2017 Has Been A Busy Year | David Locicero / Architect

2017 has been a busy year. As the year wraps up, and before we head into the holidays, I thought I’d share just some of what has been going on “behind the screen” here in the studio.

I wrote and published a book:

Working With An Architect was published in the first half of 2017. In the book, I explain what an architect does during each phase of a project from the very beginning through construction. It is selling okay, but the book published at the end of 2015, The Project Planning Checklist, is selling very well.

4 Projects started in 2015 and 2016 continued on into 2017:

The foundation replacement/new ADU project FINALLY got through permit review in San Francisco. The contractor has shoring up and excavation is in progress. It is wonderful to finally have this project under construction. We expect completion in mid-2018
The ADU project in Danville is complete! I am waiting until after the holidays to schedule a photo shoot. While I love Christmas as much as the next guy, trees and tinsel don’t make for great marketing images. LOL.
The ADU project in Sunnyvale now has a permit and the owner is negotiating with the contractor. Once they have an agreement that project will start construction in early 2018.
A remodeling project in San Francisco that came into the studio in 2016 was completed about a month ago. Again, I am waiting until after the holidays to schedule a photo shoot here.
An ADU project in Oakland that we’d started in 2015, was restarted this year.

A study looking at the roof forms for an ADU in Oakland. Image copyright 2017 David Locicero, architect

18 Projects started in 2017; some have paused or been abandoned, but some are moving forward:

The modern Berkeley Cottage project is on hold pending Berkeley deciding just what their ADU requirements are.
A project in Oakland to convert an existing garage into an ADU is currently in permit review. We are hoping to get a permit in January.
A small remodeling project in the unincorporated part of Hayward is now under construction.
An in-law legalization project in San Francisco is almost ready to apply for the permit. We’ll be doing that before the end of the year. I expect we will get the permit in June or July of 2018.
The Oakland City worker’s strike is holding up a small addition project that requires a Variance. The day on which we had schedule the intake meeting turned out to be the first day of the strike. Once the strike is over we will reschedule the intake meeting. Hoping to have approval and be able to apply for a permit in mid-2018.
Last month I kicked off a new remodeling project for a local church in Oakland. I am working with the contractor as part of a design-build team. We just completed programming (finding out all of the detailed requirements the church has as well as the applicable regulations). We’re starting design this week!

First pass at what the modern Berkeley cottage may look like. Image copyright 2017 David Locicero | architect.

These are just some of the over 20 projects that were active in 2017. I also wrote about 30 proposals 2017. Some of which were already successful, some of which will turn into projects after the new year.

I try to post consistently here, but if I miss a week, now you can see why! I’ve been busy!

Many, many thanks to all of my clients, my drafting team, my consultants, the contractors I’ve worked with, to New Avenue Homes who continue to be a great partner, and all the people who I’ve talked to in this year. You’ve help to make it a pretty good year. 2018 looks like it will be even better.