For 20 years, Danburg Properties of Boca Raton has developed, built, leased and managed market-leading commercial, office and warehouse space in Boca Raton and south Palm Beach County. Yet, we also know fine residential construction when we see it. Frankel Homes exemplifies luxury custom home building.

For two generations, the Frankel name has been associated with some of Boca Raton’s and Palm Beach County’s most luxurious homes. But it’s not enough for Larry Frankel to build remarkable, even breathtaking estate homes. For him, quality and workmanship are paramount.

Frankel, principal with Frankel Homes along with principal and partner John Shahzade, has taken a few pages from the playbook his father, Victor Frankel, used during his day. To be sure, back then, the average price of a “custom home” was $600,000. Larry Frankel and Shahzade have built homes topping $20 million – from 5,000 to 25,000 square feet, from Broward through Boca Raton and north to Jupiter.

Victor has since passed away, but Larry maintains his father’s high expectations of himself – and his team. With each job, the Frankel team selects the right group for the specific customer or project. His stable of talented architects, reliable craftsmen and veteran subcontractors know his process – and expectations. Frankel holds them to the highest standards, and isn’t shy about releasing any from a job should work become sub-standard. Frankel has no room for sloppiness or excuses.

John Shahzade and Larry Frankel

“Our team knows our customers demand value and service. I learned that from the combination of working with my dad and on my own for the past 20 years, and John knows that from more than 30 years and the more than 300 homes he built on Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod and in South Florida,” he says. “We know the best business or referrals can come from the smallest jobs, even those you do for customers as a favor.”

Even during the recession, Larry “stuck to our fundamentals,” focusing on quality workmanship and customer service.

The architectural styles he’s built have ranged from French regency Country to British West Indies to Mediterranean to contemporary. Homes have fronted lakes, the Intracoastal and the Atlantic. He even has consulted on a custom home in the Bahamas – saving the owner hundreds of thousands of dollars in design and construction costs.

What Frankel enjoys most today is when a customer arrives with a vacant lot or a home in need of a thorough gutting, like the beachfront home he’s currently gut renovating. From the ground up, he works with architects, interior designers, landscape architects and the contractors and suppliers needed to make visions a reality.

“I love it when a client says, ‘Start from zero,’” he says. “If you’re intelligent, focused and organized, you can build anything.”

Though Frankel’s on the marquee, the arrival of Shahzade five years ago created a “truly formidable team” that bring different skillsets. Today, they build single-family homes and renovations of estate homes and luxury condominiums.

Frankel Homes is a three-year tenant in Danburg Properties of Boca Raton’s The Preserve commercial office park. He joins a host of other design, construction and interior design firms that call Danburg Properties’ various developments home.

Before moving into The Preserve, Frankel suffered through a former property manager who let quality and maintenance lapse. Facilities degraded. Customer parking was a “nightmare,” he recalls.

“They just didn’t care,” he says. “Jamie and his people keep their properties clean and well maintained. They run a great ship.”

As for tomorrow, Larry Frankel is bullish about his prospects. It helps that the market is improving. People are investing in new homes or renovations. The future is promising.

“As a successful custom home builder, no matter the market, you’ll always have work,” he says. “You earn your money by doing good work.”