• Industry: Construction Law (Professional Services to AEC)
• Locations: Jacksonville and Tampa Bay, Florida
• Founded: 2007 by Chip Bachara, Board Certified Construction Law Specialist
• Vertical fit: Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) ecosystem
• Objective: Launch a new Tampa Bay office and win in a market where the firm had no referral base yet — and get booked out doing it.

‍

Chip Bachara isn't a lawyer who decided to learn construction. He's a licensed Florida general contractor who grew up working summers at his father's construction company, earned a degree in construction management, then went to law school. He's been in Best Lawyers in America every year since 2011 and holds one of a handful of Florida Bar Board Certifications in Construction Law.

In Jacksonville, that reputation made Bachara a first call. Then the firm opened a new office in Tampa Bay — and walked into a market where almost none of that equity carried over.

‍

The challenge: a referral reputation doesn't travel to a new city.

The AEC ecosystem runs on referrals. Contractors, architects, engineers, surety brokers, accountants, and lawyers all serve the same clients on the same projects, and the firm that gets called first is the one with the strongest credibility in the minds of the people doing the referring.

That's exactly why a new market is so hard. In Jacksonville, Bachara had decades of relationships feeding the pipeline. In Tampa Bay, the firm started as an unknown — no referral base, no top-of-mind position, competing against firms the local industry had used for years. And to a contractor evaluating counsel, most construction law firms look identical on paper.

Bachara had what the category didn't: practical construction knowledge from a lawyer who also holds a contractor's license, and a board certification almost no one else in Florida holds. The expertise was substantively different. The new market just had no way of knowing it yet.

‍

‍

The Vers approach: launch the office by educating the market.

Instead of introducing Bachara as one more option in Tampa, we positioned the practice as the resource — and built the content engine to put that expertise in front of the local AEC community fast.

Launch and brand presence. An integrated online presence built to establish the Tampa Bay office as a serious player from day one, not a satellite branch finding its feet.

Content strategy. An ongoing branded program aimed squarely at the AEC professionals Bachara serves: Florida contractors, developers, design professionals, community associations, and project executives.

Substantive written content. Plain-English pieces on what actually keeps these professionals up at night — the contract clauses that quietly expose subs to liability, Florida's 558 defect process, lien law and payment rights, risk allocation in design-build, mediation strategy. Written for people who run job sites, not for other lawyers.

Video content. Short-form video that turns complex legal issues into language a contractor can use, distributed where the AEC audience actually watches.

‍

Why it works: in a new market, you have to be known before you can be hired.

Contractors don't hire a construction lawyer like they buy equipment. They hire on credibility and the certainty that the firm understands how construction actually works. In a city where Bachara had no relationships, consistent, substantive visibility did the work that decades of referrals had done in Jacksonville — it made the firm familiar, trusted, and top of mind before a single conversation started.

Local search dominance. A new office is invisible twice: nobody refers you, and nobody finds you. So Google Business and local search were treated as a launch priority, not an afterthought — building the Tampa Bay profile, reviews, and local content so that when a contractor searches for construction counsel, Bachara shows up before the firms that have been there for decades.

The groundwork shows up on the map — literally. Across a 225 point, 15-mile Tampa Bay grid, Bachara went from not ranking to ranking in the top 5 for "construction law" — in a market the firm started cold. Within a mile of the St. Petersburg office, it now averages the #1 local result. That's local search presence most decades-old competitors don't have.

Source: Search Atlas local heatmaps, Bachara St. Petersburg GBP — "construction law" 15-mile grid, avg position 4.5 as of Jul 1 2026; 117 of 177 pins ranking top-3; 1-mile grid avg 1.4. Note: "construction lawyer" on a 20-mile grid still averages 18.4 — next optimization target.

‍

In a new market you have to be found before you can be referred — and referred before you can be hired.

‍

The result: a new market won, and a firm booked out.

The Tampa Bay launch worked. Bachara built real visibility in a market it started cold, and the caseload followed.

"We came to Vers for help with the launch of our new office and for an integrated approach to our online presence. Since working with them, our caseload has increased significantly. We love the results our construction law firm has seen." Hugh Higgins, Bachara Construction Law Group

That's on top of standing that keeps compounding statewide — recognition in the Chambers and Partners Regional Spotlight Florida 2024 Guide, a Tier One Regional Law Firm ranking in Best Law Firms, and consistent listings in Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America.

If your firm is entering a new market or your visibility hasn't caught up to your expertise, that gap is costing you the cases you should already be winning.

Book Your Clarity Consult

‍