Episode 141 - Backyard Buddies to Ultra Running: The Mysa Hus Story with Karl Adalbert

May 29

#141 | Karl Adalbert | KA Design LLC | Backyard Buddies to Ultra Running

Post originally appeared on The Curious Builder.

What happens when your neighbor becomes your running buddy, your architectural designer, and your partner in building one of the most exciting homes of your career? In this episode of The Curious Builder Podcast, Mark sits down with longtime friend and collaborator Karl Adalbert of KA Design to talk about architecture, wellness, and the magic of designing Mysa Hus—a one-of-a-kind home rooted in nature, story, and soul. From a treehouse gone rogue to 50-mile trail runs, this conversation is full of laughs, lessons, and real talk about what makes good design... and good neighbors.

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About Karl Adalbert

Karl’s passion for architecture is rooted in thoughtful, enduring design and a deep connection to nature. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Minnesota before working at Ellerbe Becket and RSP Architects. In 2013, he founded KA Design LLC, a Minneapolis-based studio specializing in residential design. An ultra-runner, biker, and skier, Karl finds inspiration in nature’s rhythms.

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Visit Karl Adalbert on Linkedin

Contact Karl Adalbert

Mark D. Williams 00:00
For those have been following the podcast, you know, we're very interested in the wellness space and promoting wellness among our entrepreneurs and our community. Sauna camp is coming up in Minneapolis on March 20, from two to 8pm tickets are now available online, and the whole concept will all be about prioritizing your mental health and your body. As business owners, after two hours of Sonic we have fumo, which is amazing, Mediterranean style dishes by wood fire grill, head to curious builder.com under retreats under sauna camp that is going to be March 20. You have
Karl Adalbert 00:37
a bigger picture mindset, you know, and it's less in the weeds and the details, even though you see it and appreciate them, but it's kind of under, you know, remembering where things were, whatever it is in the in, in the house or the project. I mean, that's, that's less important than kind of the big picture. I think
Mark D. Williams 01:02
Shane could gears better podcast, we had Carl Adelbert Ian from Ka designs, and this is a really special episode, because I've known Carl for five and a half years. He's actually my neighbor, a very good and dear personal friend, and really has just affected me in so many personal ways. And so stay through the whole episode, we talk a lot at the end about Misa, who's the spec home that we're doing together right now. The first part of the episode is all about, you know, really Carl, our relationship, how it's evolved, how we work together in really, Carl's journey into architectural design. Without further ado, here's Carl, welcome to curious butter Podcast. I'm Mark Williams, your host today, I'm joined with a very good friend. I've got Carl Adelbert from Ka designs. Welcome, Carl, thank you. It's great to be here in studio. So for the audience, we I always like to laugh that I've known you exactly five years and six months, because it's exactly six months plus whatever my son is, because we are neighbors Exactly. So is it 2020 Yeah, 2020 or 2019 right before covid, we moved across the street from you, and you know, anyway, we had a covid baby trapped in her house. And I don't even know, how long do you recall? How long did first first impressions? First impressions? Yeah, I was like, Who's this guy? He's running every morning at like, 5am I don't actually remember our first encounter. It was obviously during covid, too. So I don't even remember. It's like the covid time warp. I mean, do you remember, like, moving? I mean, obviously you remembered the neighbor. We bought it after like, two days on the market.
Karl Adalbert 02:30
I do. I Well, construction happened before I met you. Okay, I think of the house. Yeah, you did a, you pretty did a remodel of the house, and so your sign and your name was before I was like, you know, I had no idea if that was just a builder doing the work, and it happened to be, you know,
Mark D. Williams 02:54
you moving in, right? Well, that's super funny I remember because I give it as I think I was out in the
Karl Adalbert 02:59
backyard. Actually, I might have been. It was pre major landscape project. I do most of the work on my house myself, before I, before I, you know, my, my now wife said, No more. We've got to hire in the big guns to do some big war, major work. I think I was out in the backyard doing some stuff and, and I think you waved, yeah, from then
Mark D. Williams 03:26
on, it was interesting because, and we'll, we'll go into your story a little bit, but part of it because audiences heard me talk a lot about, you know, the wellness, cures, build, boot camp, all these things. And I've been a lifetime athlete, just as you have been, but like, my life has definitely changed over the last, I would say, three and a half years. And it's really you are the catalyst for all of it, because you're, you know, you know, Iron Man's ultra marathons, all this stuff. And all I knew is that every morning I heard your car turn on like clockwork, like literally every day at the same time you'd leave the driveway. You still do and and anyway, so I was like, after a year, year and a half, you're like, hey, we run at Highland. And I was like, What is this all about? Like, I haven't run cross country forever, you know, I was born to basketball, hockey and tennis, and I think after about a year and a half, somehow you finally got me to go. I can't remember, was a bike first or a run first, but I think I did a couple runs, and once I did a couple runs, met the met the guys, yeah, and then you convinced me to do a bike Thursdays and Sunday mornings. And now here we are, three and a half years
Karl Adalbert 04:23
later. And I think I said just, just so you know, if you start, start this, you're gonna get sucked in. You did tell me, then this is, this is a good, good group. And I guess we're, we're all fortunate to have each other keeps us motivated and
Mark D. Williams 04:36
and going. So, I mean, honestly, it's life changing, yeah, and in a very good way. I mean, you think now of like, how much time you know, we spend together? I mean, you and I now are lucky enough that we get to work together quite a bit. I mean, you probably do. I mean, you probably do 100% of my remodels. And we've done three new homes together. And we're working on Misa, who's together, which the audience knows quite a bit about. And we'll probably do a future episode where we talk only about Misa, who. Yes, but I kind of want to introduce you to the audience and kind of your backstory. But enough about that. What I think this is kind of just a cool part for me. Yeah, you the home that you live in is the house you grew up in, exactly we're, you know, we're on the parkway, obviously, you know, it's pretty recent news, but you and I are half a mile away from annunciation where the shooting was, yeah. And, you know, I've got little kids, and you're close to our family, so you're over there a lot, and you're always out walking the neighborhood and, and, I mean, it's, you know, you've lived there. You're, you know, off and on your whole life. You obviously love for college and whatever. And, yeah, now we're sort of, you know, back into the community. And I don't know, I was talking to Todd Milburn, this the city chief of police from Edina about it. And just in general, like, I get a lot of questions about security. Like, you know, my mom, obviously, whenever she comes over to babysit the kids, you know, she locks the back door. Like, you know, Minneapolis is some scary place. I'm like, Mom, there's this, you know, this can happen anywhere, you know, out in or no, there's, you know, you know, yeah, stuff like that. And then we're just trying to grab we talked. The whole episode was about security. Like, you know, how as home builders for me, and, you know, architectural designer, you like, how do we we're not first line defenders, but in some ways, we're first line design defenders. And, like, what do we do for safety? How do we design, you know, lighting, or whatever it might be. And I think what I came with it as a dad is, like, my community, you being one of them, absolutely, and, and, you know, looking out for each other. I think that. And Todd even mentioned a little bit, like, lights dog. We got the dog covered with you. Yeah, and, but really, just community and just, there's so much solidarity in Minneapolis. Like, I have a hard time. We've certainly thought about, you know, someday, do we move or not move? But we always come back to the same reason, like, Why have I already been here for 20 years? It's I don't see myself really wanting to move and so who knows what the future holds, but you're a big part of it. I've told you this, that if you I told my wife a long time ago, if Carl wasn't my neighbor, I would be gone out of here. I mean, you've had such a huge impact on my life, probably personally, more so than professionally, but both mainly just because of all the people I've met and become such close friends with because of you.
Karl Adalbert 07:06
Yeah, well, I'd say like, likewise, you know, maybe on a professional level or design, you know, just the relationships for me, building those are kind of critical to my business. It's usually how I how I get most of my work is word of mouth, through past clients, working with builders, contractors, you know, realtors that I collaborate with. So that's kind of the majority of my business. And so it's likewise, I mean, I, I maybe to a fault like, you know, don't separate. Separate everything in my life. It begins to kind of blur between, you know, friends, clients and and my business. And I guess for me, that's worked, or it's just how I operate. You know,
Mark D. Williams 07:57
I think you know one thing that people can hear in your voice, but for sure, when they meet you, you're one of the, one of the most warm and approachable people that I know. And it shows up in your work in a really positive way. Because I work with lots of people, and you don't want to, there's really no shade on any other person. It's just like, everyone has certain pros. It's not even really cons. It's like, but your biggest asset, I've, you know, you know this, I you know, or, let's say, a couple years ago, you know, I'd have you interview for jobs, and you'd get all of them, yeah, and the feedback was always the same. Carl, listened. Carl, we felt like the emotion. So I would actually argue, obviously, don't change what you're I mean, a It's who you are, sure, like you trust me. My wife has tried to change me. It doesn't work very well. I can't even change me. And so I think that really, that empathetic, that deep feeling, yeah, is really what makes you such a great, you know, architectural designer, and really a person. It's just like, you, I know you wrestle this stuff, because I'll, you know, we'll do something, whether it's, you know, the kids tree for it. We got to talk about that straight at some point, art sculpture and but like, you come back the next morning, you'll show me. I see the work, and I'm like, Oh, my word. You've been, you've been working on this all night, all weekend, like you're just, you're kind of in sketchland because you want to figure it out.
Karl Adalbert 09:08
Yeah, that's another maybe fault. I think it's, it's, it is. I really, I want to try to figure things out. And it sometimes goes down a rabbit hole. I'm truly interested. I mean, I talked to you before we started here today. I think I'm, you know, was really more interested in seeing how this operates than perhaps doing the interview. But everything about sort of, kind of design and construction and just, you know, life in general, if I, if I'm interested in something, I try to really learn about it, understand maybe the history behind it, and then kind of just, you know, figure it out. I think one, which is a lot of, you know, it's, it's maybe something I think comes from my, my father, about him, you know, he did, he did everything, kind of around the house, everything on the cars and. Everything himself. And, you know, I think that that was just kind of the way he was, and that was taught, taught to us as well, like you kind of figure it out.
Mark D. Williams 10:08
So I think one of the reasons why we're such good business partners, or why we're so simpatico, even as friends, is we are so different completely, and so but I appreciate, I'm sure there's parts of you that annoy me, and there, I guarantee there's parts of me that annoy you. But as I talked about this, I never said your name, but I was alluding to our friendship. That I think what makes us really well good as a builder and an architectural designer is I appreciate your thoughtfulness, and I know that you'll dive deep in the details, and you know that I just get crippled by details. Like, the idea that I would have to noodle on something for a long period of time is like, I'd rather hold my breath and, like, swim to the bottom of motion and so, but I also, like, also push you, probably, and drive you. Like, hey, we need to go. Let's do this. And like, I'm probably my frenetic energy. There's a lot of, well, there's just a lot of energy emanating off of me. And so it's like, but it gets jobs done. And so I it's like, I go fast, you go slow and thoughtful, and by both doing it like, I feel like we've been very good business partners. Yeah, that's my, you know, quick take on it. I don't know if you agree. I don't know
Karl Adalbert 11:13
if it's quick or slow, but it's, I think it's also just, you have, you have a bigger picture mindset, you know, and it's less in the weeds and the details, even though you see it and appreciate them when you do. But, you know, it's, it's kind of, oh, the memory of of under, you know, remembering where things were, whatever it is in the in the house or the project. I mean, that's, that's less important than, kind of the big picture, I think, you know for for you.
Mark D. Williams 11:41
So one building the team. I mean, again, I know, like, I trust you implicitly. Like, I know you're gonna and I appreciate that. You know, there are some times where there's an idea where, like, I'll pause and be like, Okay, this is, you know, you're bringing an idea forward. And I know you well enough to know like, Hey, this is really important. I need to, like, slow down a little bit and hear this slot. And like, you know what? That's a good idea. We should do that. And I like that. Like any relationship, you you learn the nonverbal cues, but also you can respect each other enough to be like, Hey, Mark, can you slow down for a second? I think, or like, I know you know me well enough to say that you can either bring something for and say, No, this is important to the project, and you know that I'll respect you and listen to it. And I think, like any good relationship, that's fundamental, and I think it's led us to, you know, a lot of success, and hopefully a lot of future stuff too, yeah. And I think we
Karl Adalbert 12:31
just say, you know, for myself, I think probably both of us, as far as pushing each other, you know, I think we have, you know, pretty strong ideas, or, you know, maybe kind of a strong vision, but are maybe both willing to kind of test, test it and look at that, and maybe, you know, maybe change, you know, kind of shift the shift the shift the ideas, or shift the thinking, on on, on certain things. So
Mark D. Williams 12:56
the thing I probably noticed the most in direct comparison, is the amount of homework and due diligence that you do ahead of the first meeting. I've never seen anyone prepare for a meeting like you. Yeah, I'm actually kind of curious about that. It's probably a good topic. You know, a lot of times people are interviewing and, you know, they don't do work until they're signed a contract. I don't, to be clear, like I don't do, I do a pre construction agreement until a I have a 15 minute phone call, a one hour meeting, and then they either sign our pre construction agreement for design work or whatever we're trying to do for them, or new home stuff. But if they're not paying me, like, I'm not like, that's a it's also a way to sort of like, see if they're serious or not on a bigger project. And every time that I've brought you to interview, you've already, like, done work. And it works, because every single time the client's like, whoa, like you, you kind of show like, Oh, sure. I mean, obviously it's deliberate, because you do it, how long have you been doing that? And do you notice the same visual reaction when that happens, like, what is your what is sort of, what is sort of your intent? Because you haven't really sat down with the client to learn their whole programming or learn all of that, yeah, how are you able to come up with something like that in that first meeting?
Karl Adalbert 14:06
Well, they've kind of varied, I think, you know, in some of those interview meetings, I mean, some, some of the people maybe I've met, maybe I've met before, but partly it's kind of looking at the site and, you know, I'm just talking more about kind of basics of, of, you know, kind of massing on the site, or orientation things that I look at, that I would be looking at for any project, you know, kind of the basics of orientation, of the of of the site, where, where's the sun going to be? Where is it in the morning and the afternoon? And, you know, what are the kind of the critical things about the site and those, those, to me, are sort of like sort of starting points, are also truisms. As far as kind of doing that work, I think it's a, it's a way to engage with, obviously, with, with the clients, or the prospective clients. You know, if it's. An interview, and kind of, you know, test the waters for me as well, see how, you know, engaged they are with with those subjects. I mean, for me, I can also say, are, you know, you excited about these things? Because this is the way maybe I approach the projects. And if you are on board as well, then there, there's, there's a connection there, and I can see that as a positive thing moving forward for my, for myself as well on the project. So I can kind of see how this, this path, might, you know, work from this point on, which also kind of gages like, how much time do I need to spend on pre design or concept design, or things like that. So yes, maybe the majority of it is, kind of, is, is, is to sell myself for that interview. But also it's kind of testing, testing things for myself as well. I mean, I mean, it works extremely well, yeah, and it's, it is a lot of work. So that's, I agree with you. There's, there's a lot of time that's, you know, kind of put into some of those efforts early on. Never thought of this,
Mark D. Williams 16:06
you know, like the signal, when you when in baseball, they bring out the closer. They do the tap, yeah, that's you in an interview, bring out the closer. Because, honestly, you're like, 90 99% like, yeah, it was just, you know, don't face off against Carl. You're gonna lose. He's bringing in. He's bringing the heater.
Karl Adalbert 16:20
Well, I mean, I think, I mean, what was something you mentioned before? It's just, it's also kind of who I am, as far as you know, doing the work, but also trying to connect, really listen, and trying to connect with clients, the people that I'm working with, in general, you know, from from builders to all the subs, I want to connect with them. I want to learn from them. I want them to be engaged in the in the project, in the story. I want them to bring their best, you know, out. I mean, I've coached. I was used to play soccer. I was captain and coached for many years. And, you know, it's kind of that side of things, of like trying to bring the best out of the team, even though I work as a solo practitioner, if you will. You know, I office with a small firm. We've collaborated on several projects together. We kind of borrow, you know, we talk about projects and ideas, and sometimes their staff have them work on projects. So it's, it's, it's, it's that those relationships and kind of building that, that team,
Mark D. Williams 17:31
I think, you know, I mentioned it, alluded to it before, and you know, you do have an ability to make people feel comfortable, mainly because your affect is very approachable. And I think especially when we go into people's homes and we're talking about something that is big, unknown and expensive, yeah, like, the two best things that you and I can do, I mean, I usually try to get them excited, because that's, that's kind of my role. And you're like, Okay, I'm here to make you feel comfortable. It's like, perfect, great. We got electricity and a nice glove. We'll leave it. And so it's like, you know, again, I think a lot of it is team because, you know, big part, because I often will meet them first, and I'll say, okay, so this is what we're looking at, okay? And a big part of what I do is try to assemble the team right, because not I'm not the right fit. I mean, there's been projects where, you know, even recently, I was let go of the project, I the client, didn't feel like I was a good fit, but you remained on, which is great, and they feel like you're a good fit, and which is fine. And I think, you know, a big part of whoever's in the door first, whether it's the architect, the interior designer or the builder, in my case, is we're really doing the personality test of Like, who do we think is the right partner? Who do we think is, you know, what are they looking for? And I feel like our non verbal skills, our EQ has to be super high in the home space, because we're it's very intimate. Is very personal being in people's lives. And, you know, I think you only have usually one misstep, like, you know, even a project I'm thinking of is like, you know, I introduced an interior designer that was the wrong one, and I had reasons for it, but it wasn't a good fit. And that was fine. They let me know. And then when the second thing came, then that was, you know, that was kind of the end of it for me. But that's fine that it's either we as, you know, owners or entrepreneurs or business people, you know, you know, Your vibe attracts your tribe, and it's okay. I think, as I've gotten older in my career, kind of being comfortable with who you are and being like, I'm not for everyone, and that's okay. Like, I don't, you know, not getting offended by it. Of course, we're all conscious. We're competitive, we're conscientious. Of course, we want to do it. It's no different than a sport. Like, yeah, I don't want to lose on that last hill climb to Tony. Tony, I know you're listening to this one. I beat you last week, but you weren't. You were sleeping on that hill. But anyway, you get the point. It's like, you know, there's you got to have some fun while you're doing it too. Totally.
Mark D. Williams 19:51
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Karl Adalbert 21:01
Well, I attended the architecture school at Washington University in St Louis, and actually started off in pre med, but always had an interest in art. Grew up doing a lot of artwork, took an architecture class, just more, just drawing and architecture, like, gosh, like eighth grade or something, and poured myself into this dream house project and built this, like, you know, massive model we did. We learned kind of plan drawings, uh, perspective, different. Axos, at that time, was all hand drawn, and so poured myself into this final presentation. I remember there was a there was a student, a father, who came to look at everything, and was wondering, you know, if this was done, you know, professionally, like the the actual drawings and work like, you know, what is this? I mean, I would just lock myself in my room and just kind of pour into into these drawings. So I knew there was something there. I just it wasn't, kind of part of the high school curriculum that I had. So, you know, kind of was interested in a lot of different things and and so ended up switching over in in college to the program, like, after freshman year. Like, when does, yeah, you know, I took some kind of intro classes my my freshman year, and then just said, you know, this is, this is for me. I want to, I want to go all in here. And it kind of never looked back, if you will. Yeah, it was a really strong program. Had fantastic professors there. And, you know, it's just a strong, a strong class and strong, strong student body there. So it's, it's great.
Mark D. Williams 22:59
Did you come back then, after college was over, did you come back to Minnesota, or did you
Karl Adalbert 23:04
I was, yeah, it's kind of a mix of stuff. A little bit time in St Louis, I traveled abroad for in Europe for about seven months, helped teach a studio there, and trip was just a long, a long summer trip. And then spent some time in Chicago, and then came back to Minneapolis, had an offer at a kind of a big corporate firm here, Ellerby Beckett was the was the firm who met a number of people that you have now met from that time, and maybe we've all said the same thing. It was just, it was a really strong time for architecture in general, for building for the firm, and super talented, super talented design staff there, and that was kind of their, their focus.
Mark D. Williams 23:54
So, I mean, I think we alluded to on the other episodes, because we've had Mark Osterman from droid collaborative, you knew him there, and then Christopher Strom, and what was the connection with creative, yeah, with the Rainforest Cafe, because, because that was kind of, wasn't that was elderly Beckett, the firm that was doing that, or what was, how did that all play in the
Karl Adalbert 24:12
story? So I was not, because you weren't on that one, not part of those projects at all. But I think maybe Mark was, he worked with the
Mark D. Williams 24:19
interest was too. So okay, I knew the three of you knew each other, but I didn't know, like, what, where everyone was passing,
Karl Adalbert 24:25
yeah, you know, I was focused, focused mostly on kind of corporate projects, a lot of international competitions we were doing, office towers all over the place. So some build a lot not Yeah, no, but seriously, like, yeah, competitions, but these were, like, really quick burn, super creative efforts and tons of work, 70 hours a week, you know, for, you know, two months.
Mark D. Williams 24:53
Did you ever feel, I mean, just reflecting on my own experience with just being a cross country coach, I always felt like, if I was. Ian a entrepreneur. Especially after that experience, I was, like, I really liked being a coach. I really liked kind of, like, in I was just kind of like, everyone's cheerleader, like, I just wanted the best out of them I could get out of them. And, like, I didn't care if you had lots of talent or a little talent. Like, I was just so excited for seeing people's progress. Like, it was really fun to me and I I wonder if, like, if being a teacher, you know, maybe mentally has, you know, we think of coaches, or I do differently than like teachers. And I get they're probably somewhat similar so many things, but I wonder if it's the same high that you get of coaching someone through math class or science or whatever, did you feel? Did you was that a similar sort of dopamine hit or fulfilled some of your emotional bucket, like seeing like you enjoyed coaching. Oh,
Karl Adalbert 25:44
absolutely, yeah. I mean, I love seeing the progress of all the, you know, all the athletes or girls at that time, you know, and, and, and to see the team kind of work together. You know, that was really important. It's, you know, 11 players on the field. And we definitely had, probably, you know, a super strong five players. So you've got to, you've got to motivate the kind of the rest to, you know, to do, to do their work as well, or kind of, find, find what their assets were going to be for the, you know, for the for the team, where did you go? And mostly, mostly, of course, having fun, yeah, at that, at that, at that age,
Mark D. Williams 26:26
particular, yeah, no, it's important. When you left Ellerby, you stayed in commercial sector as well.
Karl Adalbert 26:33
I did, yeah, I kind of worked for a few, few firms and then, or kind of one firm for a little bit, and then, kind of worked, started working at a firm that had both residential and commercial work. And that's kind of the first time that I, you know, started doing more single family and there were smaller commercial projects, but, you know, the single family work for me, you know, especially compared to the big commercial projects, completely different type, but it was really that connection with the client, kind of the intimacy of The design work that you're doing, and the maybe immediate sort of reaction, there's still long projects as as you know. I mean, it's not necessarily immediate gratification, but when you're presenting and the work itself is just more personal and and more intimate. I mean, get quite detailed and and into people's lives. You have to,
Mark D. Williams 27:42
when did you because, like, today, would what would you say? You're probably what, 80% residential, 20% commercial?
Karl Adalbert 27:49
Was that? Yeah, right, yeah, at least 9090 2090, 20. Yeah.
Mark D. Williams 27:53
It seems Do you still enjoy because a lot of it seems incorrect me, if I'm wrong, but a lot of the especially architecture schools really celebrate, you know. And even, I think the path through it is even through, you know, commercial architecture. And I've always kind of like, you know, especially a builder being the only thing I know. It's like the field sort of cannibalizes itself a little bit with how it treats residential architects and designers. It's like so much is given to the commercial space. And so many architects I've interviewed on the podcast. You know, it's kind of like they find their calling in residence, and they love it for a variety of reasons. What was, what's your observation on, sort of how the industry views itself, both commercial architecture and residential architecture? What has sort of been your experience as you've sort of started with, you know, commercial architecture and have gone now more residential,
Karl Adalbert 28:43
as far as the the kind of the industry, yeah, kind of more, just like,
Mark D. Williams 28:49
more like your perspective on the industry only, just like, you know, so many of the wards nationally are commercial. They don't have as many. It seems like there's a lot more celebration of commercial architecture, from what I understand. That's why I asked the question to each architect. I kind of let them in their own let them, in their own way respond, compared to residential, you know, the residential
Karl Adalbert 29:06
space, yeah. I mean, I think that just, there's different categories, usually with with awards, you know. And I think there's, I don't, I don't really, I don't, I don't ever felt that, you know. I think there's a mutual respect. I mean, I, you know, personally love sort of all design and and commercial could be, you know, small scale to, you know, it means a lot of different things. There's just, you know, different levels of complexity within, you know, each of the projects, and I would say so they, they have different, different categories and different awards for for each
Mark D. Williams 29:40
I mean, I love it. I mean, I think I'm a fan of just all architecture. I was just, you know, I just got back from, you know, Chicago, and I was telling you on our bike ride the other day, like, why don't we have a Chicago River Walk? Like it was so it left such a huge impression on me. It's like, the restaurants are down on the water, you know, it you've got these big buildings. It's nighttime, like, it's kind of romantic. Like you're walking around, like the vibe is so great. And, of course, that's all, you know, commercial city planning and all these other things. So it's like, I, I think a little bit like, you like, I just, I'm a big fan of our industry, you know, architectural, residential, like, honestly, I just love it all. And so yeah,
Karl Adalbert 30:14
and I think you kind of see that as a kind of the power of design, something that I really appreciate, just in design in general, whether it's residential or, you know, I guess you could call it commercial, which can mean a lot of different types of projects. Is just, you know, how engaged, how it engages the site. It's something I talked about, you know, early on, River Walk, maybe is one of them. More on an infrastructure level, you know, it takes advantage of that kind of in between space of of, you know, the borders of the river and, you know, and builds things kind of in and out, and allows sort of the path to kind of meander and be able to, you know, see the river differently, see different highlights or buildings differently, as Well as, you know, inserting commercial spaces, you know, little restaurants or bars or things like that, kind of into, sort of the wall, if you will, below the street level. I don't know if you notice as well. I mean, I was there, you know, few years ago. But there's just a different there's a different feeling and a different level of sound you can have, you know, traffic going on and sound and cars horns blaring and things like that. And you get down just, you know, 30 feet or 20 feet below, and things can it begins to quiet down and dissipate, and you're just at this other level, down there. And so that's, I mean, hardly designed. I think it's all, it's all these senses, which is part of design for me. Yeah, I love that.
Mark D. Williams 31:48
This episode is brought to you by adaptive. If you're still chasing checks and juggling spreadsheets, it's time to upgrade. Adaptive is revolutionizing how builders get paid with AI powered bill pay, automated draws, one click payments and built in Lean waivers, Faster Payments, fewer headaches and total visibility. Adaptive takes care of the back end chaos so you can focus on what you do best, building. We've used adaptive for two and a half years, and trust them to keep our projects moving and payments flowing. Learn more at Adaptive dot build and simplify the Pay Process today. For more information, you can also listen to episode 10 and episode 15. Well, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the two most important things that have happened in your architectural pursuit of design. One is your wife. I only recently found out this story audience, this story is too good to be true, so you start so there's a real estate agent, as I understand it that. And then a client who needed to sell their house, and so this nice young lady, Carolyn, needed some help. You got to tell that story. That story is so good. You basically, you basically came over and started helping, because you've helped other real estate agents. I mean, that's a big part of some of your relationship. Or, hey, we need to, you know, what can we show we know we have to either make this house better, or at least show a prospective buyer what it can become, yeah, how did that really unfold?
Karl Adalbert 33:06
I mentioned that I was doing this today. I wonder if this is gonna come. Oh, this is it's
Mark D. Williams 33:11
too good. It's a great story. It's like a movie. I'm telling you, Hollywood, if you need the rights, I'm telling you, curious, Bill is your agent?
Karl Adalbert 33:18
Well, now, and now it's better be a really good story. Ultimately, yes, I was called in. It was an old house. I'm actually fairly close South Minneapolis, Close to close to mine. Interesting thing is, the owner of that house, they were selling it. Think she had lived there for or the house had been in one family for 60 years. Oh, my, I think it was a two or three owner house. You know, this is a similar age, more than 100 years old now. So there needed to be some updates. It was an elderly lady that had passed, and so I was called in mostly to eliminate the pink, all pink bathroom, which I know they're sort of coming back. This was, this is before that. It had violent yellow tile, as my wife likes to call it in the kitchen. The Pink was not the best pink, and it was everywhere, floors, wall, ceiling, all the fixtures.
Mark D. Williams 34:26
I just think that, like the Pepto That's the worst.
Karl Adalbert 34:30
So that was the project. That was the start. You couldn't move in until that that got done. And well, you know, presentations were, were good and went well, I should say, and everything you know, it was, it was a we kept it very professional. She was wanting the project to be finished as quickly as possible, so perhaps we could move on for. I'm that, and maybe I did too. So we'll just, we'll leave.
Mark D. Williams 35:04
I love this story. Yeah, such a good story. I'm glad, I'm glad it worked out and it worked out. Yeah, it worked out really well. I mean, Carolyn is a beautiful person, and we love having her as a neighbor. It's funny because now I see her, you know, all the time, especially for whatever reason, her new walking path, I seem to see her more now this summer than I have in recent years. She's out walking Moby And sure, anyway, just the kids and anyway, just That's, yeah, it's great. Was gonna ask you the other one that you know, the probably the crowning achievement of your career, as I might say, is our play structure that we designed together. So to set the stage, I've got three young kids. This was
Karl Adalbert 35:40
three years ago. Yeah, sorry, at least
Mark D. Williams 35:43
time flies anyway. Long story short, we're just coming out of covid. I'm bored. My kids are running around at this point. They're sort of nine, seven to five now, so they're they're probably seven, three and one. And I'm thinking like, if how long Cove is gonna last, I need something in my backyard. So you and I basically sat down. Didn't want to do one of those rainbow playsets. Yeah, so you and I schemed one afternoon over at your house, like, let's come up with a cool play structure, right? We had a big tree, and anyway, we won't roast all the neighbors that were involved. But I may have gotten a little excited with how big I made it once we got the design and had to do some 75
Karl Adalbert 36:18
foot climbing wall. Everybody knows, Mark got really big that that was down from 150 so that was being moderate. Yeah, exactly moderate. Giant Swing. They could swing over to your
Mark D. Williams 36:32
house. So to be clear to the audience of builders, you know, I have to say I don't always love codes and regulations. I'm like, it's a playhouse. So, like, No, I'm not getting a permit. Like, honestly, I didn't think I need we actually looked it up. Remember, you think you are, thankfully, the architect looked it up, and was like, hey, you know, it's a it's kind of this gray area. And it was like, anyway, long story short, we build this beautiful thing. It's way too big. One of the neighbors complains that we had to cut down a tree, had to get a crane to move it, but we had to go in for a variance. And we went. So I brought my daughter in at the time, may came with us to the city council meeting, yeah. And we're like, you know, it was you me, Carolyn and and May, and we, you know, oh, man, May's here. This is shoo and, I mean, who can say no to this girl? I mean, she's, yeah, you know. And so we walk up there, and you were going with, you went up and spoke on our behalf, saying, you know, I'm a neighbor as well. I don't think that you said that you designed, I think you just said you came as a neighbor, and you're like, This is a play structure, like our place sculpture, I think is the word you use anyway. They were not buying our week. That was the one, you know what? That's the one sale that we could make. We could not, evidently, your my energy and your warmth could not win over the Minneapolis Planning Commission.
Karl Adalbert 37:35
Yeah, was we
Mark D. Williams 37:39
didn't get a variance. We just didn't get the variance we wanted. So ultimately, the tree house ended up not being a tree house because I cut down the tree, took the crane and then moved it in the yard, and now we just have a play structure
Karl Adalbert 37:49
and a great grassy area, and we love it. Yeah? It's great. Anyway, now they can play soccer in the backyard.
Mark D. Williams 37:55
I know it's perfect. Or now the boys are into kicking the ball. How high they should get over the fence? Yeah, I'm just waiting for them. You know, I'm like, I'm always yelling at them, but when they come running, when they come running across the street to your house or whatever, like, Look both ways, because the boys are just dumber than a box of rocks, they just want to run straight and, like, one of these days I'm gonna hear a screeching brake tire and your heart stops. But anyway, hopefully that day never happens. Yeah, what is, how would you say? You know, wellness or, I mean, obviously, because I want to go towards misus, a little bit like, why we work together on misuse and, I mean, I can speak from my point of view, and I have in the past a little bit about this, but your journey into, you know, Ultras and, you know, endurance athletics, how does before we get there, how has that sort of impacted your work? Or does it complement it? Does it reinforce it? Is it, do you view it for yourself as, like, a separate thing? Is it kind of together? Like, how do you how do you identify your professional self with like, you know, you're such a driven, organized person. I mean, you're in and you're out. I mean, you just did, like, what your ninth or 10th, 50 miler in a row? I mean, you're a very committed person. And you like, I would assume you like structure, because you have a very your flow is somewhat well. You allow spontaneity in it with like, your trips out west. But you like that flow of your seasons. And as someone who sort of observed that, I'm like, it's very consistent your flow, how would you sort of self analyze a little bit like, how has that helped or reinforced architecture? Or does architecture sort of reinforce the personal? Or is it impossible to really comment on the
Karl Adalbert 39:27
two? I guess the first thing that would just come to mind is, yeah, I mean that that that aspect is, has always been part of my life. I mean, one, it just makes me feel better, you know, and more energized for the day kind of sets me up. Sets kind of balanced me a bit, helps me with stress. You know, the it's, it's, you know, it's less about the time, time, you know, result for me, part of the reason why I like trail running, it's. It is. It's different every year. It's a lot about the weather and a lot about the trail conditions. And it's, it's, it's more about kind of being out in nature when I'm choosing to do, you know, these things and these sort of rhythms through the year. It's, you know, from trail running, you know, in the summer biking, everything is outside to cross country skiing, which I picked up? I mean, I Alpine skied and raced in high school, and then picked up cross country skiing later in life, part of the endurance group, you know, kind of we're doing that never, never did it before. Did the Berkey my first year of skiing, you know, which, again, it's, it's more about kind of being with, you know, a group of people that I enjoy being with, but also being outside and connecting with with nature. I mean, that's what really feeds me. Was really important to my parents, my mom, especially, it was part of her life every day and and I would say, if there's anything that that aspect of sort of nature, and again, connecting with the importance of that as wellness. To me, again, maybe back to the site. And you know, whether you're just viewing it, or taking in the view, or being able to be exposed to, you know, sunlight, breeze, you know, anything, those, those aspects will probably be the, you know, kind of the important, important things to me, and maybe that I that I would see as a as a crossover from, maybe, if that makes sense,
Mark D. Williams 41:36
yeah, no, for sure it does. I mean, my, actually, my answer is very similar to yours. I mean, people ask, like, well, I try to make it more a little splashy reaction, I like to say that I don't like to run. I just like the people and so, which is actually partly true, like, there's a lot of other things I would like to do, but I I have. I just love people and I like, it's, you know, it's all the things we talked about. It's your therapy, it's your community, it's your it's all a thing business and life and marriage and kids, and it's just having a community, especially personally and all the other health benefits from just exercise. I mean, that's why it's, I think it's, it's sort of life changing, because you have a community that sort of reinforces all the things and makes you a better version of yourself, which is super but honestly, so is, so is a home, you know, I think about it's only been through really the pursuit of MISA house and kind of this creation of this brand and, and I kind of are, we kind of stumbled on it, sort of at not accidentally, because it was always in us, but, like, actually, it was about a year ago right now. So we were, we had this lot. We had painfully designed two homes, and lost two homes. And, you know, you and I kind of looked in the mirror, and we're like, Man, this lot is special. Like, this community is special. And luckily, you know, we had someone who was, you know, is very close to it, and said, you know, why don't you guys, you know, do something with this? And so, you know, big shout out to, you know, our partner there. And so it's funny, because as I picked the team, you know, this story, but for the audience, you know, we created miso, who's, which means cozy and Swedish. And I was like, this home at first was going to be more eco friendly in terms of, like, you know, solar panel and a lot of the things that were going to be geothermal and all these things. But then, as I reflected on 21 years of building homes like my clients have never once paid me well, I should one time, I've done geothermal, never done solar, never done a lot of the things that I was going to do. And I'm like, wait a minute. Why am I going to do something that the market doesn't want, or at least my market doesn't want, and so that's kind of right. And then somehow, along the lines, I stumbled into but it could be like, What about health? And that's when it clicked for me, and maybe it clicked for you earlier on, but for me, that's when I really the MISA who's really took wings and I and I was laughing, because when we were putting the team together, it's, you know, obviously Melissa Olin spent on the podcast. And, you know, I kind of jokingly told her, but actually, it's true that she has a five to one veto power over me, because I knew if it was just you and I doing this, this thing would be a dude bro home. Super cool, super modern, super clean, like, you know, cool bikes, like this. I mean, it would be me to be clear, like, because you can design anything, but I would just totally go off the rails and geek out with, you know. And I was like, I told Melissa, I'm like, You need to make this very warm and very, you know, approachable by our female clients, because that's who buys our homes. And so I've loved working with the three of us. So anyway, I'm just painting the backstory for the audience that doesn't know about Misa, who's what, and we just did this really funny video, as you know, on Instagram, yeah, head to Mark Williams custom homes, if you haven't. But we Kate surkorsky, shout out to her. She's a principal designer at Ohio interiors, and so I am your neighbor and Kate is your neighbor, yeah? So we have builder, architect, designer, all three homes in a row. I mean, it's just wild. I can't tell you how many people have like this. Can't be you. Like, someone thought we staged it, someone thought we rented a house to do that, right? And I'm like, No, you can't make this up. Like, I could never even thought of an idea like that.
Karl Adalbert 44:57
Yeah, it's, it was wild. It's a It's. Own little video. So, yeah, unique situation, and they have both been Melissa and Kate have been great as a as a foil, maybe to us, yeah, with different perspectives. But you know, the our overarching, you know, concept, again, you know, is wellness, and that means, you know, different things to everybody, but we're really trying to be considerate, you know, and, and I guess, to the name itself, which Misa, who's, you know, being kind of cozy. I would say ojos style, if you know, if you want to call it that, you know, really embraces something that I would would feel, I would think that is much more kind of part of that esthetic, and they're doing a great job, you know, kind of with that, with that piece of it, and embrace kind of what we've, you know, somewhat analyzed or carried over from kind of looking at, sort of the other projects on, on the property. I made a lot of those ideas terms of siting, I think were really valid, and we've kind of held true to that completely different design, but kind of looking at, you know, kind of looking at how it engages the site, and, you know, the street front, the neighbors and everything. So,
Mark D. Williams 46:19
yeah, what is, from your perspective, I've mentioned this before that I haven't been this excited about building a house since maybe my first home, like I am. I think you know, the podcast you know has been, we're actually our third year anniversary right now, almost December 5. I think of 2023, 2022, whatever three years is and, and we actually just crossed 100,000 downloads. And I bring it up for context only, like, I feel like the curious builder, sort of, you know, call it midlife crisis. Call it whatever you want. Like, I was just burned out of building. So between the curious builder, yeah, kind of relighting a fire under me, but the I was ready to be like, honestly, if I could, you know, do well enough to, like, not build, I'm like, okay, the curious builder could do it. But then this, the origin of this Misa house, has completely re energized me to build along brands and story lines. That's my journey and where I'm at. And I'm so in love with this house and a way to, you know, complete it and showcase it and brand it all the wonderful things. Yeah, what does it mean to you? Like, what excites you about this house? Is it different than other homes that you've designed? Is it What's your sort of emotional attachment to the house, if you will?
Karl Adalbert 47:35
I'm, I guess I'm just, I've been really enjoying the process, you know, at this stage in it, and really kind of excited about, you know, from a systems level, I mean, the sheathing that we're using, super insulated. It's going to be a super tight house. So from, you know, just a purely, like, sort of a science building science side, very interested see what the results are. I mean, could be almost, very close to a passive house. So if super interested on that side, then the layering of this, which I call kind of design layers, to all of the interiors, and the feel of that to the landscape. And we've got an incredible team, and see how, you know, this settles in to the site, and see how the landscaping has, you know, followed this line of thinking. So it's, it's kind of for all levels. To me, I'm really excited to see how, how it you know, how the process, you know, unfolds, and and, and to see the final, you know, the final result, you know, and I think it's it final being, it's, it's a house that somebody's going to be in love with and really enjoys, but it's going to continue to, we're using materials that, at at, you know, will naturally kind of show a little bit of, you know, weathering over time, if you will, and the house itself. The intention is, is that it's not just static, you know, it is something that, you know, it's, it's, it's living and breathing and and it's a, it's, it's part, it's going to become part of somebody's life, and it's going to be a pretty amazing place. So,
Mark D. Williams 49:20
you know, I love that. That makes no, it makes a ton. Obviously, to me, I'm, I'm Ian, you know, I think of the organic materials the way a patina is all that you know. And you know, you have a deep understanding of how things patina. And you you're even like, when we look back at, like, crafting the pictures and like, what were some inspirations? And, you know, things like that. You know, we're using the zip R 12 for the audience, that's two inches of exterior insulation and Rockwell on the inside for sound. And like, there's so many things that we're doing in this house that are not part of my normal protocol, but it's funny how quickly they become sort of my normal protocol. And you know, working with Pella on these windows, and they're triple pane, and yes, they are more energy efficient. However, the main reason was because it's quieter. Yeah, I became sort of obsessed with this idea that a quiet house was a well built house, or, like, wellness. And I think you and I bonded over this, like you and I both love to be in nature, to run, to get away, to kind of calm the mind, but, you know, camping in a tent, or camping, you know, or going somewhere where you can't get cell phone reception is honestly a huge North Star for me, because we live in an age where we just have so much, you know, outside stimulus. And so it's like, Could this house be in an urban envelope, urban area, but sort of have a rural feel to it? And hence why we named it misus Cozy. I mean, like this idea, I think I've mentioned this to Melissa, and I think I mentioned to you, like, to me, if I was to, like, paint a picture for the audience right now, like, what is, what is this house gonna feel like? It's like a cold February afternoon at like, five o'clock, snow is coming down. You've got a hot chocolate and a few marshmallows and a furable Blank wool blanket over your lap, and you're reading, you know, The New Yorker. Like, that's if I was to, like, describe, that's what it means to me. Yeah, I don't know if anyone else wants that, but, like, I don't know, sounds pretty. Sounds pretty nice. Kickback. Oh, yeah. And the fighter, the fighter play, sure
Karl Adalbert 51:16
kick back in the sun room, or Ian, or kind of the dining nook. I mean, it is. There's a lot of those moments and special places. I agree with you. And equally, I think it's gonna, you know, sing in the summertime with the quality of light we've got a pool in the backyard is, is substantial. So a great, you know, great play area. You know, it just as it has some breathing room, which is really nice, but I agree, I think that how it exists through through the seasons, and there's a side of just wellness. I think for people, I'll say we were just visited a client's house recently, I was and my wife was with me. And, you know, she just had mentioned, kind of, to your point, kind of how quiet was, and how a house, there's a newly built house, how it just felt. And there was a sense of kind of peace and calm with that, you know, for her and I, you know, I feel, feel the same way, you know. And so those aspects, it's tough to describe, but you know, once you're once you're in the space, you know, you'll get
Mark D. Williams 52:31
it for sure. Ian, I think what you know, there's so many things, but this one that comes to mind, one of the things that I give you so much credit for, specifically on misuse, is every time I look at the Wellness studio, I it's, it's you, it's 100% you. Now we've become together as a team, but I remember very clearly you kind of made this comment where it was like, Why in home design and from client, like, why is the basement like the leftover space? Like we have, you know, we have the bedrooms, we have the kitchen, we have the mud room, we have all these wonderful spaces. And yet, you know, especially for you and I like, wellness is such a huge part of our lives that we've already talked about. Why is the exercise room or the wellness studio, whatever we want to call it, that, you know, people want to talk about it? Is it in the basement with no windows, like in a concrete slab in a dungeon, like, who wants to run on a treadmill, looking at like a black wall, or whatever it is, but it's like the leftover space. Now I feel like, over the last couple of years, doing a budget like that has become a cooler space, but even so, more often than not. I mean, I probably 95% of homes have ever built my career. It's in the basement. And there are some reasons for it, but in general, like, why? And you came up with this idea where it was like, what if on the so we have this pool running horizontal across the back of the yard. There's this beautiful wellness studio. And I love that. I keep saying wellness do, because it could be, it could be so many different things, but for us, it's got the sauna, the cold plunge, the weights, and then it's got these beautiful multi slide doors that open to the pool. And it's like, once you did that, like, I almost became more excited about the wellness studio and the whole rest of the house. I'm like, yes, yes. Like, I want to live in here. Yeah. Anyway, I've said that story to so many people, because this is the benefit of a team. Sure, it was your vision, it was your lifestyle. It's why I chose you for the project, honestly, is because I knew you would get the commitment to wellness in a different level, and it means something a little something a little bit different to every person. And that's fine anyway. Big shout out to you for that, because honestly, it got on, it was on the chopping block, or potentially because of budget, yeah. And you're like, oh, because as we got preliminary budgets back, you're like, where do we cut? I'm like, Well, the easiest cuts is the pool and the wellness studio. And I remember pitching it to some people earlier on, and I'd tell them this, and they said, and I was high level, going with where the price might come like, ooh, we don't like those numbers. You got to get it down. And I'm like, well, like, and, but then, before they said anything, but you can't cut the wellness studio in the pool, right? I'm like, Well, you just told me to, like, run fast with, like, a weight on my back. I can't do that like, that is. And so it's like, whenever I've been facing with a decision. And I'm like, No, this is what makes the house special, and take this away, and it's not, it's, it's not the same house, and not even close, in my opinion. Anyway, sorry, that was my soapbox.
Karl Adalbert 55:10
Thank you. I mean, it really is. I mean it, it is a multi purpose. I mean wellness, wellness studio, call it. It's a pool house, you know, it's kind of in line with the pool it's kind of a really be beautiful space, kind of a vaulted ceiling. It's all going to be wood and clad kind of in the inside. And so great place to work out, but great, great pool house as well. So, however, however everybody wants to use it is, is as part of sustainable, you know, architecture as well. It's like, you know, the spaces can be used for different things and can be repurposed. I'm sure it's gonna be a great party house. And we talked about, you know, an adu or, you know, is it, you know, can it be converted to, you know, potential, like, you know, bedroom space? I mean, we didn't want to go there in terms of the design. But, you know, thinking, thinking through those aspects,
Mark D. Williams 56:05
yeah, it's funny, because I brought someone through, and they were like, I just want to, I want to make this. I told the wellness and like, No, this is my couch, my TV room, my man cave. I'm gonna sit here. And this is my room. You know, the sport court underneath that garage that could be the exercise room. Was like, great. And I said, I laughed. I was like, I mean, if you want to buy it right now, we can make that change immediately.
Karl Adalbert 56:24
Yeah. Anyway, you go through covid. I mean, somebody might move their office out there. We have two. We have a dedicated sort of office space right now in the house. But, yeah,
Mark D. Williams 56:37
yeah. I think, you know, going back to the wellness thing, other things that have come out in this, and we'll, we'll document all this, and we have big plans for what we want to do with this. And what, you know, again, the nice thing about being a a home that we get to design, where, I think the biggest challenge, I think, what's why we created the brand, was it's really hard to design a house with no client, because the client gives so much clarity to what it, you know, their lifestyle. And yes, we use my personal family as sort of like an archetype of, you know, a family of five and things that I like. But ultimately, you if it becomes like, if it becomes a home for everybody, it kind of becomes a home for nobody. In my opinion, that's I'm not, there's no judgment for anyone else that does it a different way. But I couldn't get excited about a house that appealed to everyone. I needed the house for me to get super excited about it. I needed it to be this house. Unfortunately, now I can't think of any other house. Like, like, if I was designed, like, a 2.0 it's like, yeah, I was like, or a different I was like, I can't and, like, actually, this is gonna be my question for you later. I'll come back to it is, like, how as a as a Home Designer, do you you fall in love with a project, get so invested in, how can, how do you? How do you go to another project without other just always seeing the other project? Like, how does it not I'll just go there now. Like, how do you? How do you design something new? So let's say we have another client and we're building just somewhere else. It doesn't matter. How do you sort of unsee all that this house is, or is? The answer. So simply, is that the site and the person changed the formula so drastically that it's not really even a factor,
Karl Adalbert 58:06
yeah. I mean, exactly, yeah. I would say that that's it, the site or the person, whatever, you know, sort of the concept is for the house, you know, which, which can be style. But also it's mostly like, Okay, what is, what's the, what's the idea behind this project? And that was important. I mean, that's pretty specific to to this house. I mean, can say wellness is sort of a, is a concept as sort of overarching. It maybe doesn't necessarily dictate sort of all the design decisions. It influences, you know, maybe choices that we make, but, you know, really kind of the site, and we kind of looked at some, some different, you know, sort of inspiration or ideas of, sort of the esthetic of the house, and, you know, made that decision, and that kind of set the path, you know, and then there's a lot of other influences in there.
Mark D. Williams 59:05
I think I just realized when you were responding to I think I just answered my own question. I think it's easier for you to do it because for another client, because the reason I think I would have a hard time doing another spec home right now, because I'm too unto and I'm too invested. Like, if you're looking at this on camera, like I am, like, I got the horse like blinders on, like, the only thing I can think about is MISA. You know, what's funny is Kate Regan
Karl Adalbert 59:30
pretty excited about new ideas. That's true. I think the head could get turned a little bit. I
Mark D. Williams 59:36
thought it's funny because the house is Kate Regan from the sitting room, sure lives two doors down from this house, okay? And I gave her one of the water bottles that say Misa who Sana. And so her and her family have referred to the house as Misa, like, how is Misa doing today is and so that her kids are in college, and her kids will call back and be like, Hey, how's Misa doing? And so they referred to it as, like, a person, right? Which is just really kind of cute. One thing I wanted to touch on the personality, it is, oh, for. Sure all projects they do. I was thinking about one of the benefits of building a home, where, as a team, we get to make some of the decisions, is we get to try new things, where, like, especially when we're passionate about it, the green roof. I've never done a living roof before, and I'm really excited. It wasn't that as expensive as I thought it was going to be. I was like, if it's, you know, 20 or 30,000 I had, I think, 25,000 budgeted in my performer. And I was like, in my mind, I was expecting, like, oh, man, if this comes in at 40, I just, I've got to make some cuts. And I guess this will be one of them. Ended up being like, 12 for the material and like five for the labor. I'm like, I'm actually under budget. Like, I can't wait, you know, and that for the audience, that doesn't include, you know, the rubber flat roof membrane, like, that's obviously part of the roof structure. But like I was, I think I've learned. Maybe the reason why I'm so excited about this house is just how much I've learned. Yeah, and I know we could build a house again, and it'd be not 100 ways different, but there'd be, we just keep learning. I mean, there's so many brands that come to us with products and with things that, and they've been attracted by the wellness story, like visium, you know, visium Shout out to them like they have this UV light that kills bacteria in the air. So, like, we're putting it in the bathroom, you know, fecal bacteria, poop, in layman's terms, like it's in the air. Like, deal with it, people and so, like, you know, yeah, obviously your HVAC, your air scrubbers,
Karl Adalbert 1:01:21
but don't deal with it. We've got this light Exactly.
Mark D. Williams 1:01:25
Don't deal with it. We do, and we did. I mean, we're doing Toto Toilets, right? I was obsessed with getting these bidet toilets in and, you know, I call on them and call it. Finally, I was able to break through. Shout out to Tracy, thank you. And in Chicago, you have to go kind of pick them out. And I'm just, there's just so many things. I think that's what makes me so excited about this house, is that we get to try new things and really, and I think if we get the chance to share this story of evolution, I mean, it's up to me to sort of document it and videotape, you know, figure out a way to, like, convey this, because you and I are so tied to this, it's like, how do you how do we share this story when, when someone walks through the house and they're just gonna be like, Wow, they're not gonna be able to know all the stories that are just all they're gonna say is, like, this house just feels different, which is fine. I'm totally okay with that. Oh, I guess that's a good what do you, what do you hope people say when they walk through or what do you what are you excited to see on their face? Or questions that you think they might ask. Have you thought about it yet?
Karl Adalbert 1:02:25
No, I haven't. But, I mean, I think it's kind of, it'll be interesting to see, you know, how you approach it as well, like, you know, just letting people in, kind of, I mean, just think about it like as an individual. You go in and explore and just, you know, without being sort of persuaded, maybe by sort of the group. I mean, I just think about that, or, you know, showing houses, or big open houses, that sort of thing. And there's an excitement level, and you kind of get in, you know, and you get engaged in that. But I'd be interested, you know, to send, send people through,
Mark D. Williams 1:03:07
and not, you know, Ian on a company, like, you're like
Karl Adalbert 1:03:09
a haunted house, like, you gotta go. You gotta go. You gotta go in by yourself and and explore. Sorry, you know, so, but, you know, just like, what do you really, what are you really feeling? Because I think that that that's, that's how you would get present with, with, with your emotions.
Mark D. Williams 1:03:27
We could do like a 360 camera mounted on their face, and then we'd all sit on TVs out in the garage and watch their face like, was they walk around like Blair Witch Project style, yeah, it's
Karl Adalbert 1:03:35
funny. I, you know, I think, I think that's just part of the, you know, the experience, and, you know, the the people who you know, hopefully will you know that are going to be living there, they get to have that, you know, that experience on on different levels, as well as you know, the entertaining I think it's going to be wonderful for that. I'm
Mark D. Williams 1:03:54
still noodling this. I think I told you this story, I brought someone I really respect through and I had this idea, because I, you know, we're not going to market this the way most people market. We have kind of a 14 month marketing plan, and it's all about storytelling and brand telling. And I mean, honestly, what we're talking about right now. And I so I wanted to show somebody the house. It's only at, you know, rough end stage, so it's not obviously ready. And it's like, I didn't want to meet because a lot of people are reaching out, saying, Hey, can we do with the house? Coming to the house, going to the house, which is great. I'm super flattered, and I want to keep those message government people and and so I met I met them, met these people at the office, not clients, but people, professionals in the industry. And I spent probably an hour. I had this whole like, pitch deck, all the selections. I really want to weave the story, the why, like, why are we doing this? What's the well, all of the stuff. And I said, Let's go. Let's go tour the house. So we went and toured the house. Did another hour there, kind of showing, you know, pulled up all the phones with QR codes around the house and rendering so they could see everything and and at the end, their advice was, they said, We get it, but we still don't get it like you get it. Mm. Be rightly so. I mean, you're, you've been you, and I've been in this for a year at this point. And they're like, their advice to me was, don't show it to a single person until it's 100% done, till the wheats blowing in the wind and the Summer Breeze is coming through the window, and that scented candles, and, you know the wool blanket and the cup of coffee, and you know all these, and you're painting this picture, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, because my natural tendency is show everyone every I mean, you know me, I'm just so excited. I just want everybody to see this. And I'm going to do I'm going to take their advice. I can be taught people. I can listen, I think, but Melissa, to your point, said, your idea, my wife, she said, Bring people. Because she says, Well, how are you going to then when it's all done? No, she goes, you're gonna throw a big party, aren't you? Like, oh, it's gonna be massive. Yeah, shut down the block. We'll have the Batman signal in there. Be the MISA who signal. And she's like, No, no, no, no. She's like, you know, be more subtle. Be, you know, probably, she's probably like, be more like, Carl. She's like, just be a little more reserved. Just be approachable and and and she's like, just bring people through one at a time and let them experience but you just said
Karl Adalbert 1:06:05
that. Yeah, I think it's just a different way of experiencing, but I think it's going to be my being the opposite as well. I mean, I think it wonderful, a wonderful house, to bring a big group and, oh, we do. Ball should be a celebration. We're
Mark D. Williams 1:06:19
going to the goal, I think, is to bring through people that have expressed interest in in buying it for like, a two week window where it's only for one on one tours
Karl Adalbert 1:06:29
and so many levels, and then it'll be a kick off. It could be, you know, a chef, you know, experience there, where you get to dine or be part of something. So I think using, using the spaces, seeing how, seeing how, you know, functional they are as well as the esthetic is, is, is great as well. So I think it's gonna
Mark D. Williams 1:06:50
be one space. I hope that they read their contracts. They might have to write in their provision that once a year, the team gets to do a chef led dinner at their house in perduity, forever. Yeah. Thanks so much for coming on the podcast. It's you, and I've been talking about it for a couple of years. And anyway, we get to talk a little bit about Misa little bit about you, and we'll have you back on and we're gonna do, we'll probably do one, I think we'd do one with Melissa, you and I at the house when it's all done, kind of in the space, you know, just, I haven't decided what it's going to be like, open. I think actually be really fun just thinking out loud of like, you know, doing it to an audience, like a live audience. I don't know who the audience would be, or we'll figure that out later, but, if nothing else, because we're doing one, actually, in like two weeks, we're going to do one with it'll be kind of closed, just for the So, kind of our, some of our main partners, right? This would be Pella, will be there. We'll have Rockwell and we have zip Huber, because it's, you know, at the infrastructure phase, you know, talk about systems, sure. And so we're going to do, I just want to, you know, get their point. Like, similar to, I know how I feel about it, clearly. Sorry. I talked so much on this one. My wife will be like, You talk too much. But I want to get their perspective on, you know, why they partner with builders like us, like, why are we doing homes like this? What are they seeing? I mean, they, you know, we're one little builder, you know, building a home in Minnesota, and they're building 1000s of homes across the country, you know, what is, what are they seeing in trends in terms of not only wellness, but the products that we're using? And so I'm really excited to kind of engage with them and kind of see it.
Karl Adalbert 1:08:19
Yeah, exciting. Thanks for Thanks for having me. All
Mark D. Williams 1:08:23
right, sounds good. Let's go get lunch. All right, thanks for coming on the curious builder podcast. We'll see you on Thursdays for 20 minutes, and our episodes on Mondays. Thanks for tuning in the curious builder podcast. If you like this episode, do us a favor. Share it with three other business owners. The best way that we can spread what we're doing is by word of mouth, and with your help, we can continue to help other curious builders expand their business. Please share it with your friends, like and review online, and thanks again for tuning in.