Custom home design offers opportunities for creativity

While there are many beautiful homes to be had in Springfield, some home buyers want something, well, different. That's where architects who specialize in custom homes come in.

Donald Briggs, AIA, owner of Briggs Architecture + Design, has been a practicing architect for 18 years.

Briggs spent his first five years working in the Tulsa area, and it was there, he said, that he got his first taste of working on custom homes.

"I found that I really enjoyed the creativity of custom home projects," Briggs said.

The architect later moved to Springfield, where he began a 5 1/2-year association with Bass Pro Shops and Tracker Marine.

Briggs was involved with the architectural development of Big Cedar Lodge and various retail projects. In addition, he designed a home in the Bahamas for Bass Pro Shops owner Johnny Morris.

Briggs started his own company in November 1993.

"The focus of our company is to design custom residences," he said. "We also do renovations and additions on existing homes." When Briggs goes to work designing a custom residence, the process begins with a lot of questions and note-taking.

"What I do is get to know them their likes, dislikes, hobbies, interests and values," he said. "I don't put pencil to paper until I get all those answers."

Then the design begins to emerge and is refined.

"A lot of people hire me for ideas they have an idea of what they want, but they need help," he said.

Drawing out the ideas of other people and turning them into residential reality provides a great deal of job satisfaction, Briggs said.

"I love working with people personally, one-on-one," he said. "I enjoy working with the end-user. Making their dreams come true and seeing them smile, that's my passion."

Briggs has designed about 60 custom homes during his career, with finished prices ranging from $200,000 to $3.5 million.

Springfield architect Robert C. Boehner has been an architect since 1965. He has worked for the past 20 years in Springfield, and he has since developed an interesting niche within the custom home design field restorations of and additions to older homes.

"There is certainly a niche here with that kind of work," Boehner said. "There are a lot of really fine older neighborhoods in Springfield."

Boehner's typical customers are empty-nesters who have looked at buying a home elsewhere, but ultimately decide that there's no place like home and opt to stay in their old neighborhood.

Boehner said while renovating and adding on to older homes presents greater challenges, it also affords greater rewards. The architect said the process of restoring an older building is very gratifying professionally.

"You need to be a good listener, and really be able to hear what is being said," Boehner said of the older home renovation process.

Boehner said while he has enjoyed job satisfaction over the years, there are other rewards, as well.

"It took me a long time to realize this, but the best part of what I do is the friends I've made along the way," Boehner said.

Above all, designing custom residences requires a talent for tailoring the home to the residents.

"It's not much different than designing a suit of clothes for them for it to work, it has to fit," Briggs said.