"DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IBISES?" asks Tom Murphy. He is squinting at the midday sun as he strides toward the latest mid-rise condominium his company is building on Fisher Island. A covey of the birds hops along the edge of a golf course across from the project. "They're the last birds to leave before a hurricane, and first birds to come back. When I went down to Ocean Reef after the Hurricane, there were no other birds around except those guys." He shrugs. "Funny, huh?"

Murphy makes it sound like an old Irish proverb, or maybe just another analogy about his own style of work--the first on the job, the last to leave it. Ever since he was a teenager, starting with sweeping and picking up "tin caps"--the metal sheaths that keep poured concrete out of masonry blocks--Tom Murphy has loved working on construction sites. Back when he was a hot-dogging moonlighter, he'd finish his regular job, then go to work putting additions on people's houses until 9 or 10 at night, "or until they'd run me off," he says.

These days Murphy uses his head more than his hands, overseeing $350 million in current work by his company, Coastal Construction. His firm builds hotels, schools, churches, high-rise condominiums and, so far, "homes for 14 billionaires"--clients such as TV star Oprah Winfrey, golf legend Ray Floyd, Dolphins great Dan Marino, and celebrity couple Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford. Coastal's commercial division builds anywhere in Florida (eight schools in Monroe County, for example), but his residential jobs--such as the giant BellaMare condo going up in Williams Island or the mansion he rebuilt for Sly Stallone--are mostly in South Florida.

Murphy tends to reside where he builds the most, and Fisher Island is no exception. He currently lives in this ultra-wealthy enclave off the tip of South Beach, with neighbors such as Tim Gannon, the founder of Outback Steakhouse, and Mel Brooks, the director of films like "The Producers" and "Blazing Saddles." John Melk, the owner of Fisher Island and a cofounder of Blockbuster Video, is a friend.

Murphy feels right at home among the well-heeled of Fisher Island. Then again, he seems to feel right at home just about anywhere, fitting in as easily with the workers on his job sites as he does with the owners of private clubs. Murphy is a man's man, a former world champion speedboat racer, an avid recreational boater who crosses the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas several times a month, a teller of tales who is happy to share a drink with the boys. ("Did I ever tell you about that time I co-hosted the Miss Universe Pagent down at Ocean Reef? Suddenly 1,400 of my closest friends show up!"). All of which is a big reason why he has done so well for so long.

"To know Tom Murphy is to like him," says Harper Sibley, the man who founded Key Largo's Ocean Reef Club, one of the poshest private clubs anywhere in the world--5,000 acres with three golf courses, three marinas, 11 restaurants and a private airport. Sibley took an immediate liking to Murphy when he met him back in the mid 1970s--such a liking that Sibley gave Murphy virtually every project for the club over the course of more than 15 years, better than $100 million in work.

Then, like now, Murphy moved into the community he was building.

for a guy who is lanky and relaxed in the way he moves, as comfortable to spend time with as a sunny afternoon, Murphy lives according to a strict set of rules. His whole company does. You sense this upon walking into a Coastal construction trailer. On the wall is a Coastal sign which reads: "Critical Success Factors." Under that is a heading for "First 90 Days," followed by list of criteria, and under that a "Monthly" heading, with a similar list.

The list is a manifestation of a deeper, simpler creed. Murphy's Law--his philosophy of work--is refreshingly old fashioned, and something he never veers from. The rules are simple: never cheat a client, never bully a sub-contractor, never promise what you can't deliver, always try to come in under budget and on time, even if you have to put your nose down and eat the loss.

"Everything we do is with the long view," he says. "There is not a job in 30 years I can think of where we couldn't have made more money. But you try to do what's right, and in the end, that brings your customers back," he says. "Obviously we are in business to make a profit, but I'd rather have the repeat business and the reputation. When times get tough you'll still have work, and you'll get the best clients and the best work that way. I don't want to be the lowest bidder in town and get that skunk work. I'm not interested in it--or in the skunk owners."

Murphy is nothing if not straightforward. Ask him why he doesn't play golf, even though he's built an army of golf-course condos, and he doesn't miss a beat. "I'm way too competitive," he says. "I'll play some guy who can hardly chew gum and walk at the same time, but he plays three times a week and can beat me. Screw that. I work and I boat, and you can't do all three."