mixers and networking opportunities each month for the members, who Goodwin said often use each other's services.

"We have a very rich number of builders and we have those in electric, roofing and others folks involved in building," she said. "The beauty of the association is members doing business with members so there is a lot of business changing hands."

Goodwin hopes to strengthen the ties among members during her first year at the helm and also steer them into educational programs that will teach them how to do their jobs more efficiently and with the latest building techniques.