Immigrant reaches goal with own company

Rafael Robles, 39, is the owner of Rafo Corporation, a shell contracting and land developing company in Bonita Springs, Estero and as far north as Cape Coral.

But opening the company wasn’t easy. Robles was a civil engineer in Peru before he moved to the United States in search of a better life in 2002.

He accomplished his goal of owning his own company and has built more than 350 homes in less than a year.

But it took some time and patience.

He didn’t speak English and had no idea how the construction industry worked in the United States, but decided little by little he’d pick up what he needed to know, even if it took years and hours of backbreaking work.

“I started working as a laborer because I didn’t know English and it was hard to understand what was going on,” he said about his first construction job upon arriving.

“I always wanted to open my own business but I wasn’t ready at the time. There was too much to learn.”

And the learning didn’t come easy. He spent months practicing his English with coworkers and studying at home in Cape Coral until he felt he learned enough that he could start applying for state licenses.

“I used to come (to the United States) for visits and then I saw that there were a lot of big areas where it has to be developed so I left everything in my country and moved to Florida,” he recalls about his first decision to move.

That’s why he got into the development business after learning English and earning his general contractor’s and underground utility construction license.

“The system here is very different because the location of my country requires us to have a lot of structural systems because of earthquakes,” said Robles, who has owned his own business since 2005.

He has more than 100 jobs all over Lee County and hopes to expand in the future.

Rafo Corporation specializes in installing sewer mains, roads and lake excavations, but will also begin building the outer shells of buildings.

“We prepare things with carpentry, concrete slabs and then another company comes in and finishes everything off,” he said.

Currently Rafo Corporation’s jobs are mostly in Bonita Springs at Bella Terra, and other locations such as Terra Vista and a galleria on Corkscrew Road in Estero.

“Construction here is quicker than most other places because the technology is so good and the techniques are better,” Robles said.

“I’m very successful and I have yet to have a slow month. We offer good prices but it’s the quality that keeps customers happy.”