A Conversation With ... Jeffrey Wells

We started our business in 2003 – myself and my partner, Angela Scaletty.

I was a partner at Pellham Phillips for more than a decade. We decided that it would be easiest to split off part of our engineering work and form a new company so that I could also work for other architects in Springfield. I still do all the structural consulting engineering for my own firm, but we’re a completely independent company. We have two other staff members. We typically work for architects within 50 miles of Springfield, but the projects can be anywhere.

How has the transition been, branching out to work with many firms instead of just one?

It’s been a real joy – a real blast – because people who once were my competitors are now collaborators, so I get to work with all the different firms and see their approaches to the same problems that we deal with in the industry. I get to talk to them and share experiences and learn things, so it’s been great.

You’re a licensed architect and an engineer. That’s a bit unusual, isn’t it?

There are only about 15 people in Missouri who have both licenses. One of the ways that I like to approach the engineering side is that I … speak the language of architects, so I can be a little more sympathetic to what they’re trying to achieve.

Why did you decide to become licensed in both?

Lay people don’t realize how odd it is (to have both licenses). Engineering is an extraordinarily technical discipline – years and years of math – and it’s a very right-brained type of activity. That doesn’t mean engineers aren’t creative – they are – but it takes a certain mindset and type of personality. Architecture, for the most part, is a very fluid, left-brain sort of thing. Architects and engineers collaborate on projects … but they usually come from very different backgrounds. I just never really wanted to fit in any one particular mold, so I guess you could say my left brain and my right brain are constantly at war with one another.

I’ve teamed up with the Matt Millers, and I’m developing projects with them on the architecture side through Placemakers LLC. I’m not practicing architecture in the open marketplace, because I’m not going to compete with my architecture clients. These are projects that we’re developing on our own and in other cities.

How does being both an architect and an engineer help in your work?

An example would probably be the best way to answer that. Hammons Field – I did all the green, lacy-looking steel in there. That’s something that’s functional – it performs a structural engineering purpose – but it’s also got an aesthetic aspect to it. Having both (abilities) bridges that divide – which, ultimately architects and engineers really want to be able to do. You don’t want to be just utilitarian or pie-in-the sky paper architects. You have to be a little bit of both.

What are some challenges in the design industry?

Prices of construction materials have gotten just ridiculous and almost unpredictable. That’s going to ultimately impact the economy at some point. The overall pace of construction is a daily challenge, but it’s a great challenge to have. Anyone who’s been around long enough in one of the construction trades realizes that it’s a boom-bust sort of cycle. I would much rather deal with the problems of being swamped than the alternative.

What about competition?

I was reading news online (and found) that there are more architecture firms than there are pizza parlors in the United States. The problem with that is that … you beat each other up for prices. It’s a real challenge for the industry. You might say … competition is good for the customer, but at the same time, there’s a minimum level of care that has to go into our work, because ultimately, we’re responsible for public safety, and you can’t just keep whittling it down. The competition between firms is cut-throat, and we try to make it a competition of qualifications, which is fair and right, but it comes down to a competition of dollars.

What goals do you have for Wells & Scaletty?

We’ll grow steadily, but it’s been a real delight being small. Our intention is to add a few more staff people, good people who are stable and well-qualified … and to get further embedded with our architectural clients.

Tell us about your family and your spare-time interests.

My wife, Stephanie, is a clinical dietitian at St. John’s. We have a 9-year-old daughter, Sarah, and a 5-year-old son, David. I’m training for another marathon right now, so if I’m not at home or in the office, I’m out on the road somewhere.