A short autobiography in architecture.

After architecture school at UC Berkeley, I worked in a few different architectural offices. Eventually I learned I wouldn't be designing the projects I wanted to. And later I realized I only wanted to design homes. I never had any interest in commercial work.

I soon realized I really preferred what I call traditional homes — anything designed before WW II. Arts and Crafts, Mission Revival, even Santa Fe Adobe. I liked Bernard Maybeck. For me, these designs had soul.

In 1975 I quit the firms and went out on my own. It has been that way ever since. I got my building contractor's license, bought a vacant lot, designed a home for it, put together a crew, and went to work. I always wore the toolbelt and led the crew on site. We loved it. By being there every day I could truly design the project down to the last detail.

A few decades and seven homes later, there was no more land I could afford to buy in my area. Already in 1984 I had built my first ADU on a site along with another home. Of course the term "ADU" wouldn't be invented for another twenty years — let alone legalized.

I took off the toolbelt in 2020 and kept building in the contracting role — now my longtime subcontractors are the ones swinging hammers. Still, the ADU is my favorite project. Someone once said the short story is the most difficult to write because there's no room for filler. After including what was essentially an ADU in most of my full-sized home projects, I'm now specializing in them — almost always on the site of an older home. Right in my favorite time zone.

I'll design projects anywhere in the Bay Area, including full-sized homes. If a project is within about 15 miles of El Sobrante, I can build it too.