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One of the
most important and frequent parts of my job as an architect
(and also formerly as a builder) is to educate clients about
what can be a very vast, complicated series of things they
must learn, issues they must face, and decisions they must
make, on the path toward any building project that requires
a building permit.
I created this site
as a way to point people towards what amounts to much of the
same information I end up repeating over and over with each
client who hires me. It just seemed to me in this
modern internet age that it would be more helpful, and
simpler, to try and compile as much of this information as I
could in one place. I hope you find the information
here helpful in deciding when and how to embark on your
building project.
This will always be
a work in progress, so I welcome any constructive criticisms
you may have about this site, or reports of any missing or
broken links. Currently much of the peripheral
explanatory parts of the site are being upgraded to fit this
new template, so your patience is appreciated.
A little bit about my
background-
I come from a long
line of builders. My great grandfather, Knud Jensen, who
was alive until I was about 11 and I remember well, was born
in Denmark in 1897 and emigrated here in 1921 to settle in
the Bay Area of California, where he spent the rest of his
life. That's him on the far left as a young man on one of
his first projects while still living in Denmark.
Below is a picture
of the first house he built on his own in 1927, back when
the craftsman style was just coming on strong in the
mainstream housing market. He went on to become one of the
chief superintendents for one of the (still to this day)
largest contractors in the Bay Area, Swenson Construction
and oversaw the construction of the
San Jose Civic Auditorium in 1936 and did some early
work on the
Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at Moffett Federal Air Field. a
National Historic Landmark. He was notorious for
getting into heated debates with architects. As a builder
trained in Denmark, there was really little to no
distinction made between a builder and an architect, the
word architect literally meaning "master builder". At one
of the first wind tunnels at Moffett Field, he convinced the
"architect" that building it from wood would be more
economical, and just as structurally sound as the steel
structure the architect and engineer had proposed. They
eventually were forced to agree and he received a nice bonus
from his boss for saving so much money on the project. I
keep these pictures on the wall of my office, along with his
old pocket watch, and some of his old hand-made tools, to
remind me of my heritage. I still remember his Danish
accent and the smell of his pipe.
 
This was his old
drafting set, my how things have changed. With computer
aided design now so inexpensive and easy to use, I don't
even have much use for the electric pencil sharpener and
eraser anymore either....
His son, Tom Jensen,
my grandfather, who just passed a few years ago, was also a
life long builder and member of his local carpenter's union
his entire adult life. I vividly remember building
bird-houses with him in his little shop in the back yard
when I was very young. He, my stepfather, and I all built a
big deck together on the back of our house after I was
already working as a professional carpenter full time during
summers off in college. I still have some of his tools in
my toolbox which I still use to this day. This was his
hardhat.
Even my step father
was a masonry contractor and I went on his jobs during the
summers in high school and mixed mortar for him once in
awhile. So building is quite literally in my blood and I
have had some great examples of quality work, craftsmanship,
and work ethic to learn from during my childhood. I think
they have all been quite proud of my pursuit of a career in
construction and architecture, and I try to do them proud.
I went straight from
high school into the Cal Poly Architecture Program in 1983.
I got a job working construction part-time and continued to
do that throughout college, and worked full-time as a
carpenter each summer. By the time I graduated, few
architects were hiring and I would have had to take about a
50% pay cut from my current wages as a carpenter anyway.
So I stayed on in construction and obtained my general
contractor's license in 1990. Here is my faithful "Nugget"
in my first pickup truck during my carpenter days.
I spent the next 15
years running my own small design/build company, starting
out with whatever small bathroom & kitchen remodels and
additions I could find, and eventually developing a
reputation and moving on finally to new custom homes and
larger scale remodels, renovations, and additions.
During this time I
also gradually waded through the very lengthy testing and
work experience requirements to obtain my architect's
license. This required me to work part-time on and off over
the course of several years for an architect, while still
trying to maintain my design/build business. I finally
passed the last exam and obtained my architect's license in
2002. At that time, I gradually backed out of the
construction end of the business and completed my last
design/build of a custom home in November of 2005. Since
then I have been pursuing architecture full time working
from my home office.
Mostly since meeting
my wife in 1994, I have also had the good fortune of having
been able to travel all over the world and see some of the
great buildings of both the ancient and modern worlds. It
has been a great journey, I have been very fortunate and am
thankful and continue to be as I move forward. Pictures,
video, etc. are just no substitute from seeing, feeling,
touching these places in person. I was surprised how much
one could be moved by some buildings. I have used these
experiences as inspiration for my work and for life.
Feel free to visit my main business
website
here. |
