Step into the world of success and innovation with Real Estate Champions, a compelling TV show that highlights the exceptional leaders, agents, and investors shaping the real estate industry. Each episode uncovers the strategies, leadership, and insights that fuel the success of industry trailblazers, offering practical takeaways for professionals across residential, commercial, and investment real estate.
Real Estate Champions brings together top professionals and thought leaders from various sectors of real estate, including residential, commercial, and property development. These influential guests share their journeys, expertise, and advice to inspire and empower the next wave of real estate leaders and entrepreneurs. Today our host, Sarah Olson spoke with Ron Stark
Ron Stark
Inspector at Sunshine Foundation Repair
Website Address: sunshinefoundationrepair.com
Short company description:
Premier, locally owned and operated, full-service crawlspace and foundation repair specialists
Transcript:
Sarah:
Welcome back to another episode of Real Estate Champions. I’m your host, Sarah Olson. I’m so glad you tuned in today to meet my new friend, Ron Stark with Sunshine Foundation Repair. Ron, thanks for coming on the show.
Ron:
My pleasure, my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Sarah:
Absolutely. So tell me a little about yourself. You’re a real estate agent and now also part of a foundation repair company. What’s your background?
Ron:
Sure. Back in ’08, I moved from California to Florida. I was working in health care but was always involved in real estate—building a small portfolio, handling construction management, things like that. Eventually, we built the portfolio to a point where I could semi-retire.
I took a step back… got a little bored… and decided I wanted to do something new and meaningful. The owner of this company was a friend of mine. I saw what he was doing—great company, great culture, great leadership. I wanted to be part of that and help build it. I reached out and asked, “Rich, do you have room for me?” And he said, “Absolutely.” So I came on board.
Sarah:
And that was after you moved here?
Ron:
Yes—moved here back in ’08. Everyone remembers ’08. It was a great time to pivot.
Sarah:
It was. So tell me—what makes Sunshine Foundation Repair so great?
Ron:
I think it comes down to being locally owned and operated. The owner is hands-on and engaged at every level. We have weekly meetings where production and sales come together. There’s this real sense of unity—everyone working together with the same goal: making a strong, positive impression on every customer we serve.
Sarah:
And your experience as a real estate agent combined with your work in structural repair—those are two worlds that collide a lot. Foundation issues can kill deals. How do you bridge that gap?
Ron:
Great point. The company actually approached me to help launch a real estate division, which focuses specifically on real estate transactions. Nobody else in the market is doing this right now.
We come in and address the specific, limited-scope issues that show up during due diligence—getting buyers and sellers through inspections and to the closing table. We have a history of saving transactions because foundations are such a critical part of a home.
Sarah:
Especially here in Florida—we’re basically all slabs.
Ron:
Right. And our soil isn’t the best.
Sarah:
A little sandy!
Ron:
Very sandy.
Sarah:
So how do you help real estate agents navigate this delicate process ethically and responsibly—while keeping their clients comfortable and confident?
Ron:
Well, our company realized years ago that foundation issues were blowing up too many transactions. About two years ago, a gentleman named Patrick Arabia developed a program specifically to fix that gap.
I work directly with agents who are under contract—and I don’t charge a fee. If they’re a preferred agent, meaning we already have each other’s contact saved, they call me and I’m there within 24–48 hours, in honor of the due diligence timeline.
There’s no sales pitch. We have a limited scope: we address exactly what the buyer or seller is worried about or what shows up on the inspection report. I’m not there to upsell anything. And a lot of times, we can even complete the repairs before closing. It’s a great program that solves a long-standing issue in real estate.
Sarah:
What’s the most common structural repair issue you see in Northeast Florida?
Ron:
Great question. There are two main things.
First, our concrete block homes with slab-on-grade construction. The slab is poured directly onto soil that’s often weak, and with poor drainage or a lot of water near the foundation, we see settlement. That shows up as cracks in the walls.
Second, raised foundations. Those homes are exposed to the elements underneath, so we often encapsulate that space to control the environment. For slabs, we use piers. For raised homes, we do helical piers, jacks and beams—supporting sagging wood and bringing it back up when possible. We see a lot of this in the historic areas like Riverside and Avondale.
Sarah:
Historic homes—absolutely. So what I’m hearing is if something shows up on an inspection related to the foundation, they need to call you.
Ron:
Absolutely. And we’ve got the program to guide them through it.
We also manufacture many of the products we use, thanks to Larry Juniorski, who has patented and developed a lot of them. Because of that, we offer a life-of-the-structure warranty.
Sarah:
That’s huge.
Ron:
It is. Especially for sellers handing over a home—they can give buyers real peace of mind that the work will last.
Sarah:
So the rest of the house could fall apart, but the foundation Sunshine repaired is staying put!
Ron:
Exactly. Where Sunshine did the work, it’s going to hold.
Sarah:
Ron, thank you so much for being on the show. I appreciate your time. For more information about Ron Stark and Sunshine Foundation Repair, you can visit our website—well, not BuzzMedia.com—that’s the wrong site! But we’ll make sure all the right information is available for you.
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