by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
When SRG Homes & Neighborhoods came to Jacksonville a few years ago from Atlanta, the plan was to build new homes and renovate older homes in Springfield, assess the results and plan according.
The new custom home on River Oaks Road in San Marco represents the fifth neighborhood for SRG and the company’s first foray into San Marco. SRG is looking elsewhere, too, and CEO Mack Bissette said the fairly rapid expansion is the product of both some planning and lots of success.
“We always wanted to relocate the business to Northeast Florida,” said Bissette. “The home in San Marco is the model home in Springfield. The San Marco home is a little bigger and it’s been redesigned some.
“We’re finding that we have always wanted to grow, especially when you find good opportunities such as the one in San Marco. We are also looking at areas such as Ortega. I’m not 100 percent sure we are going to build in Ortega, but it looks good.”
The River Oaks home, a two-story, 2,738 square-foot Dozier floor plan, is one of the company’s best-selling plans. There’s a porch on both floors and the house comes with four bedrooms and 10-foot ceilings. It should be done by the end of the year.
SRG is all over these days. The company has dozens in Springfield, two in Riverside, two on Anastasia Island in St. Augustine and one in Ponte Vedra. And, they may not be done in St. Johns County.
“We are looking to team with an architect and build a small subdivision in Ponte Vedra,” said Bissette. “Once we get into a market, people see that we stay on schedule.”
Bissette said his company can build a home in about six months compared to the 12-18 months it takes most builders. According to Bissette, SRG is able to maintain this aggressive schedule thanks primarily to a few things: the home is virtually built on a computer first, SRG adheres to an “even-flow” system in which all subcontractors adhere to a tight, well-planned construction schedule and even more preplanning.
“We pick out the entire home ahead of time. There’s more certainty that way,” explained Bissette, adding the buyer may come in and add to the house or add a feature, but the majority of the major decisions — tile or wood, exterior look, paint colors, etc. — are made ahead of time.
The company still has a presence in Atlanta, but Bissette said that should be phased out within the next two years. Interestingly, the company will fully relocate to Jacksonville despite higher construction costs.
“The same house here is about $100,000 cheaper in Atlanta,” said Bissette, who has almost 10 employees in Jacksonville and dozens of subcontractors employed by SRG throughout the area.
“It’s more expensive to build a house in Jacksonville,” he said, citing land and labor costs. “Here, you have to build to hurricane codes. That means more steel and more concrete. The hurricane nailing patterns are different and your framing and floor costs are doubled.”