Friends of Build Magazine

Timeless Architecture: A New Venture in Montana with Nik Sirna | Friends of Build Magazine #87

Episode Summary

Ted speaks with Nik Sirna, owner of NVS Architects based in Montana. Nik relocated from the midwest, started his own company, and is thriving through word of mouth recommendations. Today he discusses work ethic, overcoming challenges, and building something from nothing.

Episode Notes

Ted speaks with Nik Sirna, owner of NVS Architects based in Montana. Nik recently relocated from Ohio to start his own architecture firm and has quickly built a customer base through his great work ethic and communication skills. 

Today Ted dives into the challenges of starting over, the importance of listening to the customer, and the ways technology is changing industry businesses. Listen in to hear how Nik is climbing the ladder of success and the mentality he uses to tackle problems as they arise.

TOPICS DISCUSSED

• [1:15] How Nik and Ted met
• [4:10] How difficult is it to relocate your business and family?
• [9:05]  Is it hard to acclimate to a new style or design or craftsmanship?
• [11:35] Listening to the client
• [13:05] Architects can work anywhere
• [15:00] Designs based on location, Square footage is just a number
• [19:20] How tough was it to build up a firm with no clients? Getting your start.
• [25:45]What’s the difference between school and real life practicing architecture?
• [28:55] 3D modeling vs. real life
• [33:35] Budget realities and hard decisions
• [39:38] Exciting Projects
• [42:12] The power of word of mouth and building relationships
• [45:50] The process of landing a big project
• [48:45]  Mentorship and working hard matters
• [51:20] You have to learn to figure things out, and don’t take no for an answer
• [57:00] Wrap up

CONNECT WITH GUEST

Nik Sirna

• Website
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

KEY QUOTES FROM EPISODE

• We've found our lane for sure. We're always evolving, but we've definitely, we definitely have our niche and we've got our aesthetic, which has been nice and it's, it's again, been welcoming
• Sometimes some of the best projects are some of the smaller ones where you gotta be creative with space and you be articulate with some of the structural stuff and you can create some really dynamic stuff. So it doesn't all have to be these huge, the huge projects are great, but a lot of them, the ones that challenge us design wise, tend to be a little bit smaller and really make us think outside of the box a little bit from a plan standpoint and come up with some awesome solutions.
• I've been lucky enough to fall in line. I come from a big family of Italian entrepreneurs that they very successfully sold food, but more importantly, created an amazing culture and amazing business wrapped around people. I mean, they have staff that have been part of their team for 40 years because they believe in them, right? They set a path and their customer base, they love the family, they love the people, they love the experience, they love the communication. I've been able to take a lot of those key things.