When builders and interior designers work together, magic happens. A well-built and well-designed home is a win-win for the builder and the homeowner. If you’ve never worked on a new construction project, you may be wondering how to tap into the high-end luxury home market. Start by educating yourself about what a builder needs and the value you bring as a designer.

In this episode, Gail talks with Brad Leavitt, president of AFT Construction in Scottsdale, Arizona. Founded in 2013, AFT Construction specializes in custom luxury homes. A key selling point for their properties is their meticulous attention to detail in every aspect of the home.

Given that some designers have found some high-end luxury clients have become more demanding and more difficult to work with post-pandemic, Gail asked Brad what his experience has been with this type of client. Brad said that by and large their clients tend to be collaborative, but there are some who are very demanding and want to be in control of the project. He attributed some of that to the fact that projects nowadays take longer to complete and at a higher cost. Clients want to be sure the end result lives up to their expectations.

Gail asked Brad if his firm works with interior designers. Brad replied absolutely. “I won’t do a project unless there’s an interior designer,” he said. “There’s a value the designer brings to the look of the home, to the feel of the home.” Usually it is the client who hires the designer, but Brad said his company has also sought out designers to work on projects.

For designers who are interested in working on new construction projects, Brad said they should start by building a relationship with the builder over a period of time. This could involve some face-to-face meetings and sharing some tips or industry information as a way of demonstrating your value. Get to know what the builder’s pain points are and how you can alleviate them.

Brad also talked about some of the technology he has introduced into his firm to streamline processes, improve document control, and facilitate coordination between the builder, designer and architect working on a project. He has found QR codes to be especially effective.

Wrapping up, Brad offered three pieces of advice he received when he was younger and which have guided him throughout his career:

Generosity precedes prosperity.
Chase experience, not money.
Leave things better because you were there.

For more details and insights, listen to the entire podcast.

If you’re listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s12e7-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

For more information about Brad and ATF Construction, go to the firm’s website at www.aftconstruction.com.

Brad mentioned a construction management software his firm uses, called Buildertrend. Among other functions, the software can produce the QR codes his firm uses for document control.

Another construction management software Brad mentioned is Bluebeam. Bluebeam helps construction teams connect office and field through an easily accessible single source of information that can be updated on the fly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK9PqNg-6UE

Episode Transcript

Note: Transcript is created automatically and may contain errors.

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Welcome to the Creative Genius podcast, Brad. I am so excited to have this conversation with you today. And I’d love for you to start by telling us how you became a builder. That’s a really good question. I originally grew up in San Diego. My dad and uncles were all electricians. My grandfather, when he retired from the Navy, started electrical companies. So, you know, I grew up blue collar working in the trades through high school. And, you know, I definitely hated it when I was a teenager and kid. Like it just

You know, it’s really hard work, you know, being at school and then over the summers working, although San Diego is not a bad place to be doing construction, that’s for sure. But I realized how much I loved it as I got older, you know, 18, 19, I realized I loved it, went to college, studied construction management and moved to Arizona in 2005 and worked for a, you know, production build at first, always wanted two luxury projects and shortly thereafter worked for a luxury builder and…

you know, was with them five, five and a half years and, uh, you know, really grew the appreciation for the industry a lot at that time. And that was, you know, pre-starting AFT and the company I have now. So. Okay. Well, and I think this kind of ties in, but I know you said that one of your biggest challenges you might want to share with us what you had to overcome to get where you are today. Yeah. I think there’s a lot. I mean, the reality is.

Being young, mean, one thing I’ll start is being young in construction. When I first started, there’s something to be said about gray hair and being open. mean, not to jump too fast, Gail, but we work with designers on every project. And I know the design perspective is like we’re in a male-dominated industry. I’m female. So they have that roadblock. Even from the male side, being young male as you’re in a management position and PM running a project, that’s incredibly challenging.

There’s just, you know, it’s, I don’t want to say ego industry, but there definitely is, it’s more technical than people realize, and it’s very challenging, and there’s a lot of things to manage. And so there has to be a tremendous amount of coordination. There has to be a tremendous amount of education. And the more that I understand of everyone who’s involved in the building process and their scope of work and what it takes for them to complete and, you know, the predecessors’ success for those who follow them and coordinating that, you know, it’s going to bring value to me, just like our designers, which I know you speak to, Gail, that…

you know, the more they can become familiar with the builder side of things, like the more successful they’ll be in their career path. And so there’s, you know, it’s a very tricky industry and customer service is challenging and clients can be challenging. And, you know, you’re just battling, you know, so many different angles. Well, yes, absolutely. I think people probably under us made a lot of industries, interior design as well, because it is, is so detail oriented. It takes so much to do.

a really great job of it. having worked with a lot of builders over the years, I can honestly say that there have been a handful that are really, really good at it. And then there are some that are, they just shouldn’t be doing it. That is true. And I could tell you from a general contractor side, I mean, it’s no different than some of our subcontractors. Some of them are phenomenal. mean, very, very talented. They understand they’re great communicators. And then we have some that are just not great.

know, communication is such a key part of really any business, any relationship, but you know, in construction, it’s a big separator. mean, there’s something about construction that really brings out some of the poor communicators out there and it can be really challenging. Well, tell us a little bit about what types of projects you build. Yeah. So we, it’s interesting how that pendulum has changed. I mean, I’ve, I started AFT with a business partner of mine back in 2013.

so we started 11 years ago and you know, early on we were heavy commercial. did a lot of commercial that was, I did a lot of commercial, my background and had a lot of relationships in that industry. And of course we were doing residential, you know, remodels and powder bathrooms. And I always wanted to get into the luxury custom homes, but going back to kind of the origin of this conversation, Gail, I mean, being fairly young when I started my company,

no one’s just going to hand over the keys to a $10 million build, right? To some young kid who doesn’t have a long resume. So there has to be this path of projects and success and thought leadership and quality and everything that goes with building a business, that credibility. So over the years, that pendulum would change. It was less commercial, more residential. We were known for a few high-end projects that were nationally published. really put us on the map and social media kind of.

played a role in that as well as with the growth. And now, as you asked me the question today, I mean, as it stands right now, 100 % of our projects are high-end luxury residential, projects that range from $3 million to $25 million per project and range in square footage up to 35,000 square feet. So I mean, it’s definitely on the high-end residential, and it’s not that we’re opposed to commercials, just as of today, it’s all residential. Well, and I’m sur...

How Builders and Interior Designers Can Work Together (Brad Leavitt)