Built for permanence

Contemporary society places a high emphasis on initial cost. This comes at the expense of durability. The cheapest materials for the job are usually less durable than many of the alternatives. Constructing a building with careful attention to flashing details and designing for normal anticipated wear and tear costs more than constructing it the cheapest way possible. We inform our clients about the relative costs and characteristics of their material options so they can make informed decisions. We put considerable care into our detailing to ensure it is resistant to deterioration. In addition to strong technical skills, we bring the experience of numerous inspections of existing buildings. This has taught us how buildings fail, so we can design our buildings to resist failure. None of our buildings have needed to have their exterior finish removed to correct rot, and be put back together. We have, however, assisted many owners in this process, correcting the errors of other architects or the construction contractors. Working on these kinds of projects has also given us invaluable experience on how to prevent these problems. Building for permanence typically brings higher initial costs than the speculative builder approach, but more than pays for itself over the long term.