Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Frank Wickstead. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Frank thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I have worked in the residential design/build/develop construction industry for over 25 years. A year or so ago, I did a reboot with new branding as Alair Buckhead. The intent was to merge our different business interests across design, build, and development and to focus on the best practices that we had gathered over that quarter-century of experience.

The biggest differentiators between residential and commercial construction are structure, process, and communication. The intangible differentiators are reputation and human emotion. The reputation of the industry may be well-earned but, at this point in my career, I understand that the blame is shared between general contractor (GC) and client. The guilt on the GC side has to do with a lack of disciplined planning prior to starting construction. The guilt on the client side is the laser focus on price up-front and the focus on quality, the details, in the end. And then there is the emotional factor. There is a reason that shelter, as a psychological need, is at the base of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. When one’s shelter is in play, the emotions and the reactions are visceral. What may be a minor issue on a commercial jobsite becomes massive on a residential project.

Having had the benefit of both commercial and residential experience, my focus with the reboot was to remove the emotions as much as possible by implementing commercial planning principles. The shift to Alair dovetailed with this plan. The goal was to remove estimation and speculation and to do so outside of a construction agreement. Step one was to separate planning from construction.

Planning is not just the development of plans or construction documents and engineering. Planning is the process of selecting everything that will go into the project from fixtures and finishes to sheathing, roofing underlayment, insulation, and HVAC equipment. Everything. Then we write Scopes of Work (SOWs) that include those selections. The SOWs layout all expectations for our subcontractors and vendors so that there is no grey area, no assumptions. Now the client knows exactly what is included, way beyond the drawings alone. We then price those SOWs with vendors and subcontractors to set up a budget. Once we have that pricing, the client can truly weigh their options. And with our help, they can guide that pricing to an ideal budget. They may sacrifice integrated lighting for an appliance package, they may leave the basement unfinished so they can install the pool now. The key is that we make those changes while the project is still on paper. Not during construction as is typical.

When the scope is well defined, a couple of other magical things happen.

The budget stabilizes because subs and vendors understand what they are installing (12×12 ceramic tile or a porcelain mosaic, traditional ducted HVAC or advanced VRF, are we going for a built-to-code building envelope or are we going for 0 ACH 50 or airtight?). The budget stabilizes because we have gone through all the options and the pricing for each before starting construction. We are not working with allowances; we are working with specifications.

The schedule stabilizes because subs can give us a realistic window for their SOW, not just a guess. We know the actual lead-time for the specific windows and appliances that we will be installing. We build a schedule based on facts rather than optimism.

We focus on this effort prior to the Construction Agreement. Because of that, we enter into an hourly Planning Agreement. This gives us the ability to experience the client and it gives the client the ability to experience us outside of construction. It is an engagement period. Either party may find along the way that they are not the other’s cup of tea. Either way, the client is left with a rock-solid specification package and SOWs that they can use with another GC. It also gives the client time to consider different financing options for the build while making the GC whole for the effort. I know, after our years of experience, that the budget spent up-front saves on the overall budget in the end.

We then add another commercial element, the idea of a Client Representative. The Client Rep engages in the project through the sales process, through the development of the planning team and project planning, through permitting, and from construction through warranty. That individual knows exactly what is to be delivered and will advocate for the client along the way to help guarantee that the client gets exactly what they are expecting and what they paid for.

Let’s not just focus on the pros. Let’s talk about the cons. Proper planning takes time. Time when the client wants to hear saws and hammers. The slower start can cause anxiety. I know, without a doubt, that the time spent up front saves time during construction and minimizes the overall timeline.

We are not speculative builders. We do not sell a product. We build custom homes, businesses, and developments for their owners. We sell a service. And that is how we measure our success. We base it on the quality of the experience. The model we’ve landed on is better, faster, and less expensive for everyone involved. So far, the effort has been remarkably successful. We are seeing more relaxed clients, stabilized budgets and schedules, all without increasing pricing or sacrificing margin.

Frank, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started my career in commercial architecture but knew I wanted to be in the residential market. After a couple of years, I started my first residential company which evolved over the years as I have. I was introduced to The Southface Energy Institute early in my career. That introduction lit a passion for high performance, building science, and sustainability that has defined my career. I spent a decade in sustainability consulting before returning to general contracting. During that time, I also started teaching at Georgia Tech’s College of Design, School of Building Construction. Eight years later, I am a Professor of Practice at Georgia Tech teaching Masters level students the nuts and bolts of residential design, build, and development. I really enjoy having roles in both the professional side and the academic side. It is a great perspective of what’s next along with what is practical.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Well, I’ve never been an Uber driver but the question, to me, speaks to the importance of career diversification or having a few irons in the fire.

My father was an aeronautical engineer at Gulfstream in Savannah, Ga where I grew up. While he never lost that position, there were a couple of economic downturns when layoffs occurred. During that time, I saw my father nervous for himself and for his colleagues. I remember a close friend of his had a fatal heart attack during one of those times. I was young but it stuck with me. I would never leave myself vulnerable to the whims of someone’s balance sheet. On the other hand, there aren’t too many businesses more volatile than residential construction. We invented the phrase, “feast or famine”. So where to find balance?

While I always had a primary focus which was a residential design/ build firm, I also had something else going. At times it was academic like a Masters degree or another certification. At times, it was a teaching or consulting position. And I always have a longer-term development project in the background. While the primary focus may be high end custom homes, the development would be sustainable workforce housing. I just like having parachutes around here and there and I genuinely enjoy the different lenses. They make me better.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

When offered a consulting opportunity, I was faced with what to do with my decade old and reasonably successful business. It was also during that time that I came to understand the difference between a practice and a business. I found out that I hadn’t built a business, I’d built a practice. Without me, there wasn’t a product to sell. The lesson learned that I would never repeat, don’t make your business you-centric. There is glory in taking credit for everything, but it comes with a less than obvious price. I was the architect, CFO, marketing, sales, I was pre-con…you get the idea. Had I built something that could survive without me, it would have meant something. As it was, I merged my company with a competitor who fed me a percentage of sales for 5 years. Good, not great. It was a mistake I haven’t repeated. And never name your company after yourself! You are just not that special.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alairhomes.com/buckhead/
• Instagram: @alair_buckhead
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wickstead/

Image Credits
Photo Credit: Adam Goldberg Photography Photo Credit: Audrey Alexander Photography Photo Credit: Nick Aliffi/ FOTO DI CAMPO