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As soon as our home here in NJ sells, we are moving to Fla's east coast. I was thinking of Port St lucie area, more specifically Jenson bch area.
Can anyone give us info on this area as we've only lived in palm bch county in the past. I will be relocating my Roofing & siding buisness of 20yrs down with me, & my wife is a bartender & school teacher. Any info would be apreciated.....
Fishing? Marinas for a 36-42 sportfisher? homes near the water? real estate prices? Traffic/congestion,? construction etc....
Hi, I have a beautiful cul de sac, corner lot for sale two blocks from the Savannahs Preserve in Port St. Lucie. It's 5 minutes to Jensen Beach. If you are interested, it's 83,900. My email is ttufts19@hotmail.com.
I was considering moving a little further north to get a place on the water but decided to stay here in Jupiter as the family is settled here. We bought a second home in NC instead. In my search, I worked with Julio Sanchez of Keyes Realty juliosanchez@keyes.com, and he was very helpful with no pressure. You might want to contact him for advice or assistance in your search.
Your license is not transferable. There's plenty of roofing contractors, and business, but no one to work. Speak Spanish? All roofing is done by "others". Florida has no reciprocity with any other state on licensing. Siding is not considered part of roofing. Sounds like you are an industrial contractor. Port St. Lucie is not Jensen area..Jensen is in Martin County, PSL is St. Lucie County. Martin County has an entirely different economic base. PSL and its developer is considered the poster child for the Florida land scam. However, great deals on property will be available in PSL soon, as prices revert back to reasonable. Martin County property is generally more valuable, and for good reason. The St' Lucie inlet is in Martin County, which also has many more waterfront homes which accommodate boats that size. However, expect to pay dearly for waterfront....3/4 million up. Martin has lower crime, better restaurants, better schools, lower taxes, better quality of life. I know there's something good about PSL, I just can't think what it is at this moment.....
Bill, I know that the liscense is not transferable, I already contacted the building dept in PSL, they want me to take the exam etc and get the local liscensing...no big deal......By the way im a residential & commercial (mostly residential), contractor, re-covers, tear-offs, flat roofs etc. You sound as if there is no work there??? I hope there is a market for me lol, I would think that with the hurricanes etc you guys need roofing contractors, in fact i get pulled over in my truck up here in NJ by Floridians begging me to come down to fix there roofs??? & my Sis in Law lives in WPB and tells me there are still blue tarps on the roofs all over the place?
Anyway thankyou for all the responses....hopefully this wont be a mistake lol...
Well I need a Roofer and I would like one who speaks English. My wife hired a painter who didn't speak English and we couldn't communicate at all. The dude pressure cleaned my roof and now I got 2 leaks. One in Garage and One in the family room.
I need a roofer. So at least you can do my work, however I am in Miami.
Yeah there's lot's of work down here. Only thing is you'll need to be careful of your crew. Not a Homogenious population down here. Lot's of transients so if you hire a guy and he works out great and one day he's gone and you find out that two jobs prior he took stuff from the homeowner...Don't say you weren't warned.
But other than that you sound like a real asset to the South Florida community and Welcome!
Love to get more skilled folk like you two to move to Florida from up north.
Florida has -2- grades of licenses, locally registered and state certified. Registered contractors can only work in the municipality where they licensed, where state certified contractors can work anywhere in the state by showing their license and insurance. Yes, there's plenty of work, but NO workers. Personally, I am a state certified building contractor and certified roofing contractor. However, both licenses are on inactive..tired of fighting building departments and trying to find COMPETENT help. Workers comp for roofers is astronomical, and many contractors use employee leasing. There is a state building code that is used throughout the state, and is unique to the state of Florida. All exterior materials must meet Miami Dade windload specs, must have an approval, and the method of installation and attachment must be followed EXACTLY as the manufacturer requires. On a reroof, the plywood must be renailed to current specs, and often must be inspected before it is dried in/covered up. If the architect says "hand nailed 4" oc with 6d dipped galvanized commons" thats what it has to be.
Personally, I will NEVER do any more work in Port St. Lucie. Just be very very careful where you buy.
Florida has -2- grades of licenses, locally registered and state certified. Registered contractors can only work in the municipality where they licensed, where state certified contractors can work anywhere in the state by showing their license and insurance. Yes, there's plenty of work, but NO workers. Personally, I am a state certified building contractor and certified roofing contractor. However, both licenses are on inactive..tired of fighting building departments and trying to find COMPETENT help. Workers comp for roofers is astronomical, and many contractors use employee leasing. There is a state building code that is used throughout the state, and is unique to the state of Florida. All exterior materials must meet Miami Dade windload specs, must have an approval, and the method of installation and attachment must be followed EXACTLY as the manufacturer requires. On a reroof, the plywood must be renailed to current specs, and often must be inspected before it is dried in/covered up. If the architect says "hand nailed 4" oc with 6d dipped galvanized commons" thats what it has to be..
wow sounds like quite a bit of red tape!....how can the state afford to be this stringent, with all the storm damage repairs needed? I can understand about the installation codes of course with the high winds/storms etc......
Quote:
billinstuart - 7/25/2006 5:48 PM
Personally, I will NEVER do any more work in Port St. Lucie. Just be very very careful where you buy
where i buy what? materials or homes? if its PSL that is giving you the red tape, could you reccomend another county where its not as rough to have this kind of buisness?
One of the main reasons there are still blue tarps on many homes around FL is that they either don't have insurance, their insurance company is giving them the run around or they spent the check they did get on something else, check into Dade county specs, about as tough as it gets....I live in St Augustine, the issue with the work force isn't as big an issue here, still demand for roofers......Mick
"Licensing is for the protection of the public". Every transient construction contractor comes to Florida eventually, leaving a legacy of shoddy work or simply skipping out with deposits. It's a felony to contract unlicensed construction in florida. And they do enforce it. Rigid requirements started with hurricane Andrew, to prevent the destruction that occured there.
I was referring to moving to PSL. They have alot of problems not apparent to the casual observer. And it's not just the building department. For instance, building lots that were literally given away 4 yrs. ago are now $100,000. There's a reason the big developers build along the interstate..they're trying to attract yankee touristers who want to move to the promised land and buy overvalued homes in the middle of nowhere. Sorry, I've been in Florida since 1950, and have become kinda callous about the situation of unchecked sprawl of homes. My recommendation: look for an existing home in a convenient, desirable area, check the property tax structure, evaluate the area based on access to shopping, restaurants, suppliers, and the water. Don't buy just because the house is new. Location, location, location.
Victory 1, I have a buddy who has been a residentual building contractor in the PSL area for many, many years. I'm sure he can answer many of your questions and maybe help you out in more ways than one. If you're interested, drop me an email or PM me and I will hook you up with him. racencase@adelphia.net
__________________ Never back anything into a corner that is meaner than you are.
I just sent Rick an email with a brief discription of your needs. He should get back to me this afternoon. I don't like to call him on the job 'cause he usually ignores my call or I would just call him.
__________________ Never back anything into a corner that is meaner than you are.
Jensen Beach is very nice.
Stuart is very nice.
Hutchinson Island is extremely nice.
Sewalls Point is extremely nice.
Port St. Lucie has it's nice areas and bad areas (just like the others)
Marinas:
Check out Martin County Marina, any of the marinas in Manatee Pocket (Pirates Cove, Sailfish Marina, etc), and Jensen has two marinas I believe. Ocean access from the marinas take about the following:
Riverwatch Marina (St. Lucie Locks): 40 minutes, mostly due to idle speed zones.
Martin County Marina: 20-30 minutes, depending on if waiting for RR or Old US 1 bridge to go up.
Manatee Pocket area: once out of the pocket, less than 3 minutes
Jensen Beach Marinas: probably 15 minutes or so, maybe less.
I trailer my boat and usually put in at Sandsprit Park at the mouth of Manatee Pocket. Very easy to get to the ocean from there, straight out past 4 corners and through the inlet. If I'm staying inshore and am out for a cruise, I usually put in near Martin Co. Marina, and cruise down St. Lucie River to near the inlet.
Housing prices...depends on what you want. Martin County is more expensive than St. Lucie county, St. Lucie county residents get alot of flack from Martin Co. residents due to the fact that the majority of Port St. Lucie boaters put in using the Martin Co. ramps, as there is only 1 ramp location to the St. Lucie river in PSL.
Right now the market has/still is stabilizing in PSL. The market is flooded, so prices have finally checked themselves. A new 3/2/2 pool home around 2000 sf would probably run around 275k-350k in PSL, depending on area. So it all depends. Martin county prices are probably 20%-40% higher, then of course you can get to ocean access dockage/waterfront, and you're going to really jack up the prices.
Martin County also has a lower property tax rate than St Lucie and Palm Beach counties. Martin controls it's growth and is known for it's schools. Martin does not bus students, St Lucie county does because of a court mandate. I've been coming down here since 1990 and did my homework prior to building a home. E mail me for more specifics and/or questions at juniorbaiter@yahoo.com. (I'm also a board member of the Treasure Caost Rodbenders fishing club). Jim Serra, Palm City
Help Relocating to Fla..... 
