TK Design & Associates, Inc.

Todd Hallett
President

Todd Hallett, AIA, President of TK Design & Associates, Inc. (tkhomedesign.com) has been designing award winning homes for over 20 years. He spent 15 of those years working for a $50 million production building company. Todd designed all of their homes but also worked in every other aspect of the company including purchasing, development, land acquisition, product development, and operations, and was President of the company for three years. Equipped with his vast building experience and fueled by his love for architecture he left to form an architecture firm that is second to none in working cohesively with Builders. Todd specializes in Lean Design and works, alongside Scott Sedam of TrueNorth Development, in the trenches with builders, suppliers, and trade contractors. His Lean Design blog appears weekly at Housingzone.com. Todd welcomes your feedback at thallett@tkhomedesign.com or 248.446.1960.
 
 
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My biggest eye opener relating to the building business — Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - 12:52
We all have our eye opening moments in life. When I was 17 my dad would often remind me to keep checking the oil in my 72 Bonneville. I did check the oil frequently (in my mind anyway) for a while. It was only after the old workhorse left me stranded on the expressway with a thrown rod that it dawned on me that running out of gas (an activity I...

Design checklists made simple

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - 12:13
Check yourself before you wreck yourself. This delightful saying comes from a rap song by Ice Cube. Mr. Cube’s message urges us all to make use of a verification system (the balance of his message is not quite suitable for this blog). A simple method of ensuring your design specifications are consistent from home to home is to use a checklist....

6 elevation tips that will help your framer ‘make it look like the picture’

Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - 06:44
Have you ever heard a framer say, “I just make it look like the picture”? I have —  far too often. They are referring to a lack of elevation detail on the construction drawings. For some reason this is relatively common. Many drawings I have reviewed show that there was a good deal of effort expended making sure the floor plans are...

Construction drawings – starting right — Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 14:34
As I sit on a plane bound for Fresno I am procrastinating. I know I have to put together this week’s blog but there are a few things to handle first. I need to thoroughly read my Newspaper (front to back even the boring stuff). Of course I cannot get started until the snack portion of the trip is over. I must garner some energy from Delta ’s...

Elevations: Butt ugly to beautiful for zero cost — Lean design with Todd Hallett

Monday, August 15, 2011 - 16:45
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Add horsepower to your existing plans — Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett

Tuesday, August 9, 2011 - 07:52
Growing up near Detroit, I know that old plans are like old cars —sooner or later they start costing you more money than they are worth. It is tempting to hold onto a previous best seller and keep it in the system for no other reason than that you have the bugs worked out. The contracts are set, the variances are low, and the trades know what to...

Exposed: The most common framing mistake in home building, Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett

Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - 08:23
Headers, headers everywhere! Nearly every builder I have ever worked with (regardless of geography) initially had far too many headers and/or headers that were way oversized in their homes. Code requirements are typically 250 percent over failure, so designing above code is typically a waste. An exception is that there are pocket markets where...

Lean design and curb appeal: A marriage made in heaven – Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett

Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - 14:28
Lots of matrimony talk lately. From the saccharin sweet royal wedding to the much publicized split between J’Lo and Marc Anthony - some marriages are meant to last while others fade away. The marriage that I am most excited about (save for my own naturally) is the one between Lean design and curb appeal. These two young lovebirds are guaranteed to...

Lean Construction Drawings: 4 Elements that should always be there and 1 that shouldn’t - Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett

Monday, July 18, 2011 - 19:08
Plans, plans, plans, it’s sometimes difficult to know what they should include and what they shouldn’t. After spending the last two years with Scott Sedam and TrueNorth working with builders, suppliers, and trades all over the country we have developed a number of plan dos and don’ts regardless of geography, here are just a few: Have: 1. Rough...

Lean Design is Infectious

Friday, July 15, 2011 - 15:26
Monday morning 6:30 a.m. Jeff the lead carpenter rolls out the latest set of prints for the new Thornberry model. He sighs as he scans the plans and elevations knowing it is going to be a long week piecing together his latest framing puzzle. He has worked for this builder for 3 years so he recognizes what he calls the Architects “greatest hits”,...

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