Congressman Jimmy Patronis, who represents Florida's First Congressional District and serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, recently joined Kelvin Enfinger, Vice President at Greenhut Construction and past chair of ABC North Florida, on an episode of Beyond the Build, the official podcast of Associated Builders and Contractors North Florida. The conversation centered on the most pressing policy challenges facing the construction industry, with permitting reform emerging as the top priority.
Patronis did not mince words when discussing the impact of permitting delays on construction projects. “I get very spun up when we have excessive delays that lead to excessive soft costs,” he said. “Legal expenses, engineering expenses, survey expenses – because somebody is nickel-and-diming or challenging a development.” These soft costs, which accumulate while projects stall waiting for permits, can meaningfully erode project margins and strain contractor cash flow without moving any dirt or placing any beam.
His target extends beyond bureaucratic slowness to what he describes as an institutional culture within agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers, where a subset of career staff treat permit denial as a default rather than an exception. Patronis noted that the new Corps leadership has shown a genuine interest in refocusing the agency on its actual mission, but whether that shift holds is a question contractors should watch closely.
For construction professionals managing federal and state-permitted projects, the practical message is that pressure on permitting reform is building at the congressional level. The current political conditions – a cooperative White House, majority in both chambers, and roughly 70 outgoing members motivated to leave on a productive note – create a window that does not stay open indefinitely.
On infrastructure funding, Patronis highlighted the surface transportation authorization bill as a priority for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. This legislation authorizes federal spending on roads and bridges, the backbone of construction activity in markets like Northwest Florida, where population growth is outpacing existing road capacity on corridors like Highway 98. The Warrior Road Act, which Patronis championed, addresses access to Hurlburt Field and the broader military corridor, a long-overdue fix that will have real construction volume attached to it. Additionally, the US Department of Transportation's $489 million port infrastructure development program signals continued federal infrastructure investment.
Enfinger asked whether the industry should expect this level of federal infrastructure commitment to continue, and Patronis gave a measured but optimistic answer. The combination of a motivated outgoing class of members and an aligned White House creates an environment for sustained infrastructure appropriations, at least through this legislative cycle.
The workforce conversation was equally direct. Enfinger cited the current national shortage of 360,000 construction workers, a number that could grow by another 100,000 within a year, and asked Patronis to make the case directly to young people considering their options. Patronis drew on his own background, starting with a culinary arts degree and working in a kitchen. “There is a satisfaction you get by creating something with your hands that you’re never going to get from taking a test and hopefully getting an A,” he said. “When you get that gratification – you’ve done something yourself, that’s a different type of confidence builder.”
For the construction industry, which consistently struggles to communicate the dignity and opportunity of trades work to a generation steered toward four-year degrees, that kind of authentic testimony from a public official carries weight. The workforce pipeline cannot be filled by the industry alone; it requires policy support, institutional buy-in from schools and community colleges, and elected officials willing to say plainly that a skilled trade is not a fallback but a foundation.
