Roger Day’s second term as chairman of the Clay Builders Council is underway after last month’s installation and awards banquet.
Day, president of Rosewood Homes, first got interested in residential construction at 20. He bought an old four-family apartment house in his home state of Wisconsin. After some work, Day was able to re-sell the home and turn a profit. Just one year later, Day had bought two more houses to work on. He had found his niche. In order to pursue his career he acquired a real estate in 1976.
He decided to try out the building business and got a job with a local builder. In 1979, after only 12 months on the job, Day opened his construction business.
Nine years later, Day was operating a successful company. He had a quarter of the market share in the area. Unfortunately, due to a slowly moving Wisconsin economy, that only meant that they had built 12 homes. In 1988, Day decided to leave Wisconsin.
“I looked at the industry and the opportunities and what we were doing. I knew we had to move in order to grow the business,” Day said.
Northeast Florida was very appealing because of a diverse economy, a growing housing market and the opportunity to expand his business.
“I wanted to pick an area that was less dependent on one single industry. I already knew someone in the Orange Park area and Jacksonville seemed to have sustained growth at the time,” he said.
The company has since been recognized with numerous awards in the Parade of Homes and The Street of Dreams, while building in some of Northeast Florida’s most prestigious neighborhoods. The builder has raised money for the I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless and donated time and money to numerous local charities including Quigley House.
Last year Rosewood Homes won in the Parade for the Spinnaker at Daniels Landing.
Day has seen a lot of changes in the industry during the past two and a half decades.
“Today customer satisfaction is as paramount as being quality oriented,” Day explained, “We work much closer with the customer now and try to accommodate their needs.”