When Todd Gates took a temporary job as a Naples stucco laborer in the early 1980s, the polite young man from Hopewell, Va., couldn't have known a company bearing his name would someday generate $85 million in annual revenue and position itself to become a statewide presence in the highly competitive commercial-development industry.

But in retrospect, says Gates, all the success comes as no surprise.

"Most people from my hometown end up working in industrial plants but I always had a burning desire to do something special," says Gates, co-founder, president and CEO of Gates McVey, a Naples-based construction, development and real estate firm. "My goals have never changed-to succeed and become a prominent force in the construction and development arena. I had that dream when I was mixing my first bag of stucco."

In the last 10 years, Gates McVey has become a prominent force in Southwest Florida, contributing to more than 600 projects including properties like the North Naples Research and Technology Park, an expansion of Naples Community Hospital's Wellness Center and International College's new Fort Myers campus. The company has recently expanded its reach with projects in Orlando, the Florida Panhandle and on the east coast.

Gates left that first stucco job after saving enough money for college in Virginia. But he couldn't forget his dream and after a semester or two he married his high school sweetheart and relocated to Naples. The idea, says Gates, was to start a family and find a job as a construction estimator so he could learn about the building industry.

"Some places, what you can accomplish depends on experience, contacts and education," says Gates. "I knew there was opportunity here in Naples, in this industry. When I came to Naples, getting up early, being in the right place at the right time and working hard was all that mattered."

That work ethic paid off almost immediately. Gates soon landed a job as an estimator at Krehling Industries, the largest concrete company in the area. In 1989, he and four partners bought Krehling's construction company, renamed it Wall Systems and began to build one of the largest drywall companies in Southwest Florida.

In 1993, Gates founded Gates Building Systems, a company specializing in small commercial buildings and interior renovations. Hoping to expand, he partnered with James McVey in 1995 to form Gates McVey.

McVey left the company in 2004, but the partnership's initial success continues to accelerate. In the last five years, revenues have increased from $25 million to an estimated $85 million in 2005. Now with projects in the public, commercial and residential sectors, Gates McVey has grown so quickly that a new 12,500-square-foot headquarters, completed in March 2004, is already bursting at the seams.

Throughout the expansion, Gates says he has taken each day as it comes, a philosophy that always has him striving for more.

"Success is an interesting term," says Gates. "To me there's no moment when you know you are successful. Every day is exciting and what drives me when I wake up each morning is to make sure things are dialed in properly and the people I'm working with are all going in the same direction."

Much of the company's prosperity can be attributed to Gates' ability to bring divergent interests together. Youthful and always gracious, Gates' positive attitude and unfailingly polite demeanor has earned him the nickname that also graces his fishing boat, The Southern Gentleman.

"He's got a kind of boyish charm, I guess you could call it," says Don Anderson of FA Investments in Naples. "His personality is such that he is open and approachable, a can-do person who can spot opportunities and bring people together to find a win-win for everyone."

Anderson has worked with Gates on various projects over the past six years, including a 39,000-square-foot outpatient center at Lee Memorial Healthcare System's HealthPark campus in Fort Myers.

On a company level, Gates' knack for bringing people together translates into a full-service company that can handle any aspect of a development project. In addition to design and construction, Gates McVey provides services as diverse as site acquisition, feasibility studies, finance and property management.

"If I had to attribute our growth to anything, it's the fully integrated concept," says Gates. "We saw a tremendous void and have developed a niche doing that. There were always good contractors, developers and real estate people but not one company in Florida that was fully integrated. We try to keep the needs of our clients in mind in everything we do, and it makes it easier for them because we can take any project from cradle to grave."

The new Fort Myers campus at International College is a good example of the company's turnkey approach. For the project, Gates McVey located 15 possible property sites, acquired the site the university selected then handled all aspects of construction. Once the 60,000-square-foot main building was complete, the company sold the new campus to the university.

"I would say things would have gone very differently without Gates McVey," says Dr. Terry McMahan, president of International College. "We had our own architect, but other than that Gates McVey did everything from finding the property to bringing in engineers and construction. Without them, the project may have been possible for us but much more difficult and time consuming."

Since opening in June, the new campus has already helped the university increase new student enrollment by 75 percent, says McMahan.

Gates' gift for collaboration has also led to recent partnerships that will help lead the company into the future.

Adding capital and expertise, three out-of-state firms will allow Gates McVey to expand into other areas of Florida. In partnership with Butz Enterprises, Gates McVey has formed a new division that will focus on school construction and other public-works projects including fire stations, roads and libraries. Butz Enterprises is a Pennsylvania company that specializes in public and institutional projects, including schools.

"With all the growth we thought we can either sit back and wait for government officials to bring someone in from outside, or gear up for that tremendous demand," says Gates of the partnership. "It's a different marketplace and whether a project is a success or you make a mistake, it ends up on the front page. We treat that as a positive and as a challenge."

Earlier this year, Gates McVey announced it was also partnering with two prominent Michigan developers, the Crawford Group and Redico, in order to increase its expertise and financial capabilities. Together, the two Detroit companies offer 75 years of experience developing $5 billion worth of real estate.

According to Richard Crawford, CEO of the Crawford Group, the added support could help Gates McVey generate revenue in the $300- to $500-million range some day.

"Todd is clearly an entrepreneur who is committed to building a large and successful company," says Crawford. "He's determined to build a dominant company in the region and I think he's a guy that can make it happen."