by Michael Bonts
Special to the Daily Record
Jacksonville’s Ron Coppenbarger has been selected as the Florida Home Builders Association Builder of the Year.
“The FHBA Builder of the Year recognizes a member who has made significant and lasting contributions to the home building industry on the local and state levels, as well as within their community,” said Northeast Florida Builders Association (NEFBA) president Denise Wallace. “We are all very proud of Ron and his accomplishments.”
He served as NEFBA president in 1992 and was the 1988 NEFBA Builder Member of the Year.
Coppenbarger, president of Coppenbarger Homes, is the 30th recipient of the award, which began in 1974. His dedication to the building industry is reflected through his active participation in home building legislative issues, association recruitment and workforce training.
In 2001, he was elected by his peers to serve as FHBA president.
“Ron’s dedication to Florida’s home building industry, his commitment to professionalism, many contributions to the betterment of the Jacksonville community are deserving of this prestigious award,” said Florida Home Builders Association president Bill Slavich.
Coppenbarger builds approximately 250 homes each year. His design and construction excellence was honored with a 2002 Aurora Award at the Southeast Building Conference. He has been a perennial winner in the NEFBA Parade of Homes.
The Florida Home Builders Association, established in 1949, represents 15,500 corporate members and 473,000 employees within the home building industry. The industry is the state’s second largest and produces a $41.1 billion annual impact on the Florida economy.
Coppenbarger grew up in the small Oklahoma town of Lawton, 30 miles from the Texas border. Despite the fact that his father was a builder, the young Coppenbarger gravitated to a different “field,” showcasing his athletic skills at baseball and football.
When he added basketball to become a three-sport star, Coppenbarger was honored as Oklahoma’s prep Athlete of the Year during his senior year in high school.
Although he was drafted out of high school to play professional baseball for the Montreal Expos, he opted for the allure of big-time college football at Kansas State University, where he twice was named an All-Big Eight Conference safety.
“It was all new to me,” said Coppenbarger. “I never flew on a plane until college.” Coppenbarger enjoyed another “high” after college when he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons and realized the dream of playing in the National Football League. “You have to understand that my starting salary was $14,000,” laughs Coppenbarger. “It wasn’t anything like it is today with the megabucks being paid to players today.”
Coppenbarger used his Falcons’ signing bonus to build his first home in Lawton and when a knee injury forced him out of the NFL, he moved to Jacksonville to play for the Jacksonville Sharks and Express of the World Football League. Two years later, that home building experience came in handy as he launched a career that today has made him the sixth largest builder in Jacksonville.
He spent his first nine years in Jacksonville with builder-developer Chester Stokes, then formed his own company, Coppenbarger Homes, which builds an average of 250 homes per year.
While president of the Florida Home Builders Association, Coppenbarger said he stuck to the “members’ agenda” when it came to setting goals for the challenging year.
“As you climb the ranks of senior leadership at FHBA, you’re constantly learning more about our members’ concerns and the dynamic changes taking place within our industry,” he said. “Really, it’s the members on the front lines of daily battles who set the agenda.”
Based on that member feedback, Coppenbarger targeted three priorities for his year as head of the state group: a statewide public relations program, achieving important governmental affairs goals and expanding member and workforce education.
“To me, public relations is simply telling the story of the many positive things we do as builders and associates to provide affordable housing, create jobs and enhance the quality of life for Floridians,” says Coppenbarger.
“Our members need to be proud of what they do and help communicate our message to elected officials, the media, and the general public. We think FHBA should be taking the lead in working with local associations to accomplish this goal.”
As for governmental affairs, Coppenbarger says members want to return growth management decisions to local governments, streamline environmental permitting, lower workers’ compensation rates and regulate home inspectors.
Education is Coppenbarger’s true passion and the motivating factor in his seeking the state presidency.
“To better educate our members, we’re investing resources in the development of our FHBA web site and also expanding the continuing education courses offered online,” said Coppenbarger.
There was another item on Coppenbarger’s priority list that didn’t involve public relations, legislation or training. It’s what he describes as the “return to family values.”
“When I first came to Jacksonville, then NEFBA president Henry Bachara called me and said that he and the Association were ready to help me in any way that I needed,” said Coppenbarger. “He was genuinely concerned with me personally and with the success of my business. That’s the type of caring attitude that’s important to the health of an association. That’s the attitude I’d like to see in every member.”
(Michael Bonts is communications director for the Northeast Florida Builders Association.)