Mason Contractor Jim Painter is Florida's Builder of the Year

Jim Painter of Painter Masonry Inc. in Gainesville has won the Florida Home Builders Association's (FHBA) highest individual honor – the Builder of the Year Award presented last week at FHBA's 61st annual Fall Leadership Conference in Tampa. 

This is the first time in the history of this prestigious award that it has gone to a mason contractor.  Painter follows in the footsteps of Gainesville builder Barry Rutenberg, who won the award in 1994, and now-deceased Gainesville builders A.W. Fletcher (1982) and George Kirkpatrick, Jr. (1981).

Premier builders in the state of Florida, Painter and his brother Jerry have owned Painter Masonry since 1969. For over 40 years, the brothers have defined their reputation by instilling a level of fine masonry for commercial, industrial and institutional buildings throughout the North Central Florida area. Painter Masonry has been the builder of choice for the University of Florida for the past four decades. The architecture of the University of Florida campus is renowned for its masonry architecture, utilizing brick, concrete block and stone to create a vibrant, traditional southern college campus.

A past-president of the BA of North Central Florida and a former Gainesville Mayor, Painter has been a leader of many of FHBA's most important initiatives, including governmental affairs, political action, and the Future Builders of America (FBA) program that trains young people for careers in the construction trades.

His most recent work at FHBA has been as a member of a Strategic Planning Task Force that developed recommendations on how the 7,000-member, Tallahassee-based association can achieve operational and governance efficiencies.

Painter is also active in the Masonry Association of Florida. He is the 2013 winner of the MAF's Chairman's award and is very involved on the MAF governmental affairs committee.