Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the TN-WNC-SWVA region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The TN-WNC-SWVA.
Is your business serving the residents of TN-WNC-SWVA? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA
EP# 330: Assembly Architecture and Build: Where Blueprint Meets Hammer
Ever wondered what happens when you combine architectural brilliance with hands-on construction knowledge? Ross Smith, owner of Assembly Architecture and Build, joins the Good Neighbor Podcast to reveal how his unique design-build approach is transforming custom home construction.
Ross shares his journey from carpenter to architect to creating a business that bridges both worlds. "What we've done is combined architecture and construction into one company, making the process really easy for our clients," he explains. This revolutionary approach eliminates the traditional disconnect between designers and builders that often leaves homeowners caught in the middle of miscommunications and budget disputes.
The conversation dives deep into how this integrated model creates unparalleled transparency throughout the building process. Ross reveals how his dual expertise provides invaluable advantages in value engineering, allowing for smarter decisions from day one. "We understand the costs, we know how we can change a window system or wall section to save money," he notes, highlighting how this knowledge benefits clients immediately rather than after plans are complete.
Perhaps most compelling is Ross's passionate defense of honest contractors in an industry sometimes plagued by mistrust. "Any good contractor who's been in business for years knows there's no advantage in misleading clients," he emphasizes. This commitment to integrity has earned Assembly projects across the country, including homes for clients who visit just three or four times during construction.
From affordable homes to high-end residences and even sculptural treehouses, discover how Assembly tackles projects others might shy away from. Whether you're dreaming of building your perfect home or simply fascinated by innovative business models, this episode offers valuable insights into creating spaces where design excellence meets construction reality.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monning.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am very excited today to have a very special guest with us for the first time in our studio, and I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, mr Ross Smith, who is the owner operator of Assembly, architecture and Build. Ross, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thanks, skip, good to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Well, we're glad to have you, like I said, very excited to learn all about what you do. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?
Speaker 3:Well at Assembly. It's kind of a unique business in the sense that I'm a licensed architect and contractor. So what we've done is we've combined architecture and construction into one company and we focus on custom homes, and it makes the process really easy for our clients because they can just come to us for the entire process. We're totally turnkey, which is unique. Typically contractors and architects are two separate entities and then the homeowner can kind of get stuck between the two. With us it's just one point of contact makes for a really easy process and I think it allows for really good results and we can watch cost estimating very carefully and in general, I think our clients have really positive experience with us.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's pretty unique, I think.
Speaker 3:There's not a whole lot of companies in this area that do what we do. It's pretty unusual to combine the two, but I think it's the way to go. I know that if I were looking to build my own home, I'd definitely seek working with a design build firm, because they're going to be. You know, combining the two just makes the process super transparent and everyone involved is on the same page from the beginning. So there's no disconnect between hey, can you design us a home. Now that home goes to a whole new company for estimating construction and they have to learn all the details. They've got to work with the architect to understand the numbers. So we kind of combine that all into one, which I think is has been. You know it's been. It makes us unique and it's and it's been, it's been fun for us to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome. Well, very interesting concept.
Speaker 3:Ross, how, what's your journey? Kind of a typical one in the sense that for someone who's in the building industry, in the sense that I started out doing carpentry as a kid and worked for a number of summers building houses in the northeast and then that sort of sparked an interest in architecture, at which point I went off to study architecture and I got, you know, I got a degree in it and then I worked in architecture firms for a number of years and then I kind of realized, like you know, I miss working with my hands, I miss working on with carpentry on job sites, I miss putting things together, physically putting things together. So that sort of birthed this idea of combining the design and build aspects together, physically putting things together. So that sort of birthed this idea of combining the design and build aspects together. Because here I was a licensed architect with still a really strong interest in a past in building and it just made sense like why don't I go get my contractor's license? I'll put the two together. It's going to provide a better service for our clients and it's going to allow us to learn more quickly because we're combining the two industries together.
Speaker 3:So, like some architects, I feel like they.
Speaker 3:They know how a house goes together, but they don't understand necessarily the sequencing or the specific details, whereas we have that experience because we're also the contractor who's out there building the home.
Speaker 3:So and it is really valuable from a value engineering point of view because, if you can imagine, the contractor is the one that really understands costs. So if the homeowner is looking to value engineer a set of drawings like, how do they do that? They reach out to the contractor. We understand the costs, we know how we can, like, change a window system or change a wall section or frame the house differently in order to save them money, and so we're just like we bring that knowledge to the table from the get go. So it just made a lot of sense, I think, for me, having the experience early experience in carpentry and construction, and then education, architecture it just kind of felt like a no brainer to combine the two and I'm a hands on learner. So I thought like in order to be the best architect I can be, I also need to be a contractor, and in order to be the best contractor I can be, I also need to be an architect, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:It does, it does yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're kind of like a. There's a symbiosis there, if you will.
Speaker 2:Right, gotcha interesting and it makes me talking about your journey as a to become an architect. That reminds me of George Costanza. You know he on Seinfeld multiple episodes where he talked about fantasizing about. He said I've always wanted to pretend to be an architect. He got that opportunity to pretend. That's right.
Speaker 3:Sorry.
Speaker 2:Sorry to digress there.
Speaker 3:No, no, no. I uh. I love that show and I just watched a clip where he responds. A beautiful woman asks him like what do you do for a living? He says, oh, I'm an architect. And she says what do you work on? He goes, oh, we, uh, I work on railroads. And she goes railroads, isn't that what engineers work on? And he's like, uh, I don't know. I'm a huge fan of Seinfeld, so I am too.
Speaker 2:I am too. Well, what are some? What are some?
Speaker 3:myths or misconceptions in the architecture slash construction business. You know, I think that, like, I feel like mechanics might deal with this as well and that is just like a skepticism and maybe a mistrust that the contractor is somehow going to take advantage of you. And I think that, like, what's important to understand is that any good contractor who has been in the business for years, like there's there is no world in which it works in their favor to somehow take advantage of a client or homeowner Like, what works to their advantage is lots of transparency, lots of communication, lots of trust, because that's like how you're going to build a successful business and if you're like the shysty and working in weird ways, you're not going to last long and you're going to get a really bad reputation in the small community in which you're working. So I think it's just really important for homeowners to understand that, like, if you're working with a good contractor, trust that contractor because it really is to their benefit to do well by you. And I think that, like we we emphasize that a lot at assembly we have a lot of transparency with how our finances work, a lot of transparency with how the drawing systems work, how we communicate with clients and what.
Speaker 3:What all of that is about really is just about building trust so that the clients can know that, like well, we are working hard to do well by them and as a result, we've gotten a lot of clients who don't even live locally. Like we build, we build, you know, some. On occasion we'll build big, fancy homes for people that live in Florida or New York and they may come and visit the project three or four times over the course of the entire build, and so they put a lot of faith in us to execute the projects well and send them a lot of information to keep them up to date. So I would just say that if you're looking at building a home, don't be worried about well, first of all, select a good contractor. You know that would be the first step, Like talk, to talk to people, ask for references, interview a couple of different contractors, select somebody that you trust and uh, and they'll do well by you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Very good Now. Um, you sound like a really busy guy. Um, if there is time outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, thing is is like I've got I really have two jobs skip, because one job is running the company assembly and then the other job is I've got two little boys at home, so I have the, I have the, the luck of also being a full-time father. So sometimes I'll joke with employees that my, my break starts Monday morning. My weekends are so intense. But yeah, I would say that, like you know, right now where my life is, I drive a lot of fun from just hanging out with the boys, a three and a five-year-old. I'll take them to the Asheville nature center center um, go, look at animals, play with snakes, uh. So I don't have a lot of time for mountain bike riding, which I also love, um. Or going, you know, floating down the french bar river, or going for, uh, swims in the lakes. Like I love all that stuff so much, but so much of my life right now is dominated by the two little ones.
Speaker 3:So I just, I just try to you know I drive a lot of fun out of just like watching them grow. Basically, yeah, great answer change family is always best and you're not far away you're.
Speaker 2:You're not far away to with the two, three and five. It won't be that much longer. They'll be hiking with you and mountain bike riding and jumping in the river.
Speaker 3:I appreciate you saying that. It's hard to remember that sometimes when you're in the fog of it, but I think that you blink a couple times and suddenly they're like nine and ten or nine and eleven and you're mountain bike riding.
Speaker 2:They'll be challenging you Like. Keep up with us, old man.
Speaker 3:I'll be an old man, I'll be struggling to keep up.
Speaker 2:I'm sure I'm very familiar with that myself. Yeah Well, Ross, if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about you and about assembly architecture and build, what would that be?
Speaker 3:you and about assembly, architecture and build. What would that be? Well, we're unique because we're a design build company and we're we're really capable of not just doing single family housing, but really we can take on any kind of project, including commercial or sculptural. You know, there's like a variety of projects that we can tackle because we can do both the architecture and design component to it. So I would say, like you know, I think that if you have a project in mind, whether or not it's a home or something more unique or even like an oddball project, then don't hesitate to reach out because we might be able to help you, and we love projects that are out of left field. So, anything that is challenging or unique, we're here for you and I would say, don't hesitate to reach out.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, speaking of that, for those of us who might be interested looking to build, design something for the future, how can we learn more?
Speaker 3:Definitely go to our website. That's the best way to contact us and that's assemblyabcom, so it's like assemblyarchitectureandbuildcom assemblyabcom. Go there, that's. That's the primary resource for contacting us, seeing the kind of projects we do, learn about our process, et cetera. So that's our number one spot.
Speaker 2:Very good and I and I'm assuming you've got some sample builds on there for folks to peruse.
Speaker 3:Yep, we've got builds that are currently ongoing in our portfolio and then ones that we've completed over the years, and we try to show a variety of work. So there's houses that are both more on the affordable range, and then there's some high-end homes in there, as well as some sculptural projects. We have one designed for this treehouse-like project. Oh wow, so yeah. So it's a good place to see what we do and to reach out to us with any questions.
Speaker 2:Awesome, we'll do it, definitely want to check out that treehouse too, that's right. So, ross, can't tell you how much we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to spend some time with us, tell us all about what you do and your journey with assembly, architecture and build, and wish you and your boys, your family and your firm all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Skip, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and maybe when you've got some unique project going on, we can have you back on the show.
Speaker 3:I would love that. I would love that Please reach out anytime, I'll be here.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. Thanks so much. Have hope you have a great rest of the day.
Speaker 1:You too. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-7-3.