Clayton Nishikawa

Maui, Hawaii, architect Clayton Nishikawa would have been perfectly content to design custom homes and leave the building to somebody else, but his market had other ideas. “Being on an island, we’re kind of limited in our talent pool,” Nishikawa says. That put Nishikawa in the position of working with some builders he would have preferred not to. Eventually he realized “it was fairly obvious that we’d have to go to design/build.”

But if Nishikawa became a builder out of necessity, the move has opened up a whole new world for his company. “You maintain control; it’s a more enjoyable process; the clients like it; and, oh by the way, you can make more money.” In the early phases of a project, Nishikawa’s design staff operates much like a typical architecture firm, but with the benefit of constant input from the construction side. “We have all five design minds, plus the construction minds, involved in all the projects,” Nishikawa says. Having construction estimators on hand—and a track record of previous project costs—helps the company avoid overshooting clients’ budgets in the design phase. Project architects shepherd jobs through to completion, but once construction begins, “They will defer [to the superintendent] on construction materials and means and methods.”

Clients have been pleased with both the integrated process and the value that Nishikawa’s sophisticated and livable mid-Pacific style adds to their homes. “They come back to us and say, ‘This is the easiest $3 million I’ve made in a long time.’” In a number of cases, Nishikawa says, “The relationship endures after the project, and they come back to us as investors.” As an unexpected result, Nishikawa has been able to pursue a long-deferred ambition to help solve the island’s worsening housing crunch. “We’ve purchased land and are developing affordable housing communities . . . with the same design intensity and quality as we put in our custom homes.”