Florida Gulf Roofing was founded by Mike Acklin and Troy Martin, two Florida Gulf Coast University graduates who built their roofing and construction expertise the hands-on way — through real jobs, real storms, and years of learning what actually holds up on a Southwest Florida roof. Between them they bring nearly a decade of combined experience in roofing and construction, grounded in genuine local roots rather than a franchise playbook imported from somewhere else.
We started this company to do things differently from what homeowners often encounter after a Florida hurricane season. Every storm brings a wave of out-of-state crews who work fast, take deposits, and are gone before the next season — leaving homeowners with unpermitted work, no warranty they can actually claim against, and an insurance file that will not stand up when it matters. We are licensed here, we permit every job here, and we are still here next year.
Meet the Team
Mike Acklin — Co-Owner
Mike oversees Florida Gulf Roofing’s Sarasota operations. His roots in construction run deep: his father was a plumber and home builder in the Bradenton area, and Mike spent his teenage years working alongside him on real job sites. After earning his degree at Florida Gulf Coast University, Mike knew he wanted to build a career following his father’s path in construction. He reached out to a college friend, Troy, who was already deep into Florida’s roofing industry, and together they built the foundation for what became Florida Gulf Roofing.
Troy Martin — Co-Owner
Troy grew up in the trades. His family owned a construction business in Erie, Pennsylvania, and he spent his summers on job sites from an early age. After moving to Florida and earning a business degree at Florida Gulf Coast University, Troy went straight into roofing, working through Florida storm seasons since 2017 and developing a deep, practical understanding of what Gulf Coast weather actually does to a roof over time. That hands-on storm and construction experience became the technical backbone the company was built on.
How We Work
Two things shape how we run a job: the roof has to be right, and the paperwork has to be right. Homeowners tend to think about the first and discover the second at the worst possible moment.
Re-roofing and significant repairs require a permit, and that permit can only be pulled by a Florida DBPR-licensed contractor. Work done without one can void your homeowners insurance, trigger fines, and complicate the sale of your home — unpermitted roofing is one of the most common problems discovered during a real estate transaction. We handle the permit application, the county inspections and the final close-out on every job, and you get the documentation at the end.
The same applies to the paperwork. We photograph before, during and after, write up what we found and what we did in plain language, and give you a dated file for the house: useful at renewal, and useful when you sell.
Where We Work
We run two offices so that neither end of the Gulf Coast is the far end of somebody’s drive. Mike runs the Sarasota side, covering Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties — Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, Venice, North Port, Englewood and Osprey. Troy runs the southern side out of Estero, covering Lee County and Collier — Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Naples and Lehigh Acres.
That split matters more than it sounds. The two markets are about ninety minutes apart and they are not the same job. Sarasota’s established neighborhoods are heavy on tile, with barrier-island properties fighting constant salt air. Lee County is still working through its post-Hurricane Ian rebuild, with an insurance market that tightened harder there than almost anywhere else in the state. Having an owner living in each market is the reason we can answer questions about either one properly.
Licensed, Insured, Verifiable
Florida Gulf Roofing LLC holds Florida DBPR certified roofing contractor license CCC1337243, which you are welcome to verify with the state before you let anyone on your roof. Every project carries full general liability and workers’ compensation insurance, and we provide the certificates upfront rather than on request — if a roofer will not show you those two documents, that is your answer.
The inspection is free, and it stays free whether or not you hire us. If a repair is the right call rather than a replacement, we will tell you so.