Constructing a Vision
The road to success
By Carol Park
As a young man Mario Gonzales grabbed hold of his vision to become a developer and never let go. Years of hard work and a natural curiosity about construction paved the way to success for Gonzales.
As president and chief executive officer of Cathedral City-based GHA Communities, Gonzales develops affordable and luxury homes with quality and style. GHA is the largest privately-owned home building company in the Coachella Valley.
Born and raised in Chicago, Gonzales is the middle child of five siblings. He was an active young man and was an avid hockey player and wrestler. An entrepreneur at heart, he spent his time working odd jobs, sometimes selling flowers on street corners in downtown Chicago and sometimes he shoveled snow for a few extra bucks.
"I was ambitious to work," Gonzales said. "I was always the entrepreneur in that respect."
When he was 15 years old he took a trip to California with his family and spent some time in Palm Springs visiting friends. That trip wooed the Gonzales family away from Chicago and in 1978, his family moved to Palm Springs. He was 16 years old.
Bella Clancy Estate Villas, Rancho Mirage, CA
"My parents wanted to get out of the cold; they were tired of it," Gonzales said. "So we moved to California and I went to Palm Springs High School during my sophomore year. Back home, I was basically confined to a building at school, but here there was a wide open campus and a lot of freedom and blonde headed girls. I had a lot of fun."
But fun would soon turn into a desire to work. Motivated by the growing wealth and opportunity in Palm Springs, Gonzales decided to drop out of high school and set his sights on earning his own living.
"After I dropped out of high school I went to work," he said. "I wanted to earn my own money and get my own car. So I entered into a work program and let the athletic side of my life go to the wayside. I'd work a lot. I started out as a trench ditcher for a friend's plumbing contractor. I'd earn $50 to dig a trench so I started giving friends $25 to dig a trench while I dug my own."
Eager to learn and work, Gonzales didn't mind the physical labor involved with construction. He learned how to frame and learned about concrete while he worked for a local developer and later for a local concrete firm.
Gonzales learned the concrete business while he worked for cement contractor Francis Markley Corp. in the Coachella Valley. At the time, Francis Markley did a lot of cement work for PGA West. While he worked for Francis Markley he got to see the development process and how construction worked.
"That's how I got into the construction industry," Gonzales said. "I always had an interest in the entire process of building and eventually I got a taste of the construction trade when I worked with general contractor Tony Bonanno. He treated me like a son and I got to play with dry wall and electrical and I got to use different tools and learned the process of general contracting."
Then one day he met John Wessman, a commercial and residential developer that inspired Gonzales. Wessman is Gonzales' mentor.
"He did a lot of cool stuff, a lot of detailed and fun stuff," Gonzales said.
Years later, the two forged a business alliance, Wessman Gonzales. Over the years, the two have built many homes in the Coachella Valley.
When Gonzales was 19 he built his first house on Chimayo Road in Thousand Palms for a gentleman he met while working.
"Building that home forced me to learn the process of construction; getting a blue print and having it drafted in a form acceptable to the city and generally putting the pieces together," Gonzales said.
Bella Clancy pool
Then around 1980, Gonzales was laid off from Francis Markley Corp. But with his experience he had the foundation he needed to start on his own. That's when Gonzales decided he would go into business for himself. He obtained his general contractor's license in 1984. He started cementing patios and driveways with a foundation here and there. Essentially, he became competition for Francis Markley Corp. and ended up one of the top five concrete contractors in the mid-1980s. Gonzales cemented more than 175 tennis courts while he worked as a cement contractor.
As Gonzales' business grew he crossed paths with Richard Morreale, a builder who did custom homes.
"I got a really good lesson in home building while I was a concrete contractor from him," Gonzales said. "He was a hands-on developer and he built the 'Bella Monte' community in Palm Springs. That was my first knowledge of how you can order cool things from places like Mexico and add finer things like fountains to homes. He and I became friends. I learned a lot from him."
Eventually, Gonzales was tapped to become vice president of Palm Springs-based Six Kids Development Construction in 1985. Together, they built condo projects and triplexes.
Escala home, Rancho Mirage, CA
Then Gonzales phased out of Six Kids Development and in 1988 he formed Mario Gonzales Enterprises Inc. Under that name he phased out of doing third-party concrete work and began building his own projects and cementing them himself.
After a few years and after working with the Starkey Co., Gonzales bought a building in Cathedral City where he set up shop and maintained his business.
"It was quiet in the early 90s and then in 1996 I started GHA Enterprises Inc.," he said. "Originally, it stood for Gonzales Herrera and Associates, but I bought them out in 2000 and changed the name to Gonzales Homes and Associates."
Today, Gonzales does business under the GHA Communities name and has built multiple custom homes and housing tracts. GHA homes are priced from $300,000 to more than $2 million.
GHA developments include the Las Colinas development in Indio, the 169-home Cimmaron Cove community in Cathedral City, the 59-home Foxdale community in Desert Hot Springs and the 57-home Escala community in Rancho Mirage.
More bang for the buck
An experienced builder, Gonzales knows that homes are built with a standard. But for Gonzales that wasn't enough. He wanted to raise the bar and add classier elements to the homes he built. He puts more than just thought into each of his developments. Gonzales caters to the unique, artistic style of the Coachella Valley. To help accomplish that, he adds flare to his homes by bringing in architects from Orange County or out of state.
"Design is important for me," Gonzales said. "We don't use the same product, it's always different. Part of our big thing is craftsmanship, reliability and service, it's our motto. We like things that look like they belong, we're not afraid to use fun colors. We have a good reputation and I think we've done our job, from office to design to the walk through and the buying process."
MJ Knitter, president and chief executive officer of Irvine-based Knitter & Associates Inc. knows firsthand that GHA Communities goes above and beyond the standard.
"We did projects with GHA that were affordable homes but they were still built with nice amenities and countertops," Knitter said. "I think Mario is used to doing custom homes so when it comes to production homes he finds a way to work the finer details into them."
Knitter has worked with Gonzales for years and has watched him grow from a one man operation to a successful builder.
Escala pool
"We've enjoyed the relationship we've had with Mario and I wish him continued success," Knitter said.
Although Gonzales has been successful, it wasn't an easy road. He had to learn and develop and execute his projects well in order to earn a good reputation that would allow him to survive in the construction industry.
"The ability to execute properly is important," Gonzales said. "A lot of people can plan things and plans are important to the recipe, but you got to be able to cook it. Execution is important."
Building with class
Although Gonzales has built hundreds of homes and multiple developments, he has one particular favorite he's working on right now; the Campanile community in Cathedral City.
The gated Campanile community is 50% complete and will consist of 285 homes in six neighborhoods along with some commercial space. The pedestrian friendly community will have three villages with floor plans between 1,982 square feet up to 3,370 square feet. The villages will be designed with Spanish, bungalow and traditional styles. Campanile will also feature a large active common area that will include a large pool and spa, a recreation building, outdoor fireplace area, a small play area for children, public restrooms and large bell towers.
Each of the three Campanile villages will feature a landscaped Paseo area complete with a gazebo, benches or small barbecue areas.
Also planned for the Campanile development is 4.5-acres of community commercial buildings. Those buildings will house a day care facility, a small community store, a dry cleaner, video stores and more.
"I'm pretty proud of Campanile, it's probably one of the first hybrid urbanism projects in the Coachella Valley that's on the plate or in development," Gonzales said. "Its concept is loaded with product. This was an aggressive move to introduce this type of project and it's been successful."
Gonzales expects the Campanile project to be completed in a couple of years. Had it not been for the downturn in the economy and the subprime mortgage meltdown, Campanile would have been 90% completed, he said.
So for now, Gonzales plans to ride out the current housing market crisis and prepare for the next wave of development.
"Right now, we're in acquisition mode, we're looking to position ourselves with property, people and lenders so that we can be ready when the cycle comes back," he said.
Despite the economic slowdown, Gonzales will continue adding to his large and ever growing portfolio which includes luxury homes, villas and condominiums. He has developed multiple projects including the Monterey Estates in Rancho Mirage and the Montage Santa Rosa in Indio.
St. Baristo luxury townhomes, Palm Springs, CA
"I like the quaintness and feel of Montage. It was a step up and that development took me to a higher level where homes were being sold for more than $1 million. It was like going from a low-end Mercedes Benz to a high level Mercedes," Gonzales joked.
While Gonzales welcomes success he also knows that growth can be a challenge. While growing from a 100 home developer to a 500 home developer at the company's peak, he found it difficult to adjust to the growth. Gonzales overcame that obstacle after he surrounded himself with good people who helped him through the growing pains.
"My philosophy is to build a well greased machine and having good people around makes that easier," he said. "It's not about the money; it's the people that make the business."
Today Gonzales stays vigilant about current designs and products so that he can stay competitive and meet and overcome the challenges that businesses face every day. As part of that vigilance, Gonzales plans to start tapping into the "green" movement, he said.
Agua Dulce home, Desert Hot Springs, CA
Reaching out
While Gonzales is a busy man, he still finds time to give back to the community. He recently completed work with Operation Safe House which started in Riverside and now has reach in Thousand Palms.
Operation Safe house helps runaway teenage girls.
Gonzales is also on the construction facilities board for his daughter's school. He also donated 100 bikes to the YMCA last year and helped feed the poor. Gonzales also sponsors local soccer and football teams.
"It's important to participate in the community and give back," he said. "I think we're going to start a charity or something soon that will help the community."
Gonzales has a son and a daughter and is engaged. He plans to get married soon. Gonzales also plans to keep running GHA Communities. His son, Alexander is following in his father's footsteps. Alexander heads Gonzales Construction. Mario also has high hopes for his 9-year-old daughter.
"My daughter is unbelievable," he said. "She'll probably take this company by the horns someday. She wants to work in the office with me and go out to projects. She's an amazingly sharp kid."
Man of the hour
His work in the community and his quality developments and superb customer service garnered him the title of Builder of the Year 2007. Gonzales was honored with the award by the Building Industry Association, Desert Chapter.
"I'm very lucky to be part of the American dream," Gonzales said.
The Villages of Campanile, Cathedral City, CA
March 2008 Issue