designers, and support staff. The firm’s project load has grown dramatically from those early days and they now take on between 30 and 40 projects per year, the vast majority of them highend residential builds in some of Toronto’s most coveted neighbourhoods. According to Peter, almost all of their work is generated through word of mouth and referrals. Again, Peter says earning that kind of customer loyalty starts with understanding their wants and needs – which takes time. He says he deliberate about the early design phase, investing as much time as it takes to arrive at a concept that every member of the client’s household genuinely loves. “I don’t have a time limit on the design. It could go through one to twenty different ideas, just to reach the point where the client, their wife or husband, their dogs, cats, and children – they all have to love it.” What distinguishes Peter’s design process is that he begins everything by hand. In an era of Pinterest mood boards and digital cut-and-paste, he reaches for a pencil. He moves between pencil, pen, and marker, changing colours, working quickly, letting the sketch reveal the character of what he’s proposing. It’s a practice rooted in his architectural education and in the tutelage of his father, and he believes there is no substitute for it. “The connection between the brain and the paper is straightforward,” Peter says. “When the clients THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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