As an industrious high school student, Jon worked in a bakery for $1 per hour and also bailed hay for local farmers. Jon’s father was an Architect and Engineer who worked for a large construction company and his budding interest in the building trades began as a small boy visiting job sites with his father. During high school and college Jon worked for a steel company for two summers and then for a local homebuilder where he continued his interest in design, engineering and construction.
In 1968, when Jon was just 23-years-old the company named Jon F. Swift & Son began doing construction work in Oxford, Ohio. The company started out doing mostly custom residential work, but Jon found that he enjoyed and excelled with the commercial end of the business. He moved to working exclusively on commercial construction, completing projects for Miami University of Ohio, Hamilton County Parks Department and building high school football and baseball stadiums in nearby communities.
In 1979, Jon packed up the family and moved to Sarasota, Florida, and started doing a wide variety of high school stadiums for Stadiums Unlimited under the business name Jon F. Swift Construction He then ran across an article in the Sunday Sarasota Herald-Tribune which said the School Board of Sarasota County had purchased stadium seating for Sarasota High School, but couldn’t find a company with experience to install it. Jon made a few phone calls and was hired for the job. Since 1979, Jon F. Swift Construction has proudly served the Sarasota County School Board, the City of Sarasota, Sarasota County and many other municipal and private clients as Construction Manager and General Contractor.
In 2014, Jon F. Swift Construction celebrated 35 years in business. Continuously owned and operated by the Swift family, the company is now operated by Jon Swift’s son, Jason Swift.
