I get asked a version of the same question all the time, usually somewhere between a job site walkthrough and date night: how did you end up running a construction company? The honest answer is that I didn’t take the typical path into building, and I think that’s exactly why I’m good at it.
I have a Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado and a Juris Doctor from the University of Denver. Before I ever ran Duet Build, I worked as an architect, then as a construction and real estate attorney, then in public-sector project management. I’ve loved construction my entire life, so maybe it was inevitable that I’d end up here. But the route I took to get here, through design, through law, through the public sector, is part of what shapes how I build now.
I want to use this post to talk honestly about choosing a builder, because I think most of what gets written on this topic skips the parts that actually matter once a project is underway.
Why My Background Shapes How I Build
When you’ve practiced construction and real estate law, you see a project differently than someone who has only ever swung a hammer or managed a crew. Contracts, liability, regulatory compliance, these aren’t abstractions to me. They’re familiar terrain, and that familiarity changes how I solve problems when they come up mid-project, because they always come up.
Architecture, Law, and Construction as a Single Discipline
Most custom home projects involve at least three separate professionals: an architect, a builder, and often an attorney sorting out contracts or resolving a dispute. My background effectively folds two of those three perspectives into one point of view. When a design decision has legal or regulatory implications, which happens more often in custom residential work than most homeowners expect, I’m thinking about that immediately rather than discovering it later through a costly change order or a permitting delay.
This matters most here in Colorado, where zoning codes, design review boards, and historic district requirements vary considerably from one municipality to the next, sometimes block to block in the Front Range communities I work in most. Understanding those regulatory layers firsthand, rather than relying on someone else to flag them, tends to keep my projects out of the kind of mid-project surprises that derail budgets and timelines.
What to Look for in a Custom Home Builder
Here’s what I’d tell a friend who asked me this question over a beer, which is honestly how most of these conversations start anyway.
Experience That Spans More Than One Discipline
A builder who has only ever built doesn’t always understand why an architect designed something a certain way, or what a designer needs from the structure to make the furnishings and finishes actually work. My experience across architecture, construction, and project management means I make decisions with the full picture in mind, not just the task directly in front of me that week.
A Process That Holds Up Under Pressure
Every custom home project eventually hits friction. A material delay, a permitting question, a site condition nobody expected. The real question isn’t whether problems will happen, since they always do. It’s whether the builder has a genuine process for solving them without the project losing momentum or the client losing trust.
A few signs I’d look for if I were the one hiring:
- Clear, proactive communication that explains problems and solutions, rather than letting clients discover issues on their own
- A documented change order process that protects both the client’s budget and the builder’s ability to deliver quality work
- Real relationships with engineers, inspectors, and trade partners that speed up problem resolution when something needs fixing
- A track record of projects that stayed reasonably close to their original timeline, even accounting for the inevitable variables that come with custom construction
Ask for References, and Actually Call Them
This sounds obvious, but plenty of homeowners skip it. A builder should hand you a list of past clients without hesitation. The National Association of Home Builders recommends asking those references one question above all: would they hire that builder again, knowing what they know now? That question tends to surface more honest information than any list of specific complaints or compliments.
I’d encourage anyone evaluating Duet Build to ask our past clients exactly that. I’m glad to make those introductions myself.
Verify Longevity and Track Record
Beyond references, ask how long a builder has actually run a financially stable business. Consumer guidance on hiring builders or remodelers consistently points to longevity as a real signal of stability, especially once you’re a few years past move-in and need warranty work handled. I’ve spent more than two decades across architecture, law, and construction, and continuous time in an industry tells you something a portfolio alone can’t.
My Take on Building a Legacy Home
A lot of my clients are planning what might be their final home, or a property meant to hold a family for decades, multiple generations under one roof, grandkids eventually. The stakes aren’t really about resale value. They’re about whether the home performs, functionally and emotionally, for the rest of a family’s story.
I Ask About Longevity, Not Just Layout
A builder focused purely on the current project tends to ask about square footage, finishes, and budget. I ask different questions: how will this home need to adapt as mobility changes, where might multigenerational living come into play down the road, what aging-in-place considerations should we be designing in now instead of retrofitting in fifteen years. These conversations matter enormously for clients building something meant to outlast a typical ownership cycle.
Discretion Matters as Much as Craftsmanship
Legacy-focused clients often have complicated stakeholders involved, estate managers, adult children, trustees, and they care about discretion just as much as the finish carpentry. A builder who handles those dynamics professionally, without making the homeowner manage internal team friction, is worth more than one with a slightly bigger portfolio. I take that part of the job seriously.
I Hold Myself to Standards Beyond Code
Building codes are a baseline, not a finish line. I hold my team to standards beyond that baseline as a matter of internal discipline, not because a client specifically demanded it. That’s a hard thing to verify from photos alone, which is part of why I think direct conversations with a builder’s past clients matter so much.
Why Devon and I Built Duet the Way We Did
Devon and I lead the Duet companies together, but we didn’t build a single design-build entity. We built two firms, hers and mine, that choose to collaborate rather than one company wearing two hats. Clients can hire Duet Build alone, Duet Design alone, or both together. When they choose both, they get a team that’s already used to working with each other, not two parties learning to collaborate for the first time on a project worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A Structure Built for Continuity, Not Convenience
I also lead Duet Forma, our architectural planning discipline, alongside Duet Build. That dual leadership is intentional. When the person overseeing how a home gets built also understands how and why it was designed, the handoff between architecture and construction loses the friction that typically slows custom projects down. Our post on design-build firm vs full-service interior design firm gets into this distinction in more depth, if you’re trying to figure out which structure makes sense for your project.
What Two Decades Has Taught Me About Trust
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in twenty years across architecture, law, and construction, it’s that trust gets built through consistency, not through promises made at the start of a relationship. I don’t ask clients to take my word for it. I show them, through every phase of a project, that I’ll communicate honestly even when the news isn’t what anyone wants to hear, that my timelines will be realistic instead of optimistic, and that I won’t sacrifice quality to protect a schedule.
Why This Matters More on Complex Projects
The more complex a project, multiple structures, mountain terrain, historic considerations, the more this kind of discipline matters. Complexity multiplies the number of decisions that need to get made correctly, and a builder’s judgment under pressure is what actually determines whether a project succeeds or not. Our post on the custom home trifecta of designer, architect, and builder explains why having all three disciplines genuinely aligned, not just separately hired, changes outcomes on exactly this kind of project.
If you’re further along in your search and want a parallel set of questions, our post on 10 questions to ask interior designers before hiring covers a lot of the same ground, since communication, process, and genuine collaboration matter no matter which discipline you’re vetting.
A Builder Who Sees the Whole Picture
My two decades across architecture, law, and construction weren’t a detour on the way to running Duet Build. They were the preparation for it.
If you’re evaluating builders for an upcoming custom home or large-scale renovation, I’d welcome the conversation. Take a look at Duet Build and how my team approaches custom residential construction. See how my architectural planning work shapes projects from the earliest stages. Then, if it feels like a fit, let’s talk.
