How Groundwork Came to Fort Myers

For years, we watched the same story play out in neighborhoods across Fort Myers. A homeowner would start a kitchen remodel or a room addition with a contractor who talked a great game, then disappear for three weeks. When they did show up, it was with a different crew and a “revised estimate” that was suddenly five figures higher. The worst part wasn’t the money. It was the sick feeling of handing your house keys to someone who wouldn’t look you in the eye anymore.

Derek Hollenbeck had seen it happen too many times, often to friends and family right here in Lee County. When Groundwork Construction Co. decided to open a Fort Myers branch, Derek raised his hand. He already knew what this market needed because he’d spent more than a decade in the trade watching honest homeowners get run through the same wringer. One fixed bid from one accountable contractor - that’s what was missing. That’s what we brought. Our Fort Myers shop opened its doors to give local homeowners something they hadn’t had: a single name on every permit, every trade, and every dollar of the job, backed by a written guarantee they could hold in their hand.

Derek Hollenbeck’s Connection to the Trade

Derek didn’t grow up planning to run a construction company. He found his way into the trade the way a lot of people do - by working with his hands and realizing the work spoke to something in him that a desk job never could. He remembers the first time he stood on a freshly poured footing at sunrise, the concrete still dark with moisture, the air thick with the smell of damp sand and rebar. The rest of the world hadn’t woken up yet, but that slab was already holding the morning light. He knew right then he wasn’t going anywhere.

What keeps him in this trade more than a decade later isn’t the tools or the deadlines. It’s the walkthrough at the end. The moment a family steps into a space that was just studs and dust six weeks earlier and sees what was on the drawing board become their actual kitchen, their actual living room, their actual life. Derek has lost count of how many times a homeowner has gotten quiet in that moment, just taking it in. That’s the part of the job that never gets old. It’s also the part that makes the paperwork, the permitting, and the thousand small decisions that happen between groundbreaking and final inspection worth every minute.

If he weren’t running the Fort Myers branch of Groundwork, he’d probably still be in the trade somewhere, maybe framing or doing finish carpentry, because he’s never been able to walk past a well-built wall without running his hand along it. The work has to be right, and he has to be able to stand behind it. That’s not a marketing line. It’s just how he’s wired.

Meet Derek Hollenbeck

Derek Hollenbeck, Owner & Founder of the Fort Myers branch, leads every project we take on in Lee County. His background spans more than a decade in residential construction, with deep hands-on experience managing full-scale remodels, additions, and ground-up builds. He knows the Florida wind code, the local permit offices, and the particular way a Fort Myers foundation has to be poured so it doesn’t blink when the summer storms roll in.

What makes Derek different from a franchise manager is simple: he can walk onto any job site and do the work himself, but he’s also the one who answers when something needs to be made right. Off the clock, he’s the kind of person who believes a promise should outlast the paint job, and he runs his crews accordingly. When Derek says the price won’t move after the handshake, he means it - because he’s the one who signed the bid.

Our Promise to Fort Myers Homeowners

We don’t believe in surprise invoices. Every Groundwork project starts with a fixed, itemized bid - the number we quote is the number you pay, period. We call it a Square Bid, and it’s the first value in the S.O.L.I.D. code we work by: Square bids, One accountable crew, Licensed & inspected, In writing, Done right.

That code isn’t a poster in the break room. It’s how we run every job from the first permit to the final walkthrough. One crew boss runs your project. Every trade falls under our license. And when we say we stand behind the work, we’re talking about the Built-Right Project Guarantee: 730 days of coverage on all workmanship, every trade, in writing. If something we built isn’t right, we come back and make it right. Not a subcontractor. Not a claim form. Us.

Our Credentials

Every professional working under the Groundwork name in Fort Myers is required to hold the license and insurance their trade demands. That’s not a perk; it’s a non-negotiable. We pull permits on every job that requires them, and we don’t consider a project finished until the local inspection is signed off. Here’s what that means for you:

• State-Licensed - Our general contractor license covers the work we do, and we’re accountable to Florida’s licensing board for every job we take on. If a permit is required, we pull it.
• Insured & Bonded - General liability and bonding protect your property and your project. It’s the foundation of trust between a contractor and a homeowner.
• More Than a Decade of Local Experience - Derek Hollenbeck has been working in residential construction for over ten years. That means he’s seen what works in Southwest Florida’s climate and what doesn’t, and he builds accordingly.
• Strong Local Reputation - The best compliment a contractor can earn is the next-door neighbor who calls because they liked what they saw going in down the street. That’s the reputation we’ve worked hard to build in Fort Myers.

When a homeowner hires someone to work inside their home, credentials aren’t paperwork - they’re peace of mind. A license means there’s a board you can call if something goes sideways. Insurance means your property is covered if there’s an accident. And a reputation built house by house means you can walk over and talk to people who already know our work before you ever sign a contract.

Rooted in Fort Myers

We hire our crews here, in Lee County. Our people live in the same neighborhoods we build in - Lochmoor Waterway Estates, Whiskey Creek, Cypress Lake, McGregor - so the house next door belongs to somebody’s neighbor too. We buy materials from local yards, we know the permit offices, and we don’t leave a job site until it’s broom-clean and ready for its final inspection. Groundwork crews are trained on real jobs, by journeymen who know wind code by heart, because building in Fort Myers means building for the long haul.

Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co. of Fort Myers, serving Fort Myers and the surrounding communities since 2014.