Murphy's Law: hard work, integrity, reliability, getting the job done on time and within budget—is this any way to build a fortune in South Florida? Sometimes the old fashioned virtues still pay off. This year Coastal construction group will likely sign on $300 million in new jobs, largely because Tom Murphy—plus family and crew—deliver - Tom Murphy - Cover Story

South Florida CEO, March, 2004 by J.P. Faber

That sense of being up-front, combined with the reputation he so ferociously guards, has earned Murphy such a press of clients that, for the last two years, he has turned away more projects than Coastal has taken on. It has also given him more than 200 of the jobs he considers the most fun--building private homes for extremely wealthy clients--including two dozen for celebrities and billionaires.

"The private homes are the most interesting things we do," says Murphy. "We can build a 35-story high-rise, a 2-year project for a developer, and have a great relationship. But when you build a $5 million home for him, it's night and day, because you get involved on a very personal level. You meet the whole family, you meet the wife, the kids, you see the relationships ... I mean, you build a guy a beer warehouse, you see him twice a year. You do an addition to his home, suddenly it's up close and personal."

As in commercial work, perhaps even more so, reputation and connections are paramount. Anyone who can afford to build a $5 million or $10 million home expects the best. They want quality and speed, and when that combination is delivered, it gets around. "In the big, big private homes, everything is word of mouth," says Murphy. "And you're only as good as your last job. It's no different than your last movie in Hollywood. You screw up one and it takes years and years to get over it."

On the walls of Murphy's Airport West office hang numerous letters and testimonials; many more are kept on file. There is one from Dan and Claire Marino, for building their home in Weston, and another from Macy's president Jim Gray, for his Coconut Grove home (which he later sold to Madonna). One from Maria and Raymond Floyd notes how Murphy built their Indian Creek home in 11 months, when "everyone at Indian Creek said the house could not be rebuilt in under 18 months." Then there's the letter from Albert Reichmann, the Canadian CEO of Olympia & York who developed London's Canary Wharf, for building his Miami Beach home. Perhaps most tickling is a letter of thanks from Bob Vila--yes, that Bob Vila, the Sears spokesman of "This Old House" fame.

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Murphy cannot talk about some of the homes he has built, including a recently finished $60 million, 50,000-square-foot mansion in Palm Beach County for an unnamed client. "We have a lot of confidentiality agreements," he says. "We've had quite a few jobs where we have to post security 24 hours at every entrance, where we go through guys' toolboxes for cameras, and where no blueprints leave the job sites. The owners sometimes have their own security. I'm not sure it's necessary in some cases, but there you have it."

One of the clients he can talk about, and one who impressed him deeply, is Oprah Winfrey. Murphy built, or re-built, four homes for her, including a huge condo project on Fisher Island. Unlike Sylvestor Stallone, whose mansion on Biscayne Bay was a Murphy project, Oprah wanted to hold an opening party not for the most important people in Miami but for the laborers who actually did the work.