Good Neighbor Podcast: Port Saint Lucie
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Port Saint Lucie. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Garfield Bowen helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Port St Lucie, Florida.
Is your business serving the residents of Port Saint Lucie? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpPSL.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Port Saint Lucie
E322: From Permits to Projects: Inside a Family Construction Business
Renovating your home doesn't need to be an overwhelming process. Jenna Franco of Franco Construction shows us why having a trusted, local general contractor can make all the difference in your next project.
Serving Florida's Treasure Coast from West Palm Beach to Vero, this family-owned business has built its reputation by adapting to community needs. While they specialize in kitchen and bathroom remodels—particularly accessibility-focused conversions like tub-to-shower projects that help older residents age in place comfortably—their capabilities extend to virtually every aspect of home construction and renovation.
What sets Franco Construction apart isn't just technical expertise, but their transparent, client-centered approach. Jenna candidly discusses one of Florida construction's biggest misconceptions: the permitting process. Unlike other states, Florida requires permits for almost everything, even seemingly simple bathroom conversions. This reality check helps homeowners develop realistic timelines and expectations from the start.
The personal journey Jenna shares reveals the heart behind the business. After initially resisting her father's construction legacy to pursue healthcare, the pandemic unexpectedly redirected her path back to the family business—where she discovered her true passion. This unexpected career shift mirrors what many homeowners experience when renovating: the transformation often exceeds initial expectations.
Beyond their contracting services, Franco Construction offers a community resource through their showroom featuring exclusive materials not available at typical retailers. Remarkably, they welcome everyone to utilize this resource—even those working with different contractors—demonstrating their commitment to improving homes throughout their community, not just maximizing profits.
Ready to transform your living space? Whether you're planning a major renovation or a targeted improvement project, Franco Construction invites you to call for a free estimate or visit their showroom to explore possibilities. Follow their journey on Facebook and Instagram to see their latest projects and design inspiration.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Benjamin John.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to the Good Neighbor Podcast once again. Hey, are you guys in search of a reliable construction company? Well, there's probably a construction company that I know of that's closer than you think, let's put it that way. And today I have the pleasure of introducing Jenna Franco with Franco Construction Incorporated. How are you doing, Jenna?
Speaker 3:I'm doing good. How are you?
Speaker 2:Good, yeah, I'm doing really good also. Thank you very much. And yeah, I'm just excited to hear a little bit more about your company, what you guys specialize in, and kind of a little bit more. So let's just start with that at the top. Can you tell us a little bit more about Franco Construction?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we are a licensed and insured general contractor. We're based out of Jensen Beach but we go everywhere from West Palm to Vero. We do sometimes go outside of that area. It depends, honestly, on the scope of work. You know, if it's a little handyman service, we don't want to drive out to like Okeechobee because it's not worth it for us or for you. We're not trying to spend your money where we don't need to. But if you know it's a bigger job, we'd be happy to come take a look out of it.
Speaker 3:But our general area is West Palm to Vero. There's probably roughly most of our jobs are within kitchens and bathrooms, but there's no job that we can't do. Uh, we do a lot of additions and siding, windows, stores, you name it. You have a dream, bring it in. We'll help you see what we can do, the best of it and to our ability all right, very nice.
Speaker 2:Sounds like you guys do a little bit of everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I, like I said, right now a lot of it tends to be kitchens and bathrooms, but we do a little bit of everything. We kind of go with the flow of, um, what our community needs, a lot of it. You know, at one time, with siding and windows, a lot of people were doing replacing the windows and sliders because of hurricanes and such like that. Um, we kind of didn't phase out of that. We still do that, but now it's kind of shifting back to interior remodels, trying to spruce things up in the home. So it goes with the trends. We do things outside of that commercial work and such but most of it is kitchen and bathrooms that people tend to be trying to spruce up as they're living in their houses longer.
Speaker 2:Okay, got it All right, and so how did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:So this is my father's company. At first, when I was little, I always told him I was going to work for him. He told me no, you don't want to do that, you want to go do your own thing. And for years I fought him on and I went back and forth. And when I hit high school and I really had to start thinking about it, he kept telling me no, and I finally said okay, and I went and I did my own thing for a little bit and then during COVID, what I was doing, I was doing work within the hospitals and I was a child life specialist going to school for that, and I couldn't do that at the time because I was still an interim doing that. So he said, hey, why don't you come work for me while we're figuring this stuff out?
Speaker 2:And I kind of started building from there and I just never left. I love it. That's so cool. I like that All right. So now that you've been in the industry for several years, what are some?
Speaker 3:myths or misconceptions that you've noticed. One of the biggest ones that I seem to face with a lot of people, especially because Florida is a melting pot from all over the United States everywhere but United States is that permitting. Everybody comes in and thinks we could start a job tomorrow. Unfortunately, in the state of Florida, especially in our area of Jensen Beach, port St Lucie, that is next to non-existing. Not because I don't want to help you, but because almost everything and anything is permittable and if we start a job without a permit especially with a lot of the HOAs around here, condos and things like that it's not worth it for us or for you not to do a permit.
Speaker 3:So unfortunately, even what people consider to easy shower to shower remodel we get a lot of those or tub to shower Like oh, the plumbing's not moving, you don't need a permit. We could do that like in and out, I could start tomorrow. If you want, great, I cannot. So you pretty much need a permit for everything. I would like everybody to keep that in mind when you're thinking of a job timeframe and you wanna start. It's just really hard to sometimes get a quick turnaround with those permits. I'm not saying they're months out, but I can't start tomorrow. That's the biggest one, so permits are definitely needed for almost everything in Florida.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very valuable advice. All right, so who are your target customers and how do you attract them?
Speaker 3:So our target customers is really anybody that needs work done. There's nothing that we're going to tell you no, we're not coming up to do it. But we have a lot of older customers that we're gauging to do those tub to showers, because it's really hard for some people to start lifting their legs in to the tubs and it gets harder. It becomes a point that a lot of younger people want them because the kids, but the kids grow out of that. People want them because the kids, but the kids grow out of that.
Speaker 3:And when you're staying in, those houses longer as people are trying to do, or have multifamilies in it, it's hard to get the tub to work for everybody. So we're engaging the older cow to help make their home more easy, accessible for them. But then we're also trying to reach the younger demographic to for their DIY projects that we could help. You know, fix the house up that you got to make it your dream home.
Speaker 2:Got it Okay, all right. So let's go different direction here. Outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:I travel a lot. It's hard working for a family business sometimes, but also the perks. Um, I like to travel. One of my friends, she's a college professor, so we tend to go during her breaks because she gets a little longer. But I like to travel different places um europe, all over united states and stuff like that to check out new cultures and areas very cool.
Speaker 2:That sounds exciting. All right, I'm gonna switch gears on you here one more time. Uh, no, you know what? Um, we'll save that question for your, for your dad. I almost asked it, um, okay. So yeah, jenna, I guess let's let's wind down here. Tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Franco Construction.
Speaker 3:One thing that I like you guys to remember at us is that we're not just a contractor. We're a small, family-owned business. We're not looking to spend all of your money. We're looking to, especially for a lot of the older crowds when they come in and they need work done to your house. Don't be afraid to come get an estimate. It's a free estimate. Come, stop by, say hi, tell us what you need. We're willing to work with you the best we can for some things, and we also have a showroom, so it's not just for homeowners or DYI-ers.
Speaker 3:Contractors are welcome to stop by too, anytime. We have flooring or vinyl, we have tile, cabin selections, everything. So you might not already have a contractor, it might not want us, and that is completely fine, but you're welcome to still come to our showroom and look at the materials that we have to offer. Um, because we have things like tesoro, where, uh, florida core might have them, but not everywhere. You can't just go anywhere and get them. There's select dealers that have them, and we are one of those people that have some of the select brands that you can't get everywhere. So come see us and check us out, regardless, if you want us to do the work or not check out our materials?
Speaker 2:Nice, and where was the best way they can learn more about the company?
Speaker 3:So we have a Facebook page and an Instagram page. We do have a website. I will say the website's not as active. Our Facebook and Instagram we're trying to. It was kind of dead for a while. We're trying to keep more up to that. You could also call our office. I'm usually here Monday through Friday, eight to four. Anything outside of that, leave me a voicemail and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. You can email us. I'm on everything, regularly, checking everything, whether it's a message on Instagram, facebook et cetera. I check everything. But the easiest way is to call and if you are not available outside in our normal hours, I am definitely willing to work with you, and so is my GC to accommodate for you guys to come in or ask questions outside of those hours as well. We just need to know beforehand so we could make accommodations ourselves to be here.
Speaker 2:Very nice. Well, that sounds good. Well, Jenna, this has been good. Thanks for hopping on here and sharing a little bit more about yourself and about the company and how they can get ahold of you if someone needs to utilize your services. So I wish you and Franco Construction the best going forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I appreciate it and thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPPortStLucycom. That's GNPPortStLucycom, or call 772-303-1036.