Every day, more than a dozen Clive Daniel Home (CDH) trucks leave the high-end design and furniture company’s 175,000-square-foot Fort Myers headquarters. The scale would have seemed impossible to Daniel Lubner when he and his father, Clive, opened the flagship Naples showroom nearly 15years ago. “We couldn’t afford storage racks for the first year,” says Daniel, now CEO of the company.
Today, $40 million in furniture fills their warehouse, a space where Daniel has built something rare: complete vertical integration. Skilled craftsmen inspect every piece and fix problems on-site before delivery, while maintenance teams ensure every stone dining set is spotless.
His one-stop-shop approach allows Daniel to pair veteran and novice designers on projects while looping in warehouse teams to streamline communication and quality control. His entrepreneurial acumen, affability and a bit of good timing proved crucial to getting on the ground floor of Southwest Florida’s development boom. In the early 2000s, back at Robb & Stucky, Daniel was among the first to secure contracts with major Fort Myers developments like St. Tropez and Beau Rivage, after a two-decade hiatus on high-rise builds in the city. Since then, he and the CDH team have worked on thousands of projects throughout the region. Thanks to their integrated systems, CDH can mobilize quickly for the area’s many planned communities (they recently furnished a nearly 22,000-square-foot clubhouse in three days, a feat that often takes weeks).
As a design-centric firm, they value individuality and craft. Elegant wine bottle displays and accent furniture, drawn up in-house and manufactured in the U.S. and Europe, fill resort-style enclaves from Naples to Sarasota. And, the Fort Myers native keeps finding ways to meet evolving client needs. This year, Daniel initiated a partnership with Daisy, a smart home automation service, allowing CDH to install lighting controls, audio and security systems alongside furniture. Around the same time, they launched a home watch division to cover storm preparation and routine inspection services for clients in the off-season.
He’s also training the next generation of regional designers, many of whom go on to launch their own firms. Others continue to rise through the ranks tosenior roles. “I might have to learn to play golf,” he jokes.
Daniel Lubner has helped redefine luxury interiors in Southwest Florida through innovation, mentorship and philanthropy as CEO of Clive Daniel Home. When clients donate old furniture, CDH distributes pieces to organizations like Habitat for Humanity (the team also volunteers, helping with builds for the affordable housing nonprofit). After Hurricane Ian, CDH donated six figures worth of merchandise to storm victims. Daniel and his wife, Cathy, support the Harry Chapin Food Bank and events like the Southwest Florida Wine & Food Fest. “We just want to know what we can do in [certain] situations,” he says. “It’s a shared value and a shared culture that we have.” —Addison Pezoldt