Our team specializes in barrier free designs. Every one of us has one type of physical challenge or another!
Contact us anytime, whether you’re going to build your “last home” that will adapt to your needs as you grow older or need a home designed for a specific disability at this time.
Up until the last few years people did not think about how the changes in their lives would affect them in their living environment. But lately you can’t pick up a newspaper or magazine without ready articles on barrier free designs, universal designs, adaptive living designs or aging in place designed homes.
Why? The baby boomers are seeing their parents growing older in the “last home” they had built to retire in become harder and harder to use as their lives progressed. Split levels and two story homes becoming increasingly less usable as their mobility changes. Problems within their homes as eyesight and hearing changes. Read more about this in our About Barrier Free Homes tab.
You never know when your life can change forever. Myself, for example, I was a healthy, active, young man, traveling the world and enjoying a career as a builder in the states as well as the Caribbean for 13 years. During this time I enjoyed being active, wind surfing with Team Virgin Islands, rock climbing and hiking when I had the time. But in a blink of an eye when I was visiting my parents in the states all of that changed. I was involved in a severe car accident that left me confined to a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I had to rely on my parents for a place to live, and their home was lovely but not convenient for a disabled person. I did not have access to basic facilities including a bathroom I needed. I was confined to one downstairs family room, because my parent’s home was a split level.
I realized through this, that I had done a huge disservice to my customers in the past. I made it my goal to educate as many people as possible about universal design often speaking publicly on the subject.
Arlan began his career in the construction trade, and graduated from Oregon Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Cad Engineering. He started with board drafting and then moved onto the Auto CAD program. Eventually he began working with the Chief Architect program. He is constantly educating himself about the program to be more efficient with it. He has a rare disease called ankylosing spondylitiis rheumatoid arthritis marie-strumpell disease. It is a disease that attacks your spine. It will eventually confine him to a wheelchair as well. He is such an asset to our organization, we are glad to have him as a member of our team.
Jennifer has been fortunate enough to raise six children and has two associative arts degrees. One of her degrees is in accounting, and one of them is in business. She is like a mother to us all. I feel like raising her kids has given her insight into psychology, economics, and lots of other skills. When she turned forty-three she was diagnosed with a problem that limits her vision called Macular Degeneration. But she can still catch our mistakes.
The youngest of our group Rachel, is a very intelligent young lady. In her teenage years she enjoyed raising Morgan horses and showing them in tournaments. Even after many years of therapy she will still be confined in a wheelchair for the rest of her life due to paralysis of her entire right side. At the age of 32 she enrolled into Drury University to get her degree in Psychology and Sociology. She plans to use these degrees to help patients at a local hospital after graduation. She can show them by example how she overcame being disabled and persevered.
Martha is the only person on our team who does not personally have any physical challenges. However, Martha’s life was dramatically and tragically impacted by the physical challenges of her aging Mother. During the years prior to her death, Martha’s Mother Louise faced difficulties that required Martha to move in with her twice to help with her care. Then Louise had a stroke leaving her only slightly mentally impaired but confined to a wheelchair. Her home was unsuitable for a wheelchair so she placed her in an Adult Family Home. Although it was a very good one, we had problems with the staff not giving her preventive medications and proper diet. Ultimately at the facility she contracted the Superbug, MRSA Staph Infection which directly led to her death. Had her home been designed so she was able to remain there with in home care, Louise probably would have walked again and fully recovered. Martha handles our Public Relations and Marketing.
We partner with many people in our organization. While some of them are disabled and some of them are not, we all share the common goal of good service. We want to give you the best service possible in developing your new home.