by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
Partnership Custom Homes doesn’t use high-tech spy gear or perform covert operations to build homes but, if they had to, they could.
Founder Tony Mikowsky started the company three years ago after retiring from The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Before that, he worked as a Secret Service Agent. He’s handled counterfeiting cases in Miami, bank fraud, money laundering, cell phone cloning and the occasional undercover sting operation, among others.
During his tenure with the federal agency, Mikowsky traveled the world with presidents and heads of state and was often charged with finding housing for 100 agents at a time.
He also moved his family around quite a bit — five times in eight years while he was in the Secret Service. He said he would often build homes or remodel them for his family.
When he resigned from the Secret Service after 20 years, he joined the JSO for eight years. He goal was to retire at age 49, and that’s just what he did — well, kind of.
Mikowsky still works six-day, 40-hour weeks. His original goal in founding Partnership Custom Homes was to build 2-3 houses per year. He’s currently building five homes this year. They’ll take nine months to a year-and-a-half to build and usually cost between $500,000-$1 million.
But Mikowsky doesn’t do it alone.
He has employed the knowledge of his wife Diane, a former Blue Cross Blue Shield employee who now does the books and finances; daughter Morgan, a graduate of the University of North Florida who is now operations manger, and son Brock, who received his MBA from Seton Hall in New Jersey and is now the sales and marketing manager. He also handles legal aspects of the business.
Brock calls his father the nuts and bolts of the team. He said his father is on-site for every house Partnership builds and he’s very hands-on.
This isn’t Mikowsky’s first run at a business. When he was 15, Mikowsky was given his family’s beer distribution company in Pennsylvania, which he handled until he was 18. He said at that point it was time to go.
“I wanted to get into college and be in law enforcement,” he said.
Mikowsky went to Florida State University, where he met Diane. The couple moved to Illinois, Miami, Colorado and California, among others, while Tony was in the Secret Service. He retired in 1991, joined the JSO and retired from there in 2002 to start Partnership Custom Homes.
He knew he always wanted to build. He told himself that when he retired we was going to go to law school or become a builder — the latter sounded more fun, he said.
“And I don’t regret any of it,” he said. “I like the Secret Service. I loved what I did for 20 years and wouldn’t have given it up, but it was time to go. I don’t need to work. I do this because I like to. When this isn’t fun anymore, I’ll move on.”
Tony said he was doing this for his family.
“I’m trying to make this for them,” he said. “I’m going to give them the company. They have a chance to build their own homes and they are either going to make it or break it.”
Brock may be the one to make it. He’s already a licensed real estate agent and is working to become a general contractor.
Partnership Custom Homes is strictly a family business for now.
“We’re a growing company,” said Tony. “We’ll probably bring some other people in here in the near future. We’re learning as we grow and trying to do the right thing. That’s what I like doing, that’s why I was in law enforcement. It’s going good so far. We’d like to keep it in house.”
Tony jokes that he doesn’t return to a house after completion, not unless it’s for supper. And he’ll tell you, he never builds the same house twice.
“We are unique that way. We don’t usually build the same home twice — even in subdivisions. We are a partner with the homeowner,” said Tony, adding that each home is truly custom.
“We run a company for the clients — for the customers,” said Brock. “You will see my dad on site and can get a hold of us. There will be a time when we won’t be, but until then, we’ll be hammering it that way — no pun intended.”