Our Story

Ron Fair started as a union carpenter. He worked with his hands before he worked with his mind, and that sequence, he'll tell you, is the only one that makes sense. "If you can't build it in your head, you have no right going out and trying to build it with your hands."

He went on to earn his Civil Engineering degree from the University of Virginia in 1988, spent years as a contractor and construction manager, and in 1996 founded AEC Services Inc. in Tampa, Florida. The name stands for what the firm does: Architecture, Engineering, and Construction, all under one roof, all under one accountable team.

The idea was simple and radical at the same time. Most projects in the industry are delivered by three separate firms: an architect, an engineer, and a contractor. Each one hands off to the next. Each handoff is a gap where things fall through, miscommunications, scope disputes, finger-pointing when something goes wrong. Ron had seen it too many times. He built AEC to eliminate the gap entirely.

"We either fully are engaged and know what we're doing, or we don't do it."

That philosophy shaped every service line AEC added. Fuel systems, the scope most engineers refuse to touch because of the liability and regulatory complexity, became AEC's signature. Where others carved it out, AEC owned it. Engineering, permitting, construction, inspection: one contract, one call.

Thirty years later, the firm holds Professional Engineer licenses in 18 states, with PE and contractor licensing in Florida and Georgia, and has delivered more than 250 projects for clients including Shell, Wawa, 7-Eleven, ExxonMobil, the Florida Turnpike, and dozens of independent operators. George Padilla, Engineering & Permitting Manager, has been with the firm for 23 years, the kind of continuity that only comes when people believe in what they're building.

"There's too many people in this business who are in it for money. Their soul's not in it. And that's not who we are."

AEC is a Christian-owned family business. Faith, integrity, and craftsmanship are not marketing language here, they are the operating principles. The motto says it plainly: We Stay Focused, Faithful, and We Finish the Job.

"It's really easy to make money in business. All you have to be is honest." Ron has said it for thirty years. The newspaper clippings on the wall, from the Tampa Bay Times, the Turnpike Traveler, Xerxes Corporation, are proof that honest work gets noticed.