America's Top Custom Home Event
On October 19-22, 2023, America’s most in-demand Luxury Residential Architects downed tools and headed to Florida for BOND Custom. For 3 days and nights, they left their project pressures and office distractions behind to relish some rare quality time together. Having North America’s most difficult-to-meet luxury custom home architects in one place for a few days also provided a tantalising prospect for a select group of building product and solutions manufacturers who headed out to meet them.
America's Luxury Custom Home Project Community
A month before the event, attending manufacturers were given exclusive access to detailed profiles on all the confirmed architects and designers, including nature and scale of the live and confirmed high-end custom home projects on their books. This allowed them to make informed and timely choices on whom they would most like to meet. BOND’s state-of-the-art meetings platform meant that each ‘buyer’ and ‘supplier’ got the most effective combination possible of meetings with their best prospects.
And so, the stage was set for North America’s true luxury custom home project community to come together and explore a whole new world of collaborative possibilities. More than that, they had time and space to kick back, enjoy the seminars and side events and get to know each other in a way that simply isn’t possible at a conventional trade show.
Quality Time with America's Leading High-end Custom Home Architects
Our job is to set the thing up and to get the right people here. And we can give you all the info. you want on who came and what they’re working on – just email Jenny. But, between the lines and behind the scenes, America’s number one luxury custom home architect event takes on a life of its own. And, outside of the official meetings, over lunch, dinner and through to the small hours, more random, unexpected conversations, introductions, ideas, aspirations and stories were shared than we could possibly list here.
To make this more real, get the full confirmed buyer list from Jenny and take a close look at the firms and job titles. Now consider the cost and effort of even trying to get in front of these people under your own steam. Is it even possible?
The only way to truly appreciate what’s on offer here is to save your place and come and experience it for yourself. Meanwhile, here’s an idea of what went down and what the people said:
I Enjoy the meetings with the vendors, the speakers are always AMAZING! And getting to know Architects from all over the country is fantastic!
Andrew Carson III President Carson Architecture and Design
We had great meetings with the knowledgeable reps; and of course made many new architect friends along the way. Always a great time!
Stephen B. Goldberg, President Goldberg Design Group, Inc.
America’s True Luxury Custom Home Project Leaders
The architects and designers who call the shots on America's most spectacular luxury custom home projects are busy, busy people so they're usually very tricky to pin down. But, each year, more of them are discovering the value of taking a bit of time out to attend BOND Custom: getting out of the office is good. Finding inspiring new products and solutions is better. But discovering and developing friendships and allies at the heart of America’s most vital and helpful luxury custom home project community is best of all.
Here’s a little snapshot from this year’s confirmed buyer list:
- Landry Design, Partner, CA
- Granoff Architects, Principal, CT
- Jordan Rosenberg Architects & Associates, Managing Owner, NJ
- STRANG Architecture, Director Architectural Projects, FL
- Goldberg Design Group, President, IN
- William G. Brown Architects, Owner & Principal, NJ
- Candelaria Design Associates LLC, CFO & Principal, AZ
- Arch11, Principal, CO
- Affiniti Architects, Partner, FL
- Neil Hauck Architects, Principal, CT
Get the full confirmed attendee list and get next year’s list as soon as it’s ready.
The Projects
For attending manufacturers, this is ultimately about the projects. And every single architect and designer you’ll meet at BOND Custom has a portfolio of confirmed high-end custom home projects and the clout to influence who gets specified and who doesn’t. Here are just a few of the incredible high-end custom home projects our architects brought to the table this year:
Find your Porpoise in Life
Day 1
The pre-event tour is a chance for people to get to know each other before the event officially starts. It’s a great little ice-breaker and we are told that it’s particularly welcome for first-timers as it’s a natural way to start making connections and friendships so there are some familiar faces there to greet you at the Welcome Dinner later on. Each tour is different and this one was a cracker - what could be nicer than a little trip on the ocean for some dolphin and manatee spotting? A magical start for all involved.
Night 1 - Welcome Dinner
Prep. done, evening attire beautifully ironed (at least the bits that show...). Time to grab yourself a refreshing beverage and have a mingle in our very own ‘tropical paradise’. Delegates found themselves amidst bright, tropical florals to rival the brightest and most floral of shirts and a local seafood menu to try not to spill on them. There were yard games to enjoy and a steel drum band to get those hips moving. (It’s never too early). The people are here. The vibe is relaxed, open and friendly. And you don’t need to try too hard at all before you’re having an interesting chat with the nice man from Granoff...
...all of them genuinely seemed to want to be there, and many had done some research on my company prior to the meeting, some even with specific things they wanted to discuss - not just general information.
David Teague Historical Arts & Casting, Inc. Partner
I had a great time at the event and had the opportunity to meet some fascinating suppliers. My office will be sure to reach out to them when the appropriate project comes along or when we decide to have an office presentation.
Victor Salas - Richard Manion Architecture
Day 2
The first full business day eases everyone in with a topical seminar on ‘Designing & Building Sustainable, High Performance, Custom Homes’.
Suitably inspired and brimming with fresh knowledge, delegates head to the meetings room where they’ll be spending much of their ‘9-to-5’ over the next couple of days. 30 minutes of ‘get to know you’ with some of the biggest names in high-end custom home design. Those who have read our prep. advice are glad they did: Relationship first, product second! Ask some questions – be curious – the business will come...
Night 2
After an intense day of back-to-back meetings, the chance to get off-site is always welcome and BOND have a knack for sniffing out somewhere that’s relaxed, sociable, nearby and where the food’s deeee-licious! Angelina’s Ristorante is a world-class Italian that looked after us this time, many enjoying the vibe and company until the last coach home, not all making it past the hotel bar for one more for the road...
Day 3
Another mercifully gentle but thought-provoking start with a seminar on AI-dvantageous Solutions. No time to build and program your own AI replacement before your second and final day of meetings starts. But you’ve got the hang of this now and it’s amazing how much you can learn about someone in 30 minutes. And the insight and the leads and a surprising amount of common ground continues to open up in front of you. This is fun!
Lunch
What a difference a day makes! Lunch on the terrace again but today feels very different to yesterday and you don’t think twice as you grab a seat and start chewing the fat with an architect you’ve been chasing for months. She knows exactly who you are now and it seems you share a similar humour and the same taste in desserts.
A light-hearted overview of the U.S. Economy ‘Cloudy Days with Sunny Periods’ eases you into your final meetings session, which turns out to be the best of all, as one of the ‘star-buyer’ architects has clearly done their research on you and it seems they may have just the project for you. This is one phone call to the office you cannot wait to make.
This was a well run and entertaining event.
Sarah Palmer, VP, Vineyard Wine Cellars
Top tier event consisting of top tier custom architects as well as suppliers
Douglas Gillikin, Accsys Technologies, Midwest/SE Technical Product Champion
all of them genuinely seemed to want to be there, and many had done some research on my company prior to the meeting, some even with specific things they wanted to discuss - not just general information.
David Teague, Partner, Historical Arts & Casting, Inc.
I was introduced to several products that are potential solutions to some of our more complicated design problems. The opportunity to have focused conversations about new products and technologies and to create relationships with knowledgable providers is invaluable.
Audrey Matlock, Owner, Audrey Matlock Architect FAIA
Exceeded my expectations in almost every way. Top notch
Tanner Skelton, Director of Residential Design, 45 Architecture,
Always a wonderful event. It's a "fire-hose" of unbelievable amounts of information that takes days or weeks to digest afterwards.
Rodney Kazenske, Architect/Owner, Yardstick Studio, LLC
I love BOND Custom. I have been coming to the events since the first one in Phoenix in 2015.
Nick Tsontakis AIA, Principal, NCARB, MRAIC Tsontakis Architecture
I wanted to thank you for having me back again this year at BOND Custom. And thank you for all the help and coordination leading up to the event.
I’ve spent the last two days pouring through my notes and emailing everyone I met to follow up on our conversations. I already have conversations going with Earthcore, Weathershield, BC Wood, Parklex Proderma, Noble, Ludowici, Pacific Homes, NA Structures, and Enviroshake for current projects. I don’t know if all of them will come to fruition but what a score this year!
Safe travels and hope to see you again.
Rod Kazenske, Principal Architect, YARDSTICK STUDIO
Next year’s BOND Custom is happening October 24-27, 2024, CA, USA. If you believe your products deserve a place in America’s most spectacular luxury custom home projects, there is no better place to get to know the people that can make that happen.
If you want to have a proper chat about it, just email us and she will be in touch.
