Just over twenty years ago, we started Novell on a simple belief: that homebuildingis done best when the designer and the builder are the same team, accountableto the same person, working toward the same vision. Especially in a renovation project, we didn't know then how much the homes we'd work on would teach us —about craft, about people, and about what it means to truly listen. Here is some of what we've learned.
ANGELITO — FIVE THINGS THE WORK HAS TAUGHT ME
1.The home tells you what it needs.
After enough years on site, you get in tune with existing structures. I try to pay attention to the material of the home, the way a floor sits, which direction the joists run, which walls carry the load, and which ones are simply in the way. The best renovations were the ones where we listened to what the home was already reaching toward and helped it get there. Every home has a logic.
2. Past renovations of a home matter.
Previous DIY decisions that made a certain kind of sense to someone, once, under a different set of assumptions matter. Electrical that defies explanation, weatherproofing that didn’t complete, or framing that was illogical. With early investigation and cross-disciplinary discussion, discoveries can stop being emergencies and start being decisions, especially in a design-build process. The home is material that can be altered, fixed, sorted, but it’s important for the work to be done by someone with the expertise to do it well.
3.The right tool is right-sized — it simply works.
I love tools that are exactly suited to the task at hand; not the most powerful option, or the most impressive. The precise, sharp, calibrated instrument that makes the work cleaner, easier, and more considered brings me great satisfaction. There's an elegance to a tool that fits the job perfectly — nothing wasted, nothing excessive. Over the years I've come to understand that this is a philosophy of mine. I love having the right tool for a job, the right material for this space, and the right approach for this particular home and this particular family. Precision what makes for good craftsmanship.
4. Start each day the same.
There's an operational rhythm to every site renovation that most clients never see. It is defined by the decisions made before anyone else arrives and the standard held when no one is watching. My days may always look unique later in the day, but they always start the same. Ahead of our 7:30am start I am connecting with the people and resources that will ine up the work ahead. The habit and practise you build into every morning establishes the standards for the day ahead.
5. Do what you love.
Personally working the site keeps me in tune with the big picture, and the quality high. It keeps the standard where it belongs. It’s also work that I love most. Framing stairs, pouring concrete and problem solving details are some ofthe specific things that give me the most satisfaction. Do what you love and it never becomes a chore.
LAUREL — FIVE THINGS THE WORK HAS TAUGHT ME
1.The best design filter isn't mine — it's yours.
The feedback I receive most consistently, across twenty plus years and hundreds of projects, is that I listen well. My goal is to adopt your filter as my own as a genuine transfer of priority. From the first conversation, your preferences, your instincts, your vision of how you want to live in this space become my internal compass for every decision that follows. When I'm choosing a material, considering a layout, or pushing back on something that isn't working, I'm asking what you would want. Your home should express you and my job is to make sure it does.
2.What does this space want to be?
It’s key to also spend time asking what the space itself is already reaching toward. Every home has an existing conversation happening in its architecture — in the proportion of its rooms, the quality of its light, the way it was originally conceived, where joy is felt. The most successful outcomes I've been part of happened when the design answered what was already there rather thanoverwriting it. Our team is used to me asking “What does it want to be?”.
3.What ten years of commercial design taught me about homes.
Before Novell, I spent a decade working on commercial projects — hotels, airports,retail spaces, museums. This work taught me standards, quality, professionalism, and how to shape space around desired experiences. In commercial design, you optimise for many people, briefly. But it wasn’t intimate, and affecting change took time. In a home, the impacts are intimate and lasting — far more meaningful and rewarding.
4. The benefit of being Truly Design-Build.
The early days of Novell I was unsure whether design-build was going to be a core part of our work, and we incorporated the company as Novell Construction Ltd. Within months Angelito and I recognized the benefit of being Truly Design-Build. Solving challenges that came our way were so much more seamless because I advised on the aesthetics, the function and whether it met the homeowner’s needs. Angelito advised on what was constructable, how it might drain or vent, the means and methods of the situation. Magic. When your designer and your builder are the same team, accountable to each other and to you, that gap closes completely. What is designed is what gets built.
5. Focus on what will bring meaning.
This is the part that never becomes ordinary as it is unique to each of us. We are always striving for spaces that bring meaning to a person’s quality of living. What do you want to look at when you come home? What brings you joy? Where and how do you want to gather, or retreat? It starts with listening, and develops by changing how people move through their days, how they relate to each other, how they feel when they come through the door at the end of a long week. I take great joy in figuring out how to shape the space to suit your desired experiences and bring meaningful connections at home.
Twenty plus years in, the work still excites us. Every home is different. Every family brings something we haven't seen before. Every finished renovation reminds us why we built Novell the way we did — with a designer and a builder together, from the very first conversation to the very last detail.
If you're thinking about a renovation and would like to talk through your vision, we'd love to hear from you.
