Built to Last

“From the day we opened, we had one goal in mind,” says David Croom, founder and owner of Croom Construction Company in Vero Beach. “That goal was to be the best.” A lofty aspiration, indeed, but one the company has consistently striven to attain by hiring qualified professionals, building strong relationships and being an industry leader. 

This month, Croom Construction will celebrate 40 years of building quality commercial and residential properties on the barrier island. From $50,000 renovation projects to $20 million estates, the company has been ranked in the top 50 by leading national design magazines, and ranked No.1 remodeler in the State of Florida for five years in a row. 

As we sit and talk about the changes Croom has witnessed over the last four decades, he reflects upon those early days in 1978 when he first set up business in Vero Beach. “We had a fax machine, a telephone, an IBM typewriter and mobile radios with antennae. That was it. If someone wanted a photograph of the construction process, we had to go out and take pictures, send them downtown to Skiscim’s camera store to have them developed, then pick them up two or three days later and put them in the U.S. mail. And even though the homes were a derivation of English-Georgian architecture they were much simpler. People didn’t deviate much so you had pretty simple interiors compared with what you have today. Now, we have much more sophisticated architecture with finishes and materials that come from all over the world.”