The thing that separates the best firms from the ordinary ones out there is the willingness to go the extra mile in creating products that build an impression that lasts.
Simon Shahin & Alburt Lefebvre are not your average architects as their work is the living embodiment of the fact that you can succeed in any space if you the tenacity and vision to achieve top notch results every single time you set your foot out. Build by Design, based in Toronto CA, works on the same line. In nearly a decade of their entrepreneurial pursuit, partners Simon Shahin&Alburt Lefebvre have never compromised on how they go about building their projects, even if they have to let go of a few.
Toronto’s architectural space is already packed with some top notch designers and construction firms, but just by virtue of being able to convert ordinary brick and mortar spaces into places that tell a brand’s story, Build by Design has managed to capture a niche market for them.
Their portfolio up till now is filled with exceedingly well articulated retail, commercial, restaurant and healthcare spaces. With a total of 500+ completed projects, their growing list of clientele now includes names like Chick-Fill-A, GTA among others. But it’s not that partners Simon Shahin&Alburt Lefebvre just focus on the big leagues. They give each project, be it a restaurant space for an upscale restaurant in Downtown, Toronto or a small juice joint in a mall, equal amounts careful planning and devotion.
The emotional connect between that person and the brand has to be established when a customer walks into a brand space. It’s this moment in time that the eyes signal acceptance to the brain and it’s this fine line where Built by Design continue to thrive.
These guys like to be in total control of a project handed over to them from start to finish, obsessing massively over each small detail and agenda, constantly challenging themselves and pushing the boundaries on what they can deliver to the client in the shape of the final product.
But just two men, no matter how talented or visionary cannot achieve the results that Build by Design has been able to achieve alone and the two partners don’t cower away in admitting this. They know that to build great firms operating in any sphere, they firstly need to have a brilliant team and secondly they need to build a culture where every team member is able to express himself while keeping the ethos and vision of the firm as a guiding yardstick when tackling tough projects.
The astoundingly low rate of success in the entrepreneurial world can be easily given perspective by comparing the ever growing list of failures against the kind of success BuildBy Design has achieved.
To make it big in the construction space is tough but it’s even tougher to accomplish yourself by not pursuing run-of-the-mill work that everyone else is doing.
BuildBy Design’s success came by because they are extremely invested in their vision and have built a work culture that supports this vision at every single step. The partners have had no shame in admitting that they do decline projects when they don’t feel that keeping on with the client will let them build the kind of spaces they are famous for.
For most fledgling entrepreneurs out there, Built By design’s lofty aims of becoming Toronto’s leading construction firm in the next five years and Canada’s top construction firm in the next ten years carry an important message. Never compromise what you are passionate about no matter how difficult it may seem and support your team because you will never be able to make your dreams a reality without their constant support and willingness to buy into your vision.