April 28, 2025 • 24 mins
Georgette Blackburn, owner of RGC Construction, shares her journey from receptionist to successful contractor and how she built a thriving family business that handles everything from small bathroom remodels to commercial construction projects. She discusses the unique challenges and rewards of running a construction company as a husband-wife team while breaking barriers in a traditionally male-dominated industry.
• Florida State general contractor serving the tri-county area (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach)
• Woman-owned, family business offering residential and commercial construction services
• Projects range from luxury bathroom remodels to complete store builds and home construction
• Started career as a receptionist at 17, working through various construction sectors
• Set five-year goal to get contractor license, achieved it in just two years
• Works as a "power couple" with husband, blending complementary skills and shared passion
• Biggest challenge of working together: difficulty separating work from personal life
• Emphasizes transparency and clear communication as core business values
• Maintains strong work-life balance with family time, boating, and travel
• Encourages listeners not to fear reaching out for guidance on construction projects
RGC Construction can be found on all social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Visit their website at rgcconstruction.org or email Georgette directly at georgette@rgcconstruction.org.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, hello, hello, friends, family, great community
, welcome back to the GoodNeighbor Podcast.
I am your host, of course, thehost with the most, jeremy Wolf,
and we are here, as always,interviewing local business
owners, getting a look under thehood, learning about what they
do in our great community andwhy they do what they do.
(00:32):
So today, I am excited to sitdown with Georgette Blackburn,
and Georgette is the owner ofRGC Construction.
Georgette, thanks for joiningus.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
For sure, thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Thank you for having me, it is our pleasure, and
thanks, as always, to ourlisteners for tuning us For sure
.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me, it isour pleasure, and thanks, as
always, to our listeners fortuning in.
We appreciate your support.
All right, georgia.
So let's get right into this.
Tell our listeners a little bitabout your business.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
We are a Florida State general contractor.
We are located in the DavieCooper City area.
We are local small business,family owned, woman owned, woman
qualified and all around.
Just you know, we're thegeneral contractors that can get
your projects done.
(01:17):
We have a lot of experience,you know from.
We're born and raisedFloridians my husband and I and
he co-owns the business with meand we are born and raised
Floridians my husband and I andhe owns the business with me and
we are born and raisedFloridians that have been
building in Florida since our20s and we're in our 40s and 50s
, so we've been doing it for along time and we love what we do
(01:37):
.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I love it.
Husband and wife team localfamily run business woman owned
business, I must say.
And wife team local family runbusiness woman owned business, I
must say, georgette, I havedone, I've done quite a few of
these interviews and I'veencountered so many women owned
businesses in industries thatare predominantly male dominated
, right, I have.
Most recently I sat down withJenny Chapter who owns Quality
(01:59):
Termite and Pest Control.
She lives right here in CooperCity.
I work with Tamara Chase fromChase Roofing, another
woman-owned company.
I've encountered women plumbers.
So it's really interesting toget the perspective of a female
that's running a business inpredominantly male-operated
trades.
If I could speak today, we'd bein good shape, wouldn't we
(02:27):
speak today?
We'd be in good shape, wouldn'twe Okay?
So I want to dig in to thetypes of services you offer
through the business because Ithink a lot of people, myself
included when you hear like a GCgeneral contractor, it comes to
your mind like, okay, well, youjust do like, all things
construction related, right, youcome in, you do renovations,
you do.
But I think there's more tothat right.
Obviously, there's businessesthat work in the commercial side
.
They work in the real estate,the residential side, some
(02:49):
specialize in certain aspects ofconstruction.
So tell what types of servicesyou offer.
What's your target demographic,who do you serve?
Tell us a little bit about thework that you've done over the
years.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, that's what kind of makes us unique.
We are capable of doing, youknow, all of the above.
Our background comes from statework to industrial work, to
commercial work, to luxuryresidential small bathroom
remodels.
You know, primarily we, wereally do it all.
(03:20):
We just finished a store inWynwood that was a perfume store
do it all.
We just finished a store inWynwood that was a perfume store
.
We have an ongoing additiongoing on in Cooper City so we're
capable of doing your simplebathroom models, your kitchen
remodels, and we're capable ofbuilding you a new house or
building you a new store orrenovating the inside of the
store.
So we're all around, we can doa little bit of everything.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
A to Z soup to nuts.
I love it, I love it.
So now, obviously you're localto the community and a lot of
the work that you do is here.
Local to South Florida.
Do you have?
Is there somewhere that's toofar for you to travel?
Do you do work down in DadeCounty, Palm Beach?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
beyond that, Like where's your, your primary focus
?
I mean, obviously we want tostay Tri-County.
You know, being from SoutheastFlorida, we know that the market
starts in Dade and ends in PalmBeach for this side of the
coast.
But we have projects in Tampaand we're open to traveling to
the areas all around Florida, aslong as it's the right project,
(04:21):
right fit, obviously, for theclient and for us.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Absolutely yeah Right project, right fit, obviously
for the client and for us.
Absolutely yeah Right project.
You're there, yeah For sure.
Okay.
So you mentioned husband andwife team.
I'm interested about thejourney, right, I imagine that
you weren't growing up and goingto school and you're like you
know, when I get, when I grow up, I want to be a contractor, a
(04:46):
general contractor.
How did you end up in thisbusiness?
Was it something where you werewith your husband first and
then you had you come fromdifferent backgrounds and you
came together and say, hey, thiswould be great if we did this.
Or did you have background inthat field before you met?
Talk a little bit about yourprofessional and personal
journey that led you to whereyou're at today.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I mean for for me personally.
I, you know, I started out as areceptionist at a brick company
, learned how to read a survey,learned how to lay out a
sidewalk in a walkway, and, andit became really interesting to
me and I was, you know, I was 17when I took that job, so I went
from a brick company to a poolcompany, to a home builder, to a
road builder, so my personalexperience in my career is
(05:31):
pretty extensive as far asdifferent types of projects.
My husband the same thing.
We've known each other since wewere in our 20s.
We were not together.
We were actually friends for avery, very, very, very long time
and it just so happened that wecame together.
We both were friends for a very, very, very, very long time and
it just so happened that, youknow, we came together.
We both were in a point in ourcareers where we knew that we
wanted to do something on ourown, and when we came together
(05:55):
as a couple, we found that wewere like kind of like a power
couple and it just really workedreally well yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Love it.
So what would be?
I always ask this when I have ahusband and wife.
I actually used to work with mywife many, many years ago and
it's an interesting dynamic Ilike the term used, the power
dynamic.
I always felt like in myrelationship with my wife we
were like the yin and the yang.
Right, she did what she did.
She was really good at that andthen I was really good at what
I did.
But when we crossed paths witheach other, things can often
(06:23):
flare up.
What would you say is one ofthe most rewarding things about
working day-to-day with yourhusband?
And on the other side of that,what would be one of the most
challenging things?
And don't cop out and say, oh,nothing's challenging.
I had a guest I asked that andthey were like oh no, nothing,
nothing is challenging at all.
Everything's peaches and cream.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I mean, I think the biggest benefit that we have,
you know, is that we have reallygreat communication and we're
really best friends.
So, and we both, we're bothintrigued by the industry, right
, we'll walk into a place whenwe're going to have dinner and
then we're pointing out thingsand talking about them.
So that's kind of like you knowthe perk, right?
(07:03):
We love the same things, we seethe same things, we see the
same things, we work the sameway.
The downside is we don't stopworking.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
we talk about it at night, before we go to bed.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
We talk about this, we talk about that we blur the
lines as they say yeah, I know.
It's difficult to detach fromit, right?
Because you get a thoughtYou're laying there in bed at
like nine, thirty, ten at nightand you don't want to talk about
work, but then something popsin your head about a job you're
doing.
It's like I got to share thiswith you right now.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
It's like ah, did you remember?
Did you?
Did you talk to?
Yeah, and it's, you know, rightbefore you're going to sleep
and be like, and then you have,you have a whole conversation.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, that's how great dynamic to have and
especially, like you said, thecommunication is so unbelievably
key in everything that we do,absolutely.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, so no.
I always say with my I've saidthis so many times now on the
north side of 40, yeah, I usedto get in arguments, if you will
, with my wife and she wouldstart criticizing me over
something and I would gettriggered and the wall would go
up and I'd get defensive and I'dstart fighting back.
And what I've come to realizemore and more is that the things
(08:13):
that she's saying that aretriggering me, it's just me
mirroring back.
She's mirroring back to me thethings that I know I need work
on and I'm trying to avoid itbecause it's uncomfortable.
So I've gotten a lot better atreally engaging and
communicating in my life.
So yeah, and listen.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
that comes with our age.
I definitely am not triggeredby the things that was triggered
in my 20s and 30s.
I'm on the upper side of 40myself and my husband is in his
early 50s, so that comes withage and grace.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It really does.
It really does.
Yeah, the wisdom, the wisdomcomes.
So, georgette, one of thereasons that we do this show is
obviously to get a look underthe hood and learn a little bit
about the owners, why they dowhat they do what they do, and
really help build the know likeand trust factor.
But also, is education right?
(09:07):
There's a lot of misconceptionsthat exist in different
industries, so I'm curious whatare some of the things that you
typically see or you hear themost from clients or prospects?
People come out in terms oftheir confusion about the work
that you do.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
That's a good question, um, and there's a lot
of possible possible answers forthat.
But I think the one thing thatcomes up a lot is when a client
doesn't have the knowledge onthe front end of the project and
they don't know where to getstarted or how to get started
started or who to talk to.
And you know, I think I'velearned that that's one of my
(09:48):
strong suits is that you knowthe beginning is so critical
having the right information,having the right party on your
team.
You know, even if I found that,even if I'm not hired as hired
as a contractor or somebody, Ihave no problem, you know,
answering questions and helpingsomebody get started, because a
lot of times you don't need theservices of a complete general
(10:11):
contractor.
You may just need a plumber oryou just need an AC guy, and a
lot of people don't know whereto start on some of those things
.
So I feel like themisconception is is that you
know all the general contractorsout there are just trying to
build the biggest project anddon't want to talk to the small
guy who needs help understandingwhere he starts.
You know that's it's it's it'sa big problem.
(10:34):
Know out there in the big world.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, and and for you , as a GC, you obviously
subcontract out to all thedifferent trades plumber.
So if you, if you encountersomebody that maybe just needs a
plumber, like you, have awonderful directory or resource
directory of businesses that youknow and trust that you could
refer out, which I think isabsolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
And I, I'm, and I'm one of those people that I, you
know, I maintain therelationships with my
subcontractors, and most of themare local as well.
So, you know, I have plumbersand in electrical guys and ac
guys down in miami, I have theguys that work in broward, I
have the guys that work in palmbeach.
You know that.
Then there's the bigger boysthat like to travel, you know.
(11:15):
But, yeah, I, I can helpwherever I can and I think
that's the biggest thing I liketo do is help help our clients
or our potential clients, oreven, you know, joe next door.
Hey, I have some questions.
I can help you.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, knowledge is power, said, and I think one of
the things that specifically forI mean this rings true for for
many, many different industries,but I think, uh, specifically
for the trades industries andcontractors and people doing, uh
, potentially big jobs, it is soimportant to have somebody, if
(11:52):
possible, that you truly you,and you trust, that you can work
with, because nothing, nothinggets me more than when I have a
project to do.
It's like whatever it is.
Yeah, first place I go is likeokay, who do I know that does
that?
And I go on my phone I'm like,do I know?
And I'm looking for likesomebody that could tell me they
trust this person.
(12:13):
And then, if I can't find that,I'm thinking like where else I
can go.
But ultimately, if you don'tknow anybody, you got to go to
the old Google machine.
You got to go.
You find three or fourcompanies, you look at the
reviews, whatever.
Then you got to call them andthen most people they'll have
those companies come out andthey'll give them quotes.
And then people start to thinkthat, well, maybe if I do enough
research I could become anexpert and I could determine why
(12:34):
this quote is better, becauseit's $2,000 cheaper than this
quote and we tend to get in theweeds with all that and it
doesn't make for a betterdecision necessarily.
What I want in my life is I wantto have somebody that I'm so
confident in that I just callyou and I know you have my best
interest at heart.
So you come look at the project.
You say, hey, jeremy, this iswhat our recommendation is.
(12:55):
It's going to cost this much.
Is this doable for you?
And I'm like, yeah, absolutely,I get it done.
I don't want to waste 10, 20hours of my life quoting
different jobs and going crazythere.
That's why I think it's soimportant for people to get to
know the owners of the business,to see if you you feel
confident with them, so youdon't have to go through all
that nonsense I mean they're, atthe end of the day, it's you're
(13:17):
engaging a relationship withsomebody when you you know it's
a business relationship, but youstill need to be able to have
trust and transparency.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And I think that a lot of the problems that we have
in in the trades and in theindustry is there isn't
transparency and there isn'tcommunication, and I think that
was one of my key factors ofopening the business is I needed
, you know, I needed tounderstand, um, the way I wanted
to run my business was going tobe with you know, clear
(13:46):
communication, cleartransparency, um, you know,
constant follow-up.
It's, it's, you know.
I'm not going to tell you it'sgoing to take six months.
If it's really going toprobably take you 12 months, I'm
going to give you the answer.
You may not like it, but I'mgoing to give you, you know, I'm
going to give you all thesupporting documents and
information that go along withthat, but you're going to get
(14:07):
transparency when it comes to us.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, good stuff, good stuff.
So one of the another thing Ilike to ask of all the guests
that have the show what I foundthat the older I get, is that
experiences that I've had reallyreally tough life, hardships or
challenges the types of thingswhere when they happen to you
and you're going through them,you kind of question everything
(14:32):
why is this happening to me,like, and it just really
shatters your world.
And on the other side of that,many years later, you look back
at that experience and you say,man, I am so grateful for having
gone through that.
I wouldn't be where I'm attoday if I didn't have that
challenge or whatever it is.
So I always like to ask ourguests if there's anything
(14:52):
throughout your journey thatkind of fits, that bill, that at
the time going through it youfelt like the world was ending
and you'd never get through it.
And then, sitting here today,you're truly grateful for having
gone through that experience.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I've had a couple of those.
I mean, you know, life there'sa lot of curveballs and
definitely life there's a lot ofcurve balls and definitely, you
know, being a woman in a maledominated industry can be really
tough.
But I was really, really youngand most of my experience is,
you know, my career isexperience based experience and
(15:27):
it's not.
I didn't go to college to comeinto this, into this industry.
I learned it.
You know, boots on the ground,line by line, and I went through
an experience where I, you know, I was a single mom.
I had, you know, a bunch ofmouths to feed and it was tough,
(15:48):
it was really tough and I hadto, like you know, strap on my
boots and I said I can do this,I can work in this and just can
work in the industry and make it.
And I'm going to do that and Idid it.
I mean, I gave myself afive-year plan to get my license
because I got tired of makingmoney for other people and I got
it in two.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
So yeah, yeah, we were just talking about this
yesterday on a podcast I did foranother podcast where we were
talking about the idea likethere's no growth without pain
and I asked the question I waslike, but why does it have to be
so painful?
And we were talking about howwell, there's always going to be
discomfort and pain and youhave to lean into that.
(16:30):
The question is, how long doyou want to feel that pain and
discomfort, as opposed toconfronting it head on and
really moving past it as quicklyas possible?
And what I found is that whenyou lean into the pain and the
discomfort, it becomesconsiderably less painful and
uncomfortable and it goes away.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
The growth is faster.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
The growth is faster, the growth is faster.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And the growth is faster, whereas in the past,
many, many years ago, I'd getstuck in negative loops and I'd
get in it and something thathappened throughout the day
would end up ruining my wholeday or even my whole week.
And I'm just so much more awareright now when that stuff
happens and I always remindmyself when something really
really severe happens, I remindmyself and I tell this to my
(17:14):
kids as well.
It's just a moment.
Things will always get better,they will always change, and you
might not be feeling good nowand you might not be feeling
good for the day, but soonenough things will be brighter,
for sure.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Glasses half full.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah.
So what do you like to do forfun when you're not working,
when you're downtime, If youeven have any?
I know you're probably outthere working your tail off all
the time, but what do you liketo do in your downtime?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I mean for my husband and I.
We have learned working in theFlorida construction industry.
You have to have work-lifebalance.
If you don't, you will beconsumed, right.
So we have a very large family.
We spend most of our free timewith our family.
We have grandkids, we have ninegrandkids, nine grandkids.
(18:03):
Yeah Well, we have seven kidsbetween the two of us and nine
grandkids.
So we're a very big family.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
You don't look like a grandmother.
I'm just saying that.
I'm not trying to flatter you.
You do, I'd be so.
I'd be shocked if you had.
You told me that, but you toldme on the front of the show, so
I had a yeah, so I mean, most ofour time is spent.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You know, we, we have a boat.
We like to go out in the oceanum we like to travel.
I mean we like to do all theyou know, normal 40 something
year old fun stuff you know.
But um, we really do, you know,enjoy our quality time with our
family.
We're we're very familyoriented, so that's pretty much
fun for me.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Family is everything, absolutely so.
So you like the travel where.
Where are some of your favoriteplaces to venture out to?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Well, I'm a Florida girl, so I love Disney.
I mean, you know I am, you know, family, so but I would say I
love going out west.
I have a friend who lives onthe outskirts of Las Vegas and I
love, you know, the GrandCanyon and all the national
parks out there.
And then secondly would be,believe it or not, I love
(19:16):
Washington DC.
It's great to visit.
I don't know.
As an adult I love it.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
The only experience I've had with DC was when I was
I don't know six, seven.
I was a young kid and myparents took me there and I was
a nightmare disaster area.
I don't remember theparticularsars, but I remember
being a little just likecomplaining every tour we went
on this sucks, I want to go, andyou know, mom, if you're
(19:45):
listening, dad, forgive me yeah,but it's definitely something
to experience, uh, as an adult,and for me, you, the
architecture and a lot of thethings that are there in the
area are just phenomenal tovisit.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So I went in the spring one year for the Cherry
Blossom Festival and I lovegoing there.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
So, but yeah, I'm gonna have to check it out again
as an adult.
Yeah, obviously perspective haschanged considerably through
the years, but I would befascinated to go take another
trip out there.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's very cool.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
So what would be, before we wrap this up here,
what would be one thing thatyou'd like to leave our
listeners with?
Now this can be.
It could be about your business, or it could be a little piece
of life, wisdom, something thatyou'd like to share, a little
nugget that you'd like to leaveour listeners with, or or you
could do one of each.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
The choice, the choice is yours, georgette uh, I
mean, I guess I would leavethem with.
Don't be afraid to reach outand don't be afraid to chase
your dreams I mean, at the endof the day, you know we're not
getting any younger and dreams,I mean at the end of the day,
you know we're not getting anyyounger.
And here I am, you know, doingit, and if I can do it, anybody
(21:02):
else can do it, right, so yeah,and I, I'd love, you know, I'd
love to meet new friends and andto make new connections.
So, absolutely, reach out to me.
You know, I would love to meetall of my neighbors.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Essentially, Very cool.
I love it.
I love it.
So, reaching out, speaking ofreaching out, somebody's
listening.
They like what you had to say.
They're thinking about doing aremodel in their house or a
project, whatever it is, andthis is resonating with them.
And they're like you know what?
I want to reach out to RGCConstruction.
(21:35):
How can we do that?
What's the best way to reachyou?
Maybe share your phone number,your website, if you have social
media handles, share all thatinformation so our listeners can
reach out and find you.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
For sure.
We are on all the social mediaplatforms.
We're on Facebook, Instagram,TikTok, LinkedIn.
We do have a website it'srgcconstructionorg, which a lot
of people don't get the org part, but it is rgcconstructionorg
and they can email me.
We do have a toll-free phonenumber on our website and if
(22:07):
they want to email me, they canemail me.
It's my first name, Georgette,at rgcconstructionorg.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Perfect, and we will, of course, drop a link in the
description with all of yourcontact information so if
anybody missed it, they can getit down there and then they
could reach out and start thatdream remodel project that
they've had sitting in the backburner for the last five years.
Don't wait, the time is now.
We only get this one life tolive.
You might as well enjoyyourself and live life to the
(22:34):
fullest.
Absolutely Good deal, all right, cool.
Well, georgette, it was apleasure to meet you and learn
about what you do in thecommunity.
We're so happy to have you on.
And to our listeners out there,if you are considering that
project seriously, reach out,talk to Georgette.
She seems like a wonderfulbusiness owner.
(22:54):
At the very least, he'll giveyou some good information.
Absolutely Right.
And if you're out there and youare a business owner and you
like what you hear on thispodcast and you're like man, I
should really get on there andtell my story.
Reach out, we could have aconversation, see if it makes
sense to have you on theplatform and tell your story.
We're always happy to spreadthe messages of local business
(23:17):
members in our community.
So with that, I thank everybodyfor joining us.
I wish you all a wonderful dayand we will catch you next time
on the next episode of the GoodNeighbor Podcast.
Ciao, Bye.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, hello, hello, friends, family, great community
, welcome back to the GoodNeighbor Podcast.
I am your host, of course, thehost with the most, jeremy Wolf,
and we are here, as always,interviewing local business
owners, getting a look under thehood, learning about what they
do in our great community andwhy they do what they do.
(00:32):
So today, I am excited to sitdown with Georgette Blackburn,
and Georgette is the owner ofRGC Construction.
Georgette, thanks for joiningus.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
For sure, thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Thank you for having me, it is our pleasure, and
thanks, as always, to ourlisteners for tuning us For sure
.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me, it isour pleasure, and thanks, as
always, to our listeners fortuning in.
We appreciate your support.
All right, georgia.
So let's get right into this.
Tell our listeners a little bitabout your business.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
We are a Florida State general contractor.
We are located in the DavieCooper City area.
We are local small business,family owned, woman owned, woman
qualified and all around.
Just you know, we're thegeneral contractors that can get
your projects done.
(01:17):
We have a lot of experience,you know from.
We're born and raisedFloridians my husband and I and
he co-owns the business with meand we are born and raised
Floridians my husband and I andhe owns the business with me and
we are born and raisedFloridians that have been
building in Florida since our20s and we're in our 40s and 50s
, so we've been doing it for along time and we love what we do
(01:37):
.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I love it.
Husband and wife team localfamily run business woman owned
business, I must say.
And wife team local family runbusiness woman owned business, I
must say, georgette, I havedone, I've done quite a few of
these interviews and I'veencountered so many women owned
businesses in industries thatare predominantly male dominated
, right, I have.
Most recently I sat down withJenny Chapter who owns Quality
(01:59):
Termite and Pest Control.
She lives right here in CooperCity.
I work with Tamara Chase fromChase Roofing, another
woman-owned company.
I've encountered women plumbers.
So it's really interesting toget the perspective of a female
that's running a business inpredominantly male-operated
trades.
If I could speak today, we'd bein good shape, wouldn't we
(02:27):
speak today?
We'd be in good shape, wouldn'twe Okay?
So I want to dig in to thetypes of services you offer
through the business because Ithink a lot of people, myself
included when you hear like a GCgeneral contractor, it comes to
your mind like, okay, well, youjust do like, all things
construction related, right, youcome in, you do renovations,
you do.
But I think there's more tothat right.
Obviously, there's businessesthat work in the commercial side
.
They work in the real estate,the residential side, some
(02:49):
specialize in certain aspects ofconstruction.
So tell what types of servicesyou offer.
What's your target demographic,who do you serve?
Tell us a little bit about thework that you've done over the
years.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, that's what kind of makes us unique.
We are capable of doing, youknow, all of the above.
Our background comes from statework to industrial work, to
commercial work, to luxuryresidential small bathroom
remodels.
You know, primarily we, wereally do it all.
(03:20):
We just finished a store inWynwood that was a perfume store
do it all.
We just finished a store inWynwood that was a perfume store
.
We have an ongoing additiongoing on in Cooper City so we're
capable of doing your simplebathroom models, your kitchen
remodels, and we're capable ofbuilding you a new house or
building you a new store orrenovating the inside of the
store.
So we're all around, we can doa little bit of everything.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
A to Z soup to nuts.
I love it, I love it.
So now, obviously you're localto the community and a lot of
the work that you do is here.
Local to South Florida.
Do you have?
Is there somewhere that's toofar for you to travel?
Do you do work down in DadeCounty, Palm Beach?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
beyond that, Like where's your, your primary focus
?
I mean, obviously we want tostay Tri-County.
You know, being from SoutheastFlorida, we know that the market
starts in Dade and ends in PalmBeach for this side of the
coast.
But we have projects in Tampaand we're open to traveling to
the areas all around Florida, aslong as it's the right project,
(04:21):
right fit, obviously, for theclient and for us.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Absolutely yeah Right project, right fit, obviously
for the client and for us.
Absolutely yeah Right project.
You're there, yeah For sure.
Okay.
So you mentioned husband andwife team.
I'm interested about thejourney, right, I imagine that
you weren't growing up and goingto school and you're like you
know, when I get, when I grow up, I want to be a contractor, a
(04:46):
general contractor.
How did you end up in thisbusiness?
Was it something where you werewith your husband first and
then you had you come fromdifferent backgrounds and you
came together and say, hey, thiswould be great if we did this.
Or did you have background inthat field before you met?
Talk a little bit about yourprofessional and personal
journey that led you to whereyou're at today.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I mean for for me personally.
I, you know, I started out as areceptionist at a brick company
, learned how to read a survey,learned how to lay out a
sidewalk in a walkway, and, andit became really interesting to
me and I was, you know, I was 17when I took that job, so I went
from a brick company to a poolcompany, to a home builder, to a
road builder, so my personalexperience in my career is
(05:31):
pretty extensive as far asdifferent types of projects.
My husband the same thing.
We've known each other since wewere in our 20s.
We were not together.
We were actually friends for avery, very, very, very long time
and it just so happened that wecame together.
We both were friends for a very, very, very, very long time and
it just so happened that, youknow, we came together.
We both were in a point in ourcareers where we knew that we
wanted to do something on ourown, and when we came together
(05:55):
as a couple, we found that wewere like kind of like a power
couple and it just really workedreally well yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Love it.
So what would be?
I always ask this when I have ahusband and wife.
I actually used to work with mywife many, many years ago and
it's an interesting dynamic Ilike the term used, the power
dynamic.
I always felt like in myrelationship with my wife we
were like the yin and the yang.
Right, she did what she did.
She was really good at that andthen I was really good at what
I did.
But when we crossed paths witheach other, things can often
(06:23):
flare up.
What would you say is one ofthe most rewarding things about
working day-to-day with yourhusband?
And on the other side of that,what would be one of the most
challenging things?
And don't cop out and say, oh,nothing's challenging.
I had a guest I asked that andthey were like oh no, nothing,
nothing is challenging at all.
Everything's peaches and cream.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I mean, I think the biggest benefit that we have,
you know, is that we have reallygreat communication and we're
really best friends.
So, and we both, we're bothintrigued by the industry, right
, we'll walk into a place whenwe're going to have dinner and
then we're pointing out thingsand talking about them.
So that's kind of like you knowthe perk, right?
(07:03):
We love the same things, we seethe same things, we see the
same things, we work the sameway.
The downside is we don't stopworking.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
we talk about it at night, before we go to bed.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
We talk about this, we talk about that we blur the
lines as they say yeah, I know.
It's difficult to detach fromit, right?
Because you get a thoughtYou're laying there in bed at
like nine, thirty, ten at nightand you don't want to talk about
work, but then something popsin your head about a job you're
doing.
It's like I got to share thiswith you right now.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
It's like ah, did you remember?
Did you?
Did you talk to?
Yeah, and it's, you know, rightbefore you're going to sleep
and be like, and then you have,you have a whole conversation.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, that's how great dynamic to have and
especially, like you said, thecommunication is so unbelievably
key in everything that we do,absolutely.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, so no.
I always say with my I've saidthis so many times now on the
north side of 40, yeah, I usedto get in arguments, if you will
, with my wife and she wouldstart criticizing me over
something and I would gettriggered and the wall would go
up and I'd get defensive and I'dstart fighting back.
And what I've come to realizemore and more is that the things
(08:13):
that she's saying that aretriggering me, it's just me
mirroring back.
She's mirroring back to me thethings that I know I need work
on and I'm trying to avoid itbecause it's uncomfortable.
So I've gotten a lot better atreally engaging and
communicating in my life.
So yeah, and listen.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
that comes with our age.
I definitely am not triggeredby the things that was triggered
in my 20s and 30s.
I'm on the upper side of 40myself and my husband is in his
early 50s, so that comes withage and grace.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It really does.
It really does.
Yeah, the wisdom, the wisdomcomes.
So, georgette, one of thereasons that we do this show is
obviously to get a look underthe hood and learn a little bit
about the owners, why they dowhat they do what they do, and
really help build the know likeand trust factor.
But also, is education right?
(09:07):
There's a lot of misconceptionsthat exist in different
industries, so I'm curious whatare some of the things that you
typically see or you hear themost from clients or prospects?
People come out in terms oftheir confusion about the work
that you do.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
That's a good question, um, and there's a lot
of possible possible answers forthat.
But I think the one thing thatcomes up a lot is when a client
doesn't have the knowledge onthe front end of the project and
they don't know where to getstarted or how to get started
started or who to talk to.
And you know, I think I'velearned that that's one of my
(09:48):
strong suits is that you knowthe beginning is so critical
having the right information,having the right party on your
team.
You know, even if I found that,even if I'm not hired as hired
as a contractor or somebody, Ihave no problem, you know,
answering questions and helpingsomebody get started, because a
lot of times you don't need theservices of a complete general
(10:11):
contractor.
You may just need a plumber oryou just need an AC guy, and a
lot of people don't know whereto start on some of those things
.
So I feel like themisconception is is that you
know all the general contractorsout there are just trying to
build the biggest project anddon't want to talk to the small
guy who needs help understandingwhere he starts.
You know that's it's it's it'sa big problem.
(10:34):
Know out there in the big world.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, and and for you , as a GC, you obviously
subcontract out to all thedifferent trades plumber.
So if you, if you encountersomebody that maybe just needs a
plumber, like you, have awonderful directory or resource
directory of businesses that youknow and trust that you could
refer out, which I think isabsolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
And I, I'm, and I'm one of those people that I, you
know, I maintain therelationships with my
subcontractors, and most of themare local as well.
So, you know, I have plumbersand in electrical guys and ac
guys down in miami, I have theguys that work in broward, I
have the guys that work in palmbeach.
You know that.
Then there's the bigger boysthat like to travel, you know.
(11:15):
But, yeah, I, I can helpwherever I can and I think
that's the biggest thing I liketo do is help help our clients
or our potential clients, oreven, you know, joe next door.
Hey, I have some questions.
I can help you.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, knowledge is power, said, and I think one of
the things that specifically forI mean this rings true for for
many, many different industries,but I think, uh, specifically
for the trades industries andcontractors and people doing, uh
, potentially big jobs, it is soimportant to have somebody, if
(11:52):
possible, that you truly you,and you trust, that you can work
with, because nothing, nothinggets me more than when I have a
project to do.
It's like whatever it is.
Yeah, first place I go is likeokay, who do I know that does
that?
And I go on my phone I'm like,do I know?
And I'm looking for likesomebody that could tell me they
trust this person.
(12:13):
And then, if I can't find that,I'm thinking like where else I
can go.
But ultimately, if you don'tknow anybody, you got to go to
the old Google machine.
You got to go.
You find three or fourcompanies, you look at the
reviews, whatever.
Then you got to call them andthen most people they'll have
those companies come out andthey'll give them quotes.
And then people start to thinkthat, well, maybe if I do enough
research I could become anexpert and I could determine why
(12:34):
this quote is better, becauseit's $2,000 cheaper than this
quote and we tend to get in theweeds with all that and it
doesn't make for a betterdecision necessarily.
What I want in my life is I wantto have somebody that I'm so
confident in that I just callyou and I know you have my best
interest at heart.
So you come look at the project.
You say, hey, jeremy, this iswhat our recommendation is.
(12:55):
It's going to cost this much.
Is this doable for you?
And I'm like, yeah, absolutely,I get it done.
I don't want to waste 10, 20hours of my life quoting
different jobs and going crazythere.
That's why I think it's soimportant for people to get to
know the owners of the business,to see if you you feel
confident with them, so youdon't have to go through all
that nonsense I mean they're, atthe end of the day, it's you're
(13:17):
engaging a relationship withsomebody when you you know it's
a business relationship, but youstill need to be able to have
trust and transparency.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And I think that a lot of the problems that we have
in in the trades and in theindustry is there isn't
transparency and there isn'tcommunication, and I think that
was one of my key factors ofopening the business is I needed
, you know, I needed tounderstand, um, the way I wanted
to run my business was going tobe with you know, clear
(13:46):
communication, cleartransparency, um, you know,
constant follow-up.
It's, it's, you know.
I'm not going to tell you it'sgoing to take six months.
If it's really going toprobably take you 12 months, I'm
going to give you the answer.
You may not like it, but I'mgoing to give you, you know, I'm
going to give you all thesupporting documents and
information that go along withthat, but you're going to get
(14:07):
transparency when it comes to us.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, good stuff, good stuff.
So one of the another thing Ilike to ask of all the guests
that have the show what I foundthat the older I get, is that
experiences that I've had reallyreally tough life, hardships or
challenges the types of thingswhere when they happen to you
and you're going through them,you kind of question everything
(14:32):
why is this happening to me,like, and it just really
shatters your world.
And on the other side of that,many years later, you look back
at that experience and you say,man, I am so grateful for having
gone through that.
I wouldn't be where I'm attoday if I didn't have that
challenge or whatever it is.
So I always like to ask ourguests if there's anything
(14:52):
throughout your journey thatkind of fits, that bill, that at
the time going through it youfelt like the world was ending
and you'd never get through it.
And then, sitting here today,you're truly grateful for having
gone through that experience.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I've had a couple of those.
I mean, you know, life there'sa lot of curveballs and
definitely life there's a lot ofcurve balls and definitely, you
know, being a woman in a maledominated industry can be really
tough.
But I was really, really youngand most of my experience is,
you know, my career isexperience based experience and
(15:27):
it's not.
I didn't go to college to comeinto this, into this industry.
I learned it.
You know, boots on the ground,line by line, and I went through
an experience where I, you know, I was a single mom.
I had, you know, a bunch ofmouths to feed and it was tough,
(15:48):
it was really tough and I hadto, like you know, strap on my
boots and I said I can do this,I can work in this and just can
work in the industry and make it.
And I'm going to do that and Idid it.
I mean, I gave myself afive-year plan to get my license
because I got tired of makingmoney for other people and I got
it in two.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
So yeah, yeah, we were just talking about this
yesterday on a podcast I did foranother podcast where we were
talking about the idea likethere's no growth without pain
and I asked the question I waslike, but why does it have to be
so painful?
And we were talking about howwell, there's always going to be
discomfort and pain and youhave to lean into that.
(16:30):
The question is, how long doyou want to feel that pain and
discomfort, as opposed toconfronting it head on and
really moving past it as quicklyas possible?
And what I found is that whenyou lean into the pain and the
discomfort, it becomesconsiderably less painful and
uncomfortable and it goes away.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
The growth is faster.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
The growth is faster, the growth is faster.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And the growth is faster, whereas in the past,
many, many years ago, I'd getstuck in negative loops and I'd
get in it and something thathappened throughout the day
would end up ruining my wholeday or even my whole week.
And I'm just so much more awareright now when that stuff
happens and I always remindmyself when something really
really severe happens, I remindmyself and I tell this to my
(17:14):
kids as well.
It's just a moment.
Things will always get better,they will always change, and you
might not be feeling good nowand you might not be feeling
good for the day, but soonenough things will be brighter,
for sure.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Glasses half full.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah.
So what do you like to do forfun when you're not working,
when you're downtime, If youeven have any?
I know you're probably outthere working your tail off all
the time, but what do you liketo do in your downtime?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I mean for my husband and I.
We have learned working in theFlorida construction industry.
You have to have work-lifebalance.
If you don't, you will beconsumed, right.
So we have a very large family.
We spend most of our free timewith our family.
We have grandkids, we have ninegrandkids, nine grandkids.
(18:03):
Yeah Well, we have seven kidsbetween the two of us and nine
grandkids.
So we're a very big family.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
You don't look like a grandmother.
I'm just saying that.
I'm not trying to flatter you.
You do, I'd be so.
I'd be shocked if you had.
You told me that, but you toldme on the front of the show, so
I had a yeah, so I mean, most ofour time is spent.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You know, we, we have a boat.
We like to go out in the oceanum we like to travel.
I mean we like to do all theyou know, normal 40 something
year old fun stuff you know.
But um, we really do, you know,enjoy our quality time with our
family.
We're we're very familyoriented, so that's pretty much
fun for me.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Family is everything, absolutely so.
So you like the travel where.
Where are some of your favoriteplaces to venture out to?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Well, I'm a Florida girl, so I love Disney.
I mean, you know I am, you know, family, so but I would say I
love going out west.
I have a friend who lives onthe outskirts of Las Vegas and I
love, you know, the GrandCanyon and all the national
parks out there.
And then secondly would be,believe it or not, I love
(19:16):
Washington DC.
It's great to visit.
I don't know.
As an adult I love it.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
The only experience I've had with DC was when I was
I don't know six, seven.
I was a young kid and myparents took me there and I was
a nightmare disaster area.
I don't remember theparticularsars, but I remember
being a little just likecomplaining every tour we went
on this sucks, I want to go, andyou know, mom, if you're
(19:45):
listening, dad, forgive me yeah,but it's definitely something
to experience, uh, as an adult,and for me, you, the
architecture and a lot of thethings that are there in the
area are just phenomenal tovisit.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So I went in the spring one year for the Cherry
Blossom Festival and I lovegoing there.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
So, but yeah, I'm gonna have to check it out again
as an adult.
Yeah, obviously perspective haschanged considerably through
the years, but I would befascinated to go take another
trip out there.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's very cool.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
So what would be, before we wrap this up here,
what would be one thing thatyou'd like to leave our
listeners with?
Now this can be.
It could be about your business, or it could be a little piece
of life, wisdom, something thatyou'd like to share, a little
nugget that you'd like to leaveour listeners with, or or you
could do one of each.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
The choice, the choice is yours, georgette uh, I
mean, I guess I would leavethem with.
Don't be afraid to reach outand don't be afraid to chase
your dreams I mean, at the endof the day, you know we're not
getting any younger and dreams,I mean at the end of the day,
you know we're not getting anyyounger.
And here I am, you know, doingit, and if I can do it, anybody
(21:02):
else can do it, right, so yeah,and I, I'd love, you know, I'd
love to meet new friends and andto make new connections.
So, absolutely, reach out to me.
You know, I would love to meetall of my neighbors.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Essentially, Very cool.
I love it.
I love it.
So, reaching out, speaking ofreaching out, somebody's
listening.
They like what you had to say.
They're thinking about doing aremodel in their house or a
project, whatever it is, andthis is resonating with them.
And they're like you know what?
I want to reach out to RGCConstruction.
(21:35):
How can we do that?
What's the best way to reachyou?
Maybe share your phone number,your website, if you have social
media handles, share all thatinformation so our listeners can
reach out and find you.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
For sure.
We are on all the social mediaplatforms.
We're on Facebook, Instagram,TikTok, LinkedIn.
We do have a website it'srgcconstructionorg, which a lot
of people don't get the org part, but it is rgcconstructionorg
and they can email me.
We do have a toll-free phonenumber on our website and if
(22:07):
they want to email me, they canemail me.
It's my first name, Georgette,at rgcconstructionorg.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Perfect, and we will, of course, drop a link in the
description with all of yourcontact information so if
anybody missed it, they can getit down there and then they
could reach out and start thatdream remodel project that
they've had sitting in the backburner for the last five years.
Don't wait, the time is now.
We only get this one life tolive.
You might as well enjoyyourself and live life to the
(22:34):
fullest.
Absolutely Good deal, all right, cool.
Well, georgette, it was apleasure to meet you and learn
about what you do in thecommunity.
We're so happy to have you on.
And to our listeners out there,if you are considering that
project seriously, reach out,talk to Georgette.
She seems like a wonderfulbusiness owner.
(22:54):
At the very least, he'll giveyou some good information.
Absolutely Right.
And if you're out there and youare a business owner and you
like what you hear on thispodcast and you're like man, I
should really get on there andtell my story.
Reach out, we could have aconversation, see if it makes
sense to have you on theplatform and tell your story.
We're always happy to spreadthe messages of local business
(23:17):
members in our community.
So with that, I thank everybodyfor joining us.
I wish you all a wonderful dayand we will catch you next time
on the next episode of the GoodNeighbor Podcast.
Ciao, Bye.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
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