Builders Who Care

While Dan Dodrill was establishing Daniel Wayne Homes in Fort Myers, he happily extended operations to south Lee and Collier counties, but he never dreamed he'd be building in Rwanda.

Dodrill, Brian Stock of Stock Development and the Peel brothers of Gulfstream Homes are among local builders who put good works first on their personal punch lists.

Dodrill's brother, Mark, a Youth for Christ missionary, instigated the African project in 2001 when he brought a fellow missionary from the organization's headquarters in Colorado to Fort Myers. Jean Baptiste Mugarura was bent on building a school campus and training center on 17 acres in Rwanda's capital, Kigali. By the time Mugarura left Fort Myers, Dodrill had introduced him to enough people to amass the $170,000 needed for the land. But that was not the end of it.

"Mr. Mugarura is a pretty persuasive fellow," Dodrill says with a chuckle. "After the land was bought, he asked if I could send the building materials. With the help of a lot of donations, I did. A place in Wauchula makes a good building system that goes together like a giant erector set, with simple tools and not much know-how needed.

"But after that arrived, he asked me to help complete the building."

Dodrill, a Lee County resident since 1972, said that gave him pause.

"My first reaction was that I didn't do projects that far out of state," he says. "My second was that I have been very blessed with my family and my business, and if I could do something for the Youth for Christ ministry, I should."

Dodrill, who usually builds homes in the $400,000-to-$1 million range, helped build a 7,000-square-foot multipurpose building for sheltering orphans, learning job skills and providing leadership training. A return visit ended with the completion of a 12,000-square-foot elementary school, and an upcoming trip in 2006 will produce a high school.

In 2003, Dodrill formed Builders Without Borders, a nonprofit organization that currently has nearly 100 area builders, subcontractors and private citizens donating and working on such projects as a medical clinic in Haiti and dormitories for Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO), a world hunger organization that houses interns in North Fort Myers. ECHO helps other organizations bring agricultural techniques and viable crops to areas where conditions make native crops fail.

"In Rwanda, young people with academic and moral education and job skills have a chance to improve their country and improve their lives and their families' lives," Dodrill says.

The projects were completed on the fast track-eight days to build the all-purpose building, three weeks to construct the school. With a twinkle in his eye, Dodrill lists the factors that gave the project such a quick turnaround: "No permits, no inspections, no air conditioning."

Closer to home, air conditioning-the presence of it-was a large part of the help Brian Stock, CEO of Stock Development, brought to Hurricane Charley victims in 2004.

"It was so hot in Punta Gorda that we set up a big, air-conditioned tent," he recalls. "People would just gather there for some relief."

They also gathered at the relief center he and his staff set up in the parking lot of their community, Vivante, to receive hot meals the company dished out daily for two weeks after the storm. Stock marshaled his companies' staffs, country clubs' chefs and food service vendors to provide about 30,000 meals and distribute ice to storm-battered residents.

"About 20 to 30 of us from all sectors of our organization manned the parking lot every day, grilling burgers, bratwursts and chicken," he says.

Beyond storm relief, the Naples-based company seeks other opportunities to enrich the communities in which it has developments, such as Grandézza in Lee County, Olde Cypress and Lely Resort in Collier, and Vivante in Charlotte.

"We've built a home for the past two years to benefit the Boys & Girls Club in Lee or Collier," he says. (The next one will be in Collier.) "We build it with our vendors' discounted materials and our own donated labor," he explains, "and we sell it at market value. The proceeds go to the clubs."

The company also donates six figures to the Liberty Youth Ranch project in Bonita Springs and supports several other charities that help children or conduct cancer research. Stock says the firm provides incentives for associates to do other good works. Building good relationships within communities, he states, is a top priority.

Brothers Mike and Stephen Peel didn't always see eye to eye on priorities when they established Gulfstream Homes eight years ago.

"Steve had worked for Centex for six years and knew the South Florida construction business, but my background was finance," Mike recalls. "It took me a while to understand the realities of the construction business."

One thing they had no trouble agreeing on was committing to green building techniques. Mike calls it an evolutionary process that is still evolving.

"Even though many homebuyers are not that conscious of environmentally friendly building materials, we incorporate as many as we can in such things as low-energy heating and cooling systems, lumber and paint. It may not make a big difference now in making sales," he says. "But we feel it makes a difference in the long run."

Making a difference in the community became a major focus for the Jacksonville, Fla., brothers when Mike's work with Naples' Rotary Club's scholarship program brought a surprise.

"I couldn't believe how many young people were already performing so much good service to the community," he says. "Steve and I each have two young children, and we both believe strongly in the benefits of education-my wife is a teacher. We began funding scholarships to encourage students now and start something our children will want to continue."

The Peels' Naples-based company, which builds homes in the $200,000-to-$500,000 range in eight Lee and Collier communities and on on-your-lot sites, now concentrates charitable efforts on education projects and homelessness, helping St. Matthew's House, working with Habitat for Humanity and laying the groundwork for a construction academy at Palmetto Ridge High School in Golden Gate.

Dedicated staff and colleague support keep the programs thriving, say the builders, who stress that they, themselves, just drew the blueprints.