EPISODE SUMMARY

If you pulled your last 10 change orders and sorted them into two piles — things you truly couldn't have known, and things the client added or you didn't nail down up front — which pile would be bigger? For most design-build firms, it's the second pile, and Greg opens this episode arguing that's not a field problem. It's a design and sales problem that showed up late.

Greg is joined by Will Pritiken, founder of Aforma Design Studio, an embedded design practice built specifically for builders, architects, and developers who need real design capacity without standing up a full in-house team. Will ran construction and did development work before starting his own design-build company in Portland, then built Aforma after fellow Remodelers Advantage roundtable members asked him to bail out their stalled design projects. The conversation covers why design gets treated as a lost leader instead of a profit center, why the 20–30% contingency in your pricing might be covering for decisions that were never made rather than risks nobody could have predicted, and how a structured design partnership protects your client relationship, your brand, and your margin.

RESOURCES & LINKS

Aforma Design Studio: aforma.co

Email Will: hello@aforma.co or will@aforma.co

Book mentioned: Upstream by Dan Heath

Remodelers Advantage: RemodelersAdvantage.com

Learn more about Remodelers Advantage Roundtables, production and design manager groups, consulting services, and other programs at RemodelersAdvantage.com. Questions or episode ideas? Email Greg at Greg@RemodelersAdvantage.com.