History
I have been in the Building Industry since I was 14 years old, working weekends as a builder's labourer, progressing to a Building Design office in my late teens. I spent ten years working as a contract draughtsman in over ten different companies, from Architectural Practices, to Building companies and every thing in between.
In 1988 I started working under the name "DJ Design" and have undertaken many and varied projects under this banner.
I set up my own practice in 1993 in a small cottage in Adelaide City, and ran it quite successfully until June '95, when I wound up the business to enter into a friends business, Stressed Out, making and designing primitive and distressed style furniture from recycled timber. In this time my design skills were married with my partner's production and street savvy to produce and enviable range of products and interior "fit-out" projects.
I left Adelaide to further my Building Design career in Sydney, and started working at Champion Homes in May '96. I found my skills as a designer were soon called into play, being asked to review their standard range of homes and produce brochures for them. After returning from a brief sojourn in Europe I relocated to Wollongong, south of Sydney, and I was put in charge of the design section, where I was instrumental in introducing ArchiCad to the office and developing a semi- automated take-off system for estimating. After six months as the estimator at Champion, I left to resume private practice. I have done work for Oakworth Developments, Dartanyon Developments, and run a "one-stop-shop" concept for small to medium builders, called DAE Consultants. I now focus primarily on individual private clients, giving advice, feedback and assistance throughout the building process.