If you are a young architect or plan on becoming an architect one day, I think the best advice I can give you is to find your way onto a construction site - even if that construction site is your own.

If I have one regret during my education (between the ages of 18 – 24) is that I never worked on a construction site. Once I graduated from college, I went straight to work in an architectural office, drawing up all sorts of stuff that I had literally never seen before in my life. I managed to get along but I was acutely aware of my lack of practical knowledge and I have been trying to make up for it over the last 20+ years.It’s really difficult to get firsthand experience on a construction job site once you have a different 8am-6pm job. It wasn’t until I bought my first house did I roll up my sleeves and start to get my hands dirty. My wife Michelle had a job where she traveled for work 5 days a week, and since I am not really a “go hang out at the bar” type of guy, I spent my evenings at home making repairs on my 1920’s era house. I didn’t really know any best practices, but I had been drawing details for awhile and I kind of knew some stuff … but knowing and doing are two really different things.What got me thinking about this was that I spent my Sunday getting the front room in my house ready for some concrete renovation work. We bought this house right at a year ago and I have been making minor cosmetic changes week to week. ...