Firm Culture, News

Celebrating Three Years of Board & Vellum

It's been an amazing three years at Board & Vellum. We've grown from just Jeff working hard in his attic, to a team of seven working hard together in the (now) expanded Board & Vellum offices. Here, Jeff looks back at the last three years, and ahead to the next three.

Jeff Pelletier

March 11, 2014

Things right now are pretty exciting at Board & Vellum but one of the most exciting milestones to celebrate is that it has now been three years since I left my job as an Associate with the awesome people at GGLO to start this company. To say it has been an eventful three years would be an understatement for sure. When I started I certainly had a plan but I couldn't have imagined where I (now we) would be in three years. Back when I started everything, I worked up in my attic and held meetings in my dining room.  I had taken a big cut in pay to go off on my own with the hope that it would pay off. I remember once when I had 5 small projects at once and thinking that was pretty insane.  I think I even had a romantic vision of me working away on a little backyard cottage project and taking Tuesdays off to go skiing when the slopes were empty.

Thinking of that vision now it is almost laughable.  After a few weeks of trying out that slow-paced and romantic vision of an architect I would have died of boredom. I don't really do well with sitting around. Board & Vellum today is a very different place than when I put together my first IKEA desk in that attic!  

Here's Where We Are Now

• Our team is 7 amazing people strong.
• We have many more than 5 projects on the table from super small (bathrooms) to very complicated new homes across the country.
• We have moved twice and are now doubling our office space and should be good for many years to come (famous last words?).
• We have grown the work we do into multiple markets and we spent a good half of our time on retail, commercial, and multi-family projects.
• We finally have a bunch of office standards to guide us in how we work. Cowboying it worked for the first year or so but now we actually know where to look for guidance.
• We've picked up a  good deal of press (something that was never an actual goal) and this year alone we'll have several more articles come out including some great national press.
• We still have fun. I absolutely love coming to work every day and I aim to make Board & Vellum a place where everyone who works here is comfortable and feels empowered.  Just like we have our clients back, everyone one of us who works here has to have each other's back. 'A rising tide lifts all boats' is something we live by.

There's lots to be excited by, and consequently, life around here is as far from boring as I can imagine. Things evolve, but the fundamentals have had to stay the same and I'm very proud of that.

Part of that process of seeing how things evolve is completing our strategic plan for the next few years. I was able to step back and see what has been working in what we have done to grow us to where we are now.  Mixed with a bit of luck and determination it has served us well and I know it will continue to do so.  

Here's where our efforts are focused.

• Stay focused on our client needs and ensure that we act in their best interests.  When I say that we're your advocate, I really try to make sure that impacts everything we do.
• Remove the ego from architecture.  I'm not your typical architect and I'm more interested in making your project awesome for you than something that is a design that I want.
• Write and communicate to our clients and not to other architects. I don't actually have that many architect friends, contrary to many other architects I know, and I think that has been a good thing.  I do this work to interact with my amazing clients not just talk shop with other archi-nerds.
• Keep our overhead low.  We need to be competitive with other architects in terms of fee and part of that is keeping our overhead costs low.  This has become more challenging as we've grown but so far we're still on track even with our upcoming office expansion where we will be doubling our space.
• Probably most importantly, work with outstanding people.  In some ways, the particular skill set of the people I work with is a less important than the quality of people.  I'm beyond fortunate to work with truly exemplary people.  Knowing that we all have each other's back makes the work we do that much better.
• Keep our personalities front and center. Generic Joe Architect isn't someone I want to be. You'll continue to hear about LEGO, random geeky things, and all of our personal lives.

Looking forward, I have a good vision of where we will be in the next three years but I know enough to be flexible so we can evolve and grow.  After all, if I hadn't taken some risks early on I'd still be working up in my attic.  And while I would love to go skiing every Tuesday, I can say that the alternative I've helped us all build has been pretty damn incredible, snow or no snow.

I can't say enough that I am thankful to all of our amazing clients and the people we work with for your continued support in helping our clients realize their dreams.  It is one hell of a job.