Learn on the Job

The son of a union electrician, Neal got his first taste of the construction industry while working alongside his father during summers as a teenager. One day, he was up on a roof, baking in the Florida sun, when he saw the boss pull up in his air-conditioned pickup truck.

My dad says, ‘What job would you rather have, his or mine?’ I go, ‘No disrespect, Pop, but I like what he’s doing better.’”

When Neal enrolled at the University of Florida, he initially followed a premed path, but soon decided it wasn’t for him and switched over to the construction program. “I felt like they were more my people than the professors in the medical school,” he recalls. “I ended up graduating [in 1979] with a bachelor’s degree in building construction.

After a few years working for a home builder, Neal landed a job with McDevitt & Street in 1982, which was led at the time by Bob Street. From the start, Neal recognized that the company was “all about culture,” stressing the need to train and develop staff while building strong, lasting relationships with clients. Street not only met with staff members, he wrote them letters of encouragement. “What I took away from that is leadership is also about how you make people feel,” he says. “I had a notebook with a dozen letters from Bob in it that I kept. It was so highly motivational.”

Neal ended up spending almost two decades with the company, until Street passed away and the company was acquired by Bovis. Neal credits Street’s business philosophies for helping him succeed in his future ventures, including at KAST. “That [nearly] 20 years was a master class in how to lead people, how to grow people and how to develop incredible long-lasting repeat business relationships,” he says.

Last fall, KAST completed work on Gables Riverwalk, a 43-story residential tower in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Photo Courtesy of KAST Construction

Take Ownership

After two brief unfulfilling stints with national construction firms, Neal joined Coscan in 1999 as director of construction. The company was focused on condo development. The firm’s owner, Brookfield Homes, was interested in exiting the business, and Neal partnered with Coscan’s president, Al Piazza, to buy the company. The deal was structured to allow existing projects to complete under Brookfield ownership while new projects were under new ownership. On Jan. 1, 2003, Coscan became wholly owned by Neal and Piazza. The team began pursuing third-party construction deals in addition to development deals. Within their first year, the company had inked third-party deals valued at nearly $500 million.

The firm’s focus on the condominium market helped it flourish for years until the 2008 financial crisis brought work to a standstill. In 2009, Coscan completed its existing projects and closed the company.

After a brief retirement, Neal was approached by a former business partner, Kolter Group CEO Bobby Julien, who offered him another chance at joining the ownership of a construction firm. In 2011, Neal became a partner in Kolter’s construction firm, KAST Construction. Neal again applied the strategies he had gleaned from Bob Street and successfully implemented at Coscan. Over the next six years, KAST’s annual revenue grew from about $50 million to nearly $600 million. The company has since expanded beyond its headquarters in West Palm Beach, adding offices in Tampa and Miami. With revenue now exceeding $1 billion, Neal estimates that KAST could top $1.3 billion next year.

Although KAST has seen remarkable success under his leadership, Neal says it “came very naturally” after his experiences at McDevitt & Street and Coscan. Neal implemented the values that served him well in the past, such as respect for people, striving for continuous improvement and “extreme ownership,” which encourages “owning what you do” and not blaming others when things don’t go according to plan.

Neal (center) meets with Marco Viteri (left), KAST vice president of preconstruction services, and Jason Kung (right), KAST project executive.
Photo Courtesy of KAST Construction

Fostering Future Leaders

In addition to building a strong culture, Neal knew he needed to put trust in his executive team. “A lot of leaders let their egos get in the way,” he says. “They want to hire people they can control. I’m the absolute opposite. I try to hire people that I believe are smarter than me and have more talent than me. I give them plenty of room to do what they do, so long as they work within the confines of my values and my belief system. Because they aren’t just my values, they need to be the shared values of the organization.”

One of those leaders is Sean Ouellette, who joined KAST 10 years ago to open the Tampa office. Ouellette, who had previously worked for large national firms, recognized early on that Neal and his staff put trust in his people and didn’t micromanage them.

“It came across clearly to me in my first interview that he was a very people-oriented person, very service-minded,” says Ouellette, who was named company president in October as part of the company’s succession plan. “There are contracts and all of these things that drive the business, but at the end of the day, it’s all about the people and the relationships.”

The importance of relationships extends to KAST’s project partners. Mitch Permuy, CEO of Power Design, says he first started working with Neal when he was at Coscan. At that time, Power Design was also doing work with KAST. Permuy says that bringing Neal to KAST greatly enhanced the company’s culture and, by extension, its reputation. Permuy notes that employee retention also improved once Neal was at the helm, and subcontractors felt like an extended part of the KAST team.

“Mike’s reputation and the way he does business, he brought people back to doing business with KAST,” he says. “It gave them credibility as a company because he’s a very credible guy.”

Today, Permuy and Neal regularly discuss industry issues, such as labor shortages and material availability, and share insights on working with other industry partners.

Neal’s willingness to share knowledge with partners has been particularly evident in his work with industry groups such as the Urban Land Institute and the Associated General Contractors. Julie Medlie, executive director of ULI’s Southeast Florida and Caribbean chapter, says Neal has proven to be a valuable resource, especially since joining the chapter’s board in 2017. “The cool thing about Mike is, whenever we need construction viewpoints, he frequently serves as a panelist,” she says. “If we’re having roundtable discussions about what is affecting labor or commodities or tariffs, he’s always a good source expert.”

Neal also strives to give back to his community. In every region where KAST operates, Neal encourages senior leaders to serve on nonprofit boards and to support local organizations with their time, talent and resources. KAST’s signature event, Havana Nights, is a biennial charity poker tournament that KAST fully underwrites. Every dollar raised goes directly back into the community. To date, the event has raised nearly $12 million, supporting dozens of grassroots charities that serve families, children and individuals in need.

KAST President Sean Oullette (left) will take the helm when Neal retires.
Photo Courtesy of KAST Construction

A Master Mentor

Neal turns 70 this year and is eyeing retirement. In 2023, KAST implemented a succession plan with eight senior executives buying into the company. The plan included elevating Ouellette to chief operating officer that year before promoting him to president last year. The new chapter has also thrust Neal into more of a mentor role as he sets KAST up for the future.

“Mike has really challenged me and helped me get to the next level on the people management side of the business,” Ouellette says. “Mike opened my eyes up to how you build relationships, maintain them and be successful. In relationships, it’s give and take. It’s not a zero-sum game. It’s OK to give—you can still win.”

For Neal, the role of mentor is a perfect fit with his overall focus on helping his employees and their clients. In his final years at KAST, Neal says he can focus on what is most important to him.

“I want to be remembered as a guy that helped a lot of great young people rise in the industry and become great leaders,” he says. “I don’t know that being regarded as a great builder is that important to me. I’d rather be measured by the people that I have helped.”