In the 1970s, Keith Waters worked at a large commercial architecture firm in St. Paul, Minn. When the odd residential job came in, he remembers, “They would ask, ‘Who wants to work at night?’” Waters often volunteered. The smaller projects put him in closer touch with the construction process, yielding better results. But design/build architecture was not an option. “When I started,” he recalls, “[architects] couldn’t do both.” Builders could, however, so Waters abandoned a career in pure architecture for one that combined design and construction. The company he founded makes a strong case for the model. With registered architects on staff, Keith Waters & Associates’ work competes well with design-only firms, and the process it offers is more attractive to many clients. Accurate pricing from the construction side allows designers to meet cost targets on the first try, “and our project designers continue through as project managers,” he says, giving clients a single contact from start to finish.
While remodeling and light commercial jobs each constitute about 10 percent of the company’s annual volume, its primary focus is on new custom homes, a niche undergoing significant transition. “The flow to the exurbs has stopped completely,” Waters says. “There are more in-fill, tear-down, and remodeling projects, just because clients don’t want the travel time. They’re also rejecting some of the historical real estate formulas,” building only as much as they need. “I think they’re going to look at them as homes first and investments second.”
In such a fluid environment, the integration of design and construction offers further advantages, Waters believes, “and I think that green building is going to make that integration even more important.” Having built the first house to earn Silver-level certification under the Minnesota GreenStar program, Waters is designing another project to meet both GreenStar and LEED standards. “We’re dual-tracking the processes to see which is easier to work with,” he says. Whatever the outcome of that face-off, though, Waters will always apply his own standard: “It’s got to be beyond a nice house,” he says. “It’s got to have some special things in it. We’re still design driven. People come to us because of the design work we can do.”
Keith Waters & Associates, Eden Prairie, Minn.
www.keithwaters.com
Type of business: Design/build custom builder
Years in business: 26
Employees: 11
2009 volume: $8.5 million
2009 starts: 5
