Well, if not Florida, at least see if you can find a good smith in a Georgia or southern Alabama. If you need to make a drive to work something out, you don't want to be driving to the middle of the country or the west coast...
Having a custom gun built is supposed to be a good experience. I've had two built that were nightmares. Built by recommended smiths in the middle of the country that talk a good talk with short delivery times and I got shafted. Won't answer phones, time frames that got blown out of proportion, all kinds of excuses.
Local, local, local...