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If you’re an architect, contractor, owner, or developer who’d rather hear how things actually work than how they’re supposed to, this is for you.
I started drafting on a board in 1974. I’m still drafting — just with different tools.
Over 52 years, I’ve built large projects at HKS, designed industrial facilities at Haskell, built clinics and hospitals for Marshall Erdman, developed senior living with StoneCreek, and owned my own practice. Roughly $300M in built work across senior living, healthcare, restaurants, industrial, and office. I’ve sat on every side of the table an architect can sit on — design lead, project architect, owner’s rep, developer, principal. I’ve signed the drawings, the checks, and the lien releases.
This newsletter is what I wish someone had handed me at 30, 40, and 50.
What I write about:
How practice actually works — not how the schools describe it
The decisions that separate good projects from bad ones are usually made in the first three meetings
Contracts, fees, scope, and how to actually get paid
The shift is happening right now as AI moves from novelty to a working tool in AEC firms
What I’m learning while building AECLogix, my AI automation company for the construction industry
Stories from projects that went sideways, and the ones that didn’t
Who it’s for:
Architects — interns through principals — who want a field-tested perspective instead of theory. Contractors who want to understand how the architect across the table is thinking. Owners and developers want a clearer view of the people they’re trusting with the building. If you’ve been in the industry a while and want to push back on what I write, even better. Comments stay open.
What to expect:
Short pieces, written plainly. No jargon I wouldn’t use on a job site. One issue a week, sometimes two. Most of it will always be free; deeper teardowns and the Working Drawings series sit behind a paid tier for readers who want to go further.
Why this exists:
In fifty-two years, I’ve watched the profession get squeezed from every direction — fee pressure, liability creep, software cycles, the slow erosion of the architect’s role on a project. I’ve also watched a handful of practitioners quietly thrive through it all. The difference was almost never talent. It was practice — the unglamorous, learnable, repeatable parts. That’s what I want to put down here while I still can.
To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.
