Making Waves

Most people might be hard-pressed to find any similarities between computer networking and running a construction company. Not Scott Hertz. The 40-year-old Miami Beach native shifted seamlessly from running a computer consulting company to construction.

Since then, the company he heads, Powell Construction, has earned recognition in the local construction industry, and Hertz has jumped into leadership roles in Cape Coral's business community.

Hertz was running his own computer-consulting firm when he started looking for a change of pace. "I was doing a lot of work on a global scale, designing networks for multinational companies and traveling the world, but it was time to settle down," he says.

In 2002, Hertz moved to Cape Coral to run his mother and stepfather's 23-year-old construction business. "My project management skills were a good fit. Instead of making sure 1,000 computers with the right programs are shipped to a location on time, it was making sure framers had the lumber they needed and were at the job site on time," he says. "It's the details of whether the framer framed it correctly where you need the specific knowledge."

To get that knowledge, Hertz earned both general contractor and real estate licenses. "All the great builders sit down and study the codes and the regulations. They take courses and make an effort to find out how things work. That's been part of my success," he says.

With 12 employees, Powell Construction handles residential and commercial construction. "Most of our business is [from] referrals and word of mouth," he says. And word is spreading.

In 2005, Powell Construction was named Builder of the Year by the Cape Coral Construction Industry Association, an organization he now leads as president. He also is a member of the Cape Coral Redevelopment Agency and the Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce.

"My motto is, 'Teamwork makes the dream work.' If a whole lot of people give a little bit of their time, we can get a whole lot done," he says.

-Lauren S. Bernaldo