Profile: Mike Bartoletta

Name: Mike Bartoletta
Title: President, Hannah Bartoletta Homes; incoming president, Tampa Bay Builders Association (TBBA)
Age: 50
Birthplace: Dearborn, Michigan
Family: Daughter, Danielle, 15; and twins, Michael and Lauren, 13
Hobbies: Golf, fishing and water sports
Background: Structural engineer with more than 20 years of experience in building estate homes in the Tampa Bay area.
Notable: He has twice been named TBBA Builder of the Year
Did you know that: He’s a gourmet cook with a passion for authentic Italian dishes. “My mom taught me to cook when I was very young,” he says. “I make my own Italian sausage and I still bake 20 loaves of bread every two weeks.”

Challenges Galore
But new TBBA president sees 
better days ahead.?
The still-sluggish housing market and increasingly strict governmental regulations continue to be challenges for Tampa Bay’s building industry, says Mike Bartoletta, who is taking over the helm as 2010 president of the Tampa Bay Builders Association (TBBA).

The local builders group, which is headquartered in Tampa, encompasses Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, serving builders, developers, suppliers and subcontractors.

Bartoletta’s objectives as president will be to increase membership, unite the organization and ensure financial stability, he says.

“We’ve gone through a couple of mergers in the past five years and just unifying the membership a little more is a goal,” he says. “That, plus growing the membership to be number one in the state.”

Virtually all builders associations have lost members over the past year due to the economy, Bartoletta notes. “But we’re on a little bit of an upswing now,” he says. “Businesses are feeling better about themselves. Some houses are starting to sell. Membership is down but it’s growing. We’re climbing out of the recession.”

Governmental affairs will be a focus, too, Bartoletta says.

Several years ago, TBBA established a Governmental Affairs Department to work with elected officials and policymakers on a variety of issues that directly impact the homebuilding industry. The group monitors and reviews codes, ordinances and legislation and educates members.

“There will be a lot of issues to address,” Bartoletta says. “We need a strong, unifying membership.”

TBBA will also continue its charitable work, contributing financial resources and volunteer hours to such organizations as the Ronald McDonald House, the Pediatric Cancer Foundation and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Also, the group is involved with Habitat for Humanity and the Future Builders of America, a program that promotes the construction industry as a career path.

In addition, TBBA councils and committees provide members an opportunity to network and educate themselves on the latest construction trends such as green building, which Bartoletta says will continue to be a hot topic in the next few years.

“A green, or environmentally sensitive, home is a better built home,” he says. “There’s science behind it. It makes sense to go that route.”

Bartoletta, who partnered with Charley Hannah in 1988 to form Hannah Bartoletta Homes, says the company will be building most of its new homes with green features next year.

A structural engineer by training, Bartoletta has more than 20 years experience building estate homes in communities such as FishHawk Ranch, Lakewood Ranch and MiraBay. He was named TBBA Builder of the Year in 1994 and again in 2002.

Bartoletta, who grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has lived in Tampa Bay since 1982.