Relationships, relationships, relationships...
Relationships. There’s no way around it. If you want to get specified by the best luxury residential architects for the most interesting projects, it’s all about who you know and how they feel about you. Because, if you’re not front-of-mind at the right time, your competitor will beat you to it. Again. Not because their product’s better. But because they made an impression. Something they said that broke the ice and struck home. It might not have been anything to do with their product at all but something they said caused a seasoned architect to start nodding and smiling as they talked. Something made them feel: ‘I like this person. They get it. Maybe we could work together. I think I’ll give them a chance…’
BOND is the industry gold standard
BOND Custom is not like any other luxury custom home event. For starters, you know exactly which luxury custom residential architects will be there to meet you and it is widely understood in the architecture and design industry that the quality of decision maker you’ll meet at BOND is the industry gold standard: you will not meet this number and calibre of decision maker at any other architectural conference. Fact. Secondly, the access you have to these extremely difficult-to-meet project influencers at BOND Custom is, well, it’s a lot!
With a guaranteed number of 1-on-1 meetings with your best prospects to kick things off and three whole days and nights of networking over lunch, dinner, coffee, at the bar and into the night, you’ve got a genuine opportunity to make an impression on pretty much everybody here. And, if luxury custom residential projects is your goal, THESE are the people you need to impress. So, shall we start with who was there?
Here's a little sample from the confirmed architect attendee list:
- Bob White – Principal, Design Director & Owner, Forest Studio
- Natalie Ellis – Sr. VP of Design, Denton House Design Studio
- John Rowland – Director, Maui Studio & Project Manager, De Reus Architects
- James LaRue – Principal, LaRue Architects
- Tobi Adamolekun – Principal, TADA
- Andrea Caicedo – Partner, Reagan & André Architecture
The Projects
Ultimately, this is about the projects and every confirmed architect is asked to provide details of the luxury custom home projects they are bringing to the table.
Here are the first 6 projects in alphabetical order (we haven't just chosen the biggest or best):
- Aldasoro Ranch - Telluride, CO, USA - 4900 - 2027 - High-End Stand Alone Dwellings
- Atherial Place - LA, CA, USA - 12000 - 2025 - High-End Stand Alone Dwellings
- Back Country Greenwich - Greenwich, CT, Fairfield - 12,000 SF - June 2026 - High-End Stand Alone Dwellings
- Belle Haven Waterfront - Greenwich, CT, Fairfield - 9,000 - December '26 - High-End Stand Alone Dwellings
- Bienveneda - Pacific Palisades, CA, USA - 8000 - 2025 - High-End Stand Alone Dwellings
- Camp Conundrum - Aspen, CO, USA - 4200 - 2030 - High-End Stand Alone Dwellings
Let us know who you are and we’ll send you the full project list. Fair?
Pre-Event Tour
The ‘get to know you’ time started before the event had even begun with the pre-event tour.
Those who signed up (for free) just had to arrive early enough to get on a bus for the Cape Coral Homes & Harbour Tour. Handshakes, hugs and conversations were soon in full flow as architects and suppliers were taken to a ‘Waterfront Wonderland’.
The serene boat ride gently zig-zagged its way through some of the most intriguing canals of Cape Coral and Fort Myers, revealing gorgeous new estates and some classic, iconic older Florida style homes that have become part of this area’s history – a truly cool landscape.
Architecture tour done, our suitably enchanted group navigated over to the magnificent San Carlos Bay where the resident Bottlenose Dolphins showed their mischievous faces, a Great Blue Heron was spotted and glimpses of sea eagles, ospreys and a peculiar pelican were reported. Such shared experiences got the BONDing off to a wonderful start.
A fun evening of relaxed, natural networking
Back at the hotel, there was time to freshen up before the first official gathering for the Welcome Reception dinner with BOND’s founder, Oliver Needs, saying a mercifully quick hello and, in his own, inimitable way, setting the tone for a fun evening of relaxed, natural networking on this tropical Florida waterfront.
It’s often at this point that first-time attendees are reassured to find that the star buyers whom BOND said would be there were there indeed. And that the vibe is refreshingly informal – a beach barbecue with ever so slightly elevated BBQ classics and steel drum rhythms where saying hello to a stranger is all that is required to set conversation in motion and go with the flow. Welcome to BOND Custom!
How do you rate the quality and variety of the Architects & Designers in attendance? 4.6/5
Great event - professional and well organised. after 25 years in sales, this was the most access I’ve had to the right people.
Alex Foster, Senior Sales Manager, Turnstyle Designs
Just wow! I have already had many follow up discussions. The format helped to nurture relationships in a way that was not forced. See you next year!
Yusuf, Plumis, Chief Design Officer
1-on-1 with America's leading luxury custom home architects
It’s a fairly early start for the first of two ‘business’ days but some now familiar faces at breakfast and some half decent coffee help ease you in then it’s off to the seminar room for the one on how AI is opening new possibilities in parametric design – the perfect kickstart for the brain. Then it’s meeting time!
A month earlier, all confirmed manufacturers got access to BOND’s delegate portal where they found detailed profiles, including project details on all the attending architects. This enabled them to select the ‘top 20’ architects they most wanted to meet then BOND’s system produced the most fair and effective combination possible of architect and supplier requested meetings. These provisional schedules could be fine-tuned as required.
Fast forward a month and it’s a mix of nerves and excitement on entering the meetings room for the first time but people tend to ‘arrive pretty quickly as the business ‘speed dating’ finds its own pace.
Before you know it, it’s lunch time where a delicious buffet and open seating means you can find yourself conflicted over piling your plate high and filling your face or using your mouth for conversation on the table of superstar architects you happen to have landed on. A bit of both should work out just fine.
Pockets already bulging with business cards and mind buzzing from promising conversations, you head to the seminar room for the one about designing the type of creative leadership you’ll love. Then it’s back to the meetings room for an afternoon packed with more high-calibre 1-on-1s than you’d normally manage to achieve in months. Why didn’t you try this years ago?
America’s hardest working luxury residential project community
First business day done, it’s time to chill for a bit, probably type up some follow-up notes while they’re still in your head and let the office know what sort of day you’ve had! Then you’ve got an hour or so to freshen up before regrouping on the waterfront for some lawn games, delicious local seafood and a cold beverage or two.
Everyone’s had a busy day and talked shop a lot so the vibe is, frankly, less try hard, allowing space for a gentler, more natural hang out. The lawn games were genius, providing the perfect ice-breaker as questionable skill, blatant underhand tactics and downright jamminess see America’s hardest working custom home project community get down to some quality BONDing until way past usual bedtimes. This is where friendships happen and all the doors that open as a result.
Finding out more about the person behind the brand and job title
We all arrive, particularly at something new, with our own preconceived (often cynical) ideas about what we might find and how people are going to be. And that is perhaps the biggest surprise of all: that the people who are driving North America’s most spectacular and ambitious luxury custom home projects are as open and as generous and gracious with their time as you could ever have hoped. Especially when they’re away from the office and amongst friends – old and new. And that, in an impeccably executed nutshell, is what is on offer here: a rare opportunity to get to know some highly influential and well-connected folks in a way that just isn’t possible at a lunch and learn or in a few stolen moments at a trade show.
And so, after an intensely productive and deeply satisfying few days at the heart of North America’s most prolific and helpful luxury custom residential project community, the final night beckons. It’s time to get into that bubbling Caribbean spirit that runs deep through Florida’s Latin roots, enjoy the savoury soul of Puerto Rico, the bold flavors of Cuba and help bring those island traditions to life with a live salsa band with instructors on hand to keep you moving all night long, as Lionel loved to say.
Relationships thrive when the environment is right and when serendipity and timing are given space to do their own thing. BOND will deliver the real project influencers and help to create the best environment on earth for relationships and friendships to find their own way. The rest, my friend, is up to you!
BOND Custom fills up quicker every year. If building relationships with the architects and developers behind North America's most spectacular luxury residential projects is important to you, we suggest you give it a try.
How do you rate BOND Custom overall? 4.7/5
Very well organized. The architects were as advertised, best in their respective markets.
Jaron Krause, Quantum Windows & Doors, Architectural Consultant
The best networking event out there. I have completed four, and I always walk away with a new specification and connection.
Kerry Phillips, Earthcore, NW Regional Sales Manager
The following comments were made on LinkedIn around the event:
