Testimonials & Memories
The words below come from archived testimonials and memories connected to the DePaola-era history of Tradewind Estate Homes.
They are preserved here as part of the memorial archive for Debi and Tom DePaola.
Honesty and Dependability
“The purpose of this letter is to address the standards and achievements of Mr. Tom DePoala and all of his associates at Tradewind Estate Homes. But first, let me explain who I am and why I’m qualified to attest to these accolades. I actually live in San Diego, California. However, I purchased a small home in Cape Coral in 1996 to be near my family who lives in this area. As my daughter’s family grew, my home needed to keep up with the new additions. Mr. DePaola was referred to me by Raso Realty to assess what I needed and to give me a bid on a new bedroom and bath remodel. While he wasn’t the lowest bidder on my small project, he was the most honest about what needed to be done. He and his team not only completed my project on time, but they came in right on budget. I had no change orders to deal with, no, “oh, did I forget to tell you about that?”, and, “look what we found when we took this wall out,” sorts of things that tend to drive small projects into big ones. Tradewind Estate Homes did what they said they would do, not only for that first project, but for many more larger and more daunting ones over these past twelve years or so.
They’ve certainly proved themselves to me to be honest, trustworthy and absolutely dependable in all things at all times.”
J.L.
New England Work Ethic
“I started FMCC INC shortly after arriving in Florida and with a group of professionals including Dentist, Doctors, Attorneys and other private individuals we realized in order to get the quality from our remodeling and new construction we would need to find one company that could do it all.
The carpentry was one part of what we needed, electricians, plumbers, tile work and on and on. Tom and Debi DePaola were just starting their company and had the New England drive and work ethic we were looking for to get the job done on time and with quality we expected. It would take many pages of this web page to list all the projects Tom and Debi DePaola, later to become Tradewind Estate Homes, built for us. Some of which were 14 Dental Centers, some of which were build outs from existing shopping center spaces to free standing buildings. FMCC INC also was involved in building residential homes, of course who better than Tradewind Estate Homes to handle these for us as well. Remodeling all of our projects taking old space and turning into dental centers, medical offices or whatever our end goal was.”
W.J.
Attention to Detail
I have known the DePaolas for quite some time. I am from MA. and was lucky to see their work long before they came to FL. I am as impressed now, as I was then.
As a contractor, you can find none better than Debi DePaola. She is smart, able and has access to construction, due to her husband, Tom, who has worked in the construction field. His knowledge is invaluable. Together they are a fabulous team!
Their work speaks for itself– attention to detail, best of products, numerous meetings with clients, all permits pulled and filed in a timely manner. They have remodeled two condos for us and we were extremely satisfied. I didn’t need to worry that my wishes and ideas would not be followed. They actually improved on them. We did end up selling them and had no problem. People loved them and they sold right away. They have remodeled a house in San Carlos. The before and after pictures are true. I was there!
They are honest and hard working people. When Tradewind Estates Homes has worked on your home, you can be sure of a solid, well constructed home-one you will be happy in, for many years to come.”
D.D.
Long-Term Client Relationships
We would like to thank you for the wonderful undertaking for the remodeling you have done on our residence over the past eight years. You have made our house a home! I recall, with fond memories, our first meeting with Tradewind, when they sat down with us in our living room and helped plan our project. That was in mid 2001 and later that year they started our addition. We called that Phase I. Over the years, we had Tradewind Estate Homes do Phase II, II and IV, finishing the project in 2008. The pace of completion was up to us, other than those hectic months, after Hurricane Charlie, which devastated Cape Coral.
They have always been on time for scheduled appointments. They started each morning at the time when they said the work would commence. They left the job spotless each day their crew finished.
Tradewind has replaced, built or rebuilt the bedroom, bathrooms, kitchen, lanai, windows, doors, ceilings, floors, lights, soffit and fascia, added beams, sliding glass doors, walls, plumbing and electrical. Every phase of the project has been done to perfection. For this, and your eight years of services, from us, to both of you, we send to you our heartfelt, thank you.
J.B.
Respectful Crews and Trusted Work
We recently did a remodel on our house. It was 20 years old and needed new windows and doors. It was also not built to current hurricane standards. In addition, my mother needed to move in with us due to health issues. We then needed to make the house handicap accessible. We ended up doubling the size of the original house by adding 1200 square feet. Our house went from the small old house on the block to the eye catching one in the neighborhood that everybody is talking about.
Tradewind Estate Homes has been the best contractor I have ever used. They seemed to know what we wanted before we knew. They were nothing but patient with my wife who had a hard time conceptualizing something that was not there. Any changes that needed to be made were done promptly and without comment. They tackled the job as though it was their own house. Their crew was equally competent and very polite and respectful of our space. They each were willing to go the extra mile to make the experience an enjoyable one for us.
The subcontractors that had to come in were of the same high caliber. They have worked for Tradewind on most of their jobs. For the time that we spend with them they were all becoming family. We felt that we could trust them with our most precious possession.
C.W.
Share Your Memory
If you have a memory, testimonial, project photo, or story connected to Debi, Tom, or Tradewind Estate Homes, you are invited to submit it for family review.
