We’ve been in your shoes, many times over. Just like the journey you’re about to embark on, we know what it feels like to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring a dream to reality. We intimately understand the challenges you face when it comes to renovating an existing home or building new from the ground up.
That’s because in addition to serving clients we have the unique experience of developing more than 40 of our own designer Spec Homes in South Florida since 2012. Our systems, operating philosophy and ‘owner’s mindset’ we’ve developed in that development work are a huge advantage to you when you hire Studio 818 for your design + build project.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, ‘Spec’ is short for speculative. Meaning homes designed and built for sale to an as-yet unknown buyer on the open market. Studio 818 leads every aspect of these projects from property acquisition, master-planning design, architecture and construction to valuation, marketing and sales.
Watch the video below learn a little about the background of the founders and what benefits that experience brings to Studio 818 clients.
The ‘ownership mindset’ of the Studio 818 principals is unique in the industry. We know what it feels like to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring a dream to reality. We’ve poured our heart and soul into every one of our own development projects in an ownership role.
On spec home development projects we bear the responsibility of managing millions of dollars in funds entrusted to us by our investment partners for the purpose of delivering healthy investment returns. And our profit is dependent on how well we pre-screen & acquire properties, master-plan & design the project, and for the purpose of delivering healthy investment returns to keep timelines and budget on track.
This experience gives us an unparalleled ownership level perspective on every project, including yours. Fact is — our Design + Build Management framework is so different because it was developed by owners for owners. Studio 818’s unique blending of real estate investment experience, outside-the-box design capabilities and construction management expertise makes our process unique to residential renovations and custom home building.
Thanks to Studio 818’s designer-led Design + Build Management framework you don’t have to fall prey to the problems, needless cost-overruns and disappointing results experienced by owners who follow a conventional industry path. We’ve got you covered from the first conceptual idea all the way through to your turn-key move-in.
We’ve experienced countless challenges in the course of completing these development projects. Costly problems that every owner will face when building a new home or completing an extensive renovation. But the really cool thing is that our responsibility for the entirety of these development projects allowed us to step back and identify the source of the problems.
You’ll probably be as shocked as we were to learn that the root causes of these gremlins were flaws and gaps in “standard industry processes” for renovations and custom home building. No wonder there are so many horror stories from homeowners out there. The source of pain and frustration is built into the very process these owners were told they had to follow.
We knew we needed to turn the standard processes on their head and develop a better system to streamline our projects, mitigate these challenges and consistently bring stunning designs to life. The result is our designer-led Design + Build Management framework. Over the last eight years we’ve developed, stress-tested and refined the framework on our dime and our time – and now you get to reap the benefits on your renovation project or new custom home.
One of the big challenges owners face with a design and build project is they are entering a world with its’ own jargon and multiple key players each looking out for their own interests. If the typical industry path is being followed there will be no clear leadership on the project. That means all the problems roll uphill to the owner making them the de facto arbitrator and decision maker in an dangerous arena.
Studio 818 believe when you’re going to make one of the biggest financial investments of your life, you deserve an advocate standing in the gap protecting you and your interests. That’s why our designer-led Design + Build Management framework is structured to take you from initial concept through to your move-in day with all the moving parts managed for you.
We begin by designing a master-plan for your project that delivers the design aesthetic, function and feel you want. Then we are your single point of contact and responsibility to keep your project on track every step along the way right up to your move-in day.
During the process we take the normally disparate and often contentious individual professionals required to successfully create an outstanding designer home and bring them together in a cohesive team. Your team! A team working together with a single vision under the protective umbrella of our designer-led process.
Studio 818 began as Restore 818 in Southern California. John-Paul and Janie Micek founded the company in 2010 and immediately began buying, designing, and renovating pre-1940’s homes for resale in up-and-coming Los Angeles neighborhoods between Burbank and Pasadena.
The area code for these areas is 818. We’ve kept this as part of our name to help remind us of where we started. In December of 2012 we moved our design-driven property development company from LA to Fort Lauderdale.
Initially Janie’s bright and clean design aesthetic was reserved solely for the buyers of Restore 818 designer spec homes. But as each new turn-key home hit the market with another unique design more and more requests came in for Janie and John-Paul to provide design services directly to clients.
In the early 2018 Studio 818 Design + Build Management was spun off from Restore 818 to answer that call.
JANIE MICEK is a Principal and Founder of Studio 818. As Creative Director Janie directly develops or oversees all architecture and design for Studio 818.
She is a licensed Interior Designer with NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification.) Janie is a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Accredited Professional.) This is a Green Building credential that proves mastery in the highly specialized area of green building. The LEED AP exam materials are so voluminous that the reference guide alone is over 400-pages and testing so rigorous that it has only about a 30% pass rate.
Janie began her professional career with a large commercial Interior Design firm in her hometown of Boston. She then moved cross-country to work in Los Angeles. It was there that her aesthetic was influenced by the eclectic architecture of LA’s oldest neighborhoods and the Mid-Century Modern majesty of Palm Springs.
For over 15-years Janie has lived and breathed interior design, both commercial and residential. Her construction administration and project management experience ranges from one-bedroom condos to $100-million commercial projects. Janie’s direct development experience with over 40 investor-driven Designer Spec Homes gives her a value-driven perspective matched by few designers in the US.
JOHN-PAUL MICEK is a Principal and Founder of Studio 818. As ‘Chief Troublemaker’ he oversees operations including; systems development, marketing, property acquisition and construction management. John-Paul has been in and around the construction industry since age 12. He founded three businesses before his 30th birthday, including a landscape design/build company specializing in residential projects with budgets between $350,000 to $1.2 million.
John-Paul’s real estate investment experience began in 1995. He has invested in, developed and managed over 200 real estate projects in New Jersey, Hawaii, Texas, California and Florida ranging from single-family homes to 350-plus unit apartment complexes. He is a licensed Real Estate Agent in the State of Florida working exclusively with Studio 818 clients to find, pre-screen, pre-budget and purchase the right property through Studio 818’s ‘Buy It Right’ property acquisition service.
Studio 818 serves clients from Fort Lauderdale to Jupiter, Palm Beach to Wellington. This includes cities in surrounding areas like Parkland, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and Jupiter Island.
We also work with clients on select projects throughout the US including client projects in Los Angeles, Burbank and Lake Tahoe, California.
