In his own words: Jeff Frame of Frame Architecture

Northern Nevada Business Weekly: Tell us about Frame Architecture and your position.

Jeff Frame: Frame Architecture, Inc. is a full service architectural design firm founded in 2002. After working for a number of firms in northern Nevada I went out on my own riding along with the economic upswing. We started off mainly designing custom homes in the Arrowcreek and Saint James developments as well as some office buildings in the First Independent Bank Center.

Frame Architecture, Inc.'s No. 1 goal is to design an environment that uniquely fits our client's needs, goals and desires. It is the mantra of our tagline: "Designing your building to bring out the best in you."

Officially I am the owner and president of Frame Architecture, Inc. Realistically? You name it. One day I am the marketing department, then designing a building, and by the end of the day I am vacuuming and taking out the trash. Throw in a little bit of IT work and that is a typical day at the office. The hours are long, but the rewards are worth it.

NNBW: How did you get into this profession?

Frame: I was always intrigued with the building process and knew that someone had to think of all the components that make up the building before actual construction begins. I had a few summer construction jobs in high school, but they would only let me push the broom. Now the contractors don't even want me on site.

NNBW: What's the most important thing you have learned in your career?

Frame: My mom always told me never to take shortcuts and to do the job right the first time. I would rather not do something at all than do it part way. We often receive calls from prospective clients who want us to do a quick project and not to put too much information on the drawings. They will tell us that they "know exactly what they want, and they just need a permit." That is our first red flag. These projects are never quick and never go very well.

NNBW: What are your company's strengths and weaknesses compared to its competition?

Frame: Being small, we can give more personalized attention. When you hire Frame Architecture, you get me. Every client, every project. I don't pass a client and their project off to a project manager. I never want Frame Architecture, Inc. to grow so big that I cannot be personally involved with each client and their project. Sure that will keep us small, some may think that we are too small to do their project. To overcome that, we associate with larger firms when going after larger projects.

NNBW: What can your company do that someone else can't?

Frame: It comes down to personal involvement. I am there from beginning to opening night.

NNBW: What are your greatest strengths?

Frame: Finding out a client's needs for their built environment. It is not as simple as area per person. How is the building to be used? Our tagline: "Designing your building to bring out the best in you" states it all. What is best for the client.

NNBW: Tell us about your dream job. Why aren't you working it?

Frame: Roasting Kona coffee beans on the hillside above Lahaina on Maui. The reason I am not doing it is that the economy is not cooperating. OK, truthfully: I am doing it, I just need to do it better. This past year I have made some great contacts and those are starting to pay off. Now we need to deliver the work, which means bringing on more staff, which is causing some growing pains. The projects are different now, for example, we are part of the team on the Walker River Meat Processing Plant in Wabuska just north of Yerington.

NNBW: Have any advice for someone who wants to enter your profession?

Frame: You have to commit, it is a long haul. You won't get financially rich but you will touch a number of lives. Architecture is a very rewarding profession, but your riches won't necessarily be monitary.

NNBW: What's the most fun you have had on the job?

Frame: It is when the project is built and your client looks at you and says, "Good job." Nothing beats that. A satisfied client is my No. 1 priority for every project.

NNBW: What are your favorite hobbies or pastimes? How do you spend your time away from work?

Frame: Mountain biking and cooking. I should probably do more biking and less cooking! But I like to eat, and of course with eating comes libations. As a family, each year we rent a cabin at Lake Tahoe for a week, it is a great escape and we don't have to travel far. We get to lounge on a private beach, watch the sunset every night, and um, well you know...

NNBW: What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?

Frame: A former employer once told me that we are in the service business. Serve your clients and make them happy. A happy client is our best marketing device. No brochure, marketing workshop or life coach can beat a happy client willing to recommend you. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are just some people you just cannot work with. Be professional and end the business relationship and move on. Both parties have better ways to spend their time than trying to make a business relationship work that just won't.

NNBW: If you could live your life over again, what one thing would you change?

Frame: That is a story in and of itself. As you get older, and friends and relatives pass away, I wish I would have spent more time with them. I grew up in Carson City and my best man still lives there. I have seen him once in 15 years.

NNBW: What has been your biggest professional disappointment?

Frame: Not being able to volunteer my time more. We live in an area where the volunteer and community outreach is second to none. People like Pat Fling of BBBS and Linda Patterson of Hosanna Home inspire me. Their efforts are amazing. I take the easy way out, I just write a check. As I strive to grow the firm, I want to carve out more volunteer time.

NNBW: If you had enough money to retire right now, would you? Why?

Frame: Definitely. I have a strong desire to become involved with providing housing for the needy in our community. What kind of conditions are they living in? We have all heard the stories of people living in the daily/weekly/monthly hotels. We can't just simply shut the hotels down, there is a need. My mom was a single mother. She passed away in 1993. She never shared anything from those first few years after I was born. I know someone, somewhere had to have helped us out. I cannot reach back and thank those who helped her. I can only go forward and help others.

The basics:

Name: Jeff Frame, owner, Frame Architecture

How long have you been in this job? 28 years

How long in the profession? I was 18 when I got my first drafting job. I was working for a restaurant designer in Phoenix.

Education: Master of architecture, University of Utah, 1996. At that time if you were from Nevada and wanted a degree in architecture you had to go out of state.

Last book read? John Maxwell's "Everyone Communicates Few Connect," and Michael Gerber's "Awakening the Entreprenuer Within." I am now reading "Point Man," it is brutally convicting.

The best movie ever? "To Catch a Thief," the 1955 original with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. I love classic movies, maybe it is just the innocence of the time we've lost that as a nation.

Wife, kids, pets? Married to Michelle for 23 years. Two kids: Tyler, 13; Megan, 10. One dog, "Roxy," a lab mix from a shelter