We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful John Perez . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with John below.

Hi John, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Developing real estate that we design has always been a dream of mine. As an Architect, designing houses and buildings is fascinating, and I have learned a lot designing for clients. But every Architect dreams of designing and building what they come up with, and implementing elements with full creative freedom.

That’s what our firm can do by developing our own projects.

The traditional developer acquires the land, then finds and hires the Architect, then finds and hires a separate contractor, then builds the project and hopes for the best. I realized this leads to a lot of repetitive projects, which I don’t think is the best for the urban context.

I thought: what if we can design projects individually, invest as much time as needed to refine the interior and exterior designs, efficiently build it, and offer a product that feels like a custom home for a potential buyer? Draw upon all of the requests and tastes that clients have brought to us in the past, and offer similar spaces, materials, and looks. That’s how we came up with our business idea.

John, 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 was born into this industry… My father is an Architect + Builder, so my brother Benjamin and I grew up watching our father design, interact with clients, and we regularly visited the jobsites that were under construction. This was all in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. To us it was just spending time with our Dad, but we were taking it all in without being aware of it…

When we finished High School, we decided to go study at US universities, and I chose the University of Miami. Seeing what was being designed and built in Miami in the early 2000’s was fascinating, and I knew this was the city for me. I was lucky to have worked at an excellent Architecture firm, as well as 2 Real Estate Development companies, which showed me how things work here.

At the Architecture firm I worked at first I worked on residential high rise condominiums, which allowed me to learn a lot of different approaches to designing, as well as the complex Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Alarm and Fire Sprinkler systems that go into a tall building.

Later when I worked for the Real Estate Development companies, one of them specialized in Hotel design and development. Hotel design is very similar to residential design, and one can have a lot of fun in the process.

We now use all of this knowledge to design efficient spaces where people can enjoy their private time, as well as entertain guests… we like to think of the houses we develop as having the element of a small hotel… open spaces where you can accommodate a large dinner or cocktail party.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Although there are plenty of Architecture firms that are successful, my approach to Architecture wasn’t quite a fit for the competing market in Miami. The lesson I had to unlearn is the notion that founding and running a purely architectural services firm could be an immediate success.

I have realized that it is challenging for the general public to differentiate a good architect from a decent architect, since the final product I that Architects provide consists of lines on paper, and these can be difficult to compare to the untrained eye.

The level of service and extreme attention to detail that we invested in our projects meant that it was challenging to be competitive in the market. Most clients looked at plans as a means to obtain a permit, but a properly coordinated set of plans represents so much more when it comes time to build a structure.

Rather than embark on a crusade to educate the public on this value, I decided that pairing our detailed approach to Architecture with Construction services could yield better results, which it did. Most clients are looking for a turnkey solution to their project. By the time they’ve been through the design process, we’ve gone from being a stranger to them to someone they know and trust, and this is key in construction.

So the lesson for me was: offer design accompanied by construction…

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

This goes back to the previous question… we pivoted from being a Design Services firm to a Design + Build firm, which made a world of difference. Rather than having a dozen or so projects on the boards, we could focus on a project from design to construction completion, which often takes between 18 to 24 months.

Having less projects meant that we could dive into each of them and focus a substantial amount of time and effort into the ones we took on. That made sense from a business standpoint, but more importantly, it is a lot more fun to start a project and bring it all the way home.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.przdevelopment.com
• Instagram: @przdevelopment
• Youtube: @przdevelopment

Image Credits
Andres Restrepo, Ruptiva