Yes, That Architect is still designing houses, even though these are challenging times, challenging markets. Some people have said that housing is dead, no one is doing anything and that nothing is happening anywhere. This is not true. One has to adapt to the shifting market conditions to deal with evolving situations to be considered valuable enough to be hired to design a house, sell a house, sell land or anything else in these interesting, shifting economies.
That Architect’s wife, Merry, is one of the main real estate brokers in the Cashiers – Highlands – Lake Toxaway – Glenville – Sapphire area of western North Carolina. So far, this has been a record year for her. And yet, there are other real estate companies going out of business in this area. She has learned how to adapt and offer houses and land that people want, for what they want to pay, and to convince owners what must be done in order to sell their real estate. These are tough times and sometimes tough decisions have to be made to make things happen.
That Architect Architect has adapted to this new economy, by offering more services for less, and designing more home for lower construction prices with many upgrade features. Sort of like having your cake and eating it too. People wanting quality residential design seek out That Architect, quite often on the Internet. They see images of his built projects and of his designs in development, read information about his design philosophy and services offered, and they notice that The Architect Designs houses for locations anywhere on the planet. So when clients from outside of Pittsburgh contacted The Architect a few weeks ago, they knew he could help them by designing their house on their farm, even though The Architect’s base of operations happens to be a couple of states to the south.
More importantly, another of The Architect’s responses to this new economy is to learn from budget house builders, making his residential designs simpler, with no wasted space anywhere, and using economical materials and arrangements. This can give The Architect’s clients more space for less dollars, which is exactly what many of them desire.
Once in a while, The Architect receives a commission from someone with no budget at all. However, The Architect still creates a healthy arrangement, bursting with functionality and efficiency within the spaciousness. Larger kitchens with larger central islands, master bathrooms with larger 2-person showers without need for shower doors, his and hers granite vanities, separate toilet rooms, huge closets and more. More often than not these days, The Architect’s clients want a lot of bang for the buck. This translates into new arrangements that provide more open space for less dollars and lower maintenance materials that last longer for very little attention over the years.
The Architect continues to learn from economy builders, adapting these budget lessons learned to simpler, yet sophisticated arrangements to arrive at new residential designs that provide high, medium and low budget clients what they want.