A Conversation With ... Billy Kimmons

You’re one of the principals at Hood-Rich Inc. leading the firm following the retirement of Jim Lohmeyer. Talk about that transition and what it means for the company.
Prior to Jim’s retirement, there were three of us that were firm owners, and that started back around I want to say 2013 or 2014 when that became official. So, his retirement is really marking a transition where he’s stepping away and we’re assuming larger responsibility for the firm and bringing on some others as well. It’s really just continuing what we’ve been working hard to create. (Trying) to carry on that legacy that started with [Hood-Rich co-founder] Jack Hood and that Jim helped to carry forward, and now we’re hoping to carry forward as well.

What are Hood-Rich’s primary industries? What kinds of projects are big right now?
By design, we have tried hard to be what I call a general practice firm, meaning we do a little bit of everything. Really, our focus is on going wherever our clients take us but making sure that we’re relevant in a bunch of different sectors. It can be a little more volatile if you’re just good at one thing. If you specialize in one thing, then you’re dependent on that one sector performing well. When you’ve been doing this long enough, you’ve lived through a few of those cycles where things can get slow or things can get busy. We’ve found that it’s just better to be more diversified. Burrell [Behavioral Health] is one of our largest clients. We’re doing a lot for them right now. We do a lot of multifamily housing. We do work for Missouri State [University], (Ozarks Technical Community College), other educational facilities. One of my passions is church design. We do a lot of business to business.

What does the workforce picture look like in the architecture industry?
After Jim left, we have 13 people on staff right now. Two of those people are student interns. We have an interior designer on staff, and then everyone else is in our architectural division, most of whom are licensed. We are hiring. I think most people are right now. It seems like for over a year now, most of the firms you talk to are very busy and looking to hire. I think we’re all trying to hire the same type of person who has several years of experience and can do project management, so we’re all fighting for the same people, so to speak.

Does Hood-Rich look in market or out of market for hires?
The short answer is we’ll look anywhere. The realist in me recognizes that some of your more successful hires are going to come from this area – people who live here already or maybe are moving back here. That’s more common than trying to hire somebody out of a large city. And I feel like the issue we deal with is more trying to retain the people that maybe have come here for school, for college and want to move back home to the big city. We’ve got to work harder to keep those people here than to try to recruit them from the bigger cities to come to Springfield. We’re more successful when you can find somebody whose roots are here in this area.

How is artificial intelligence being used in architecture? How is Hood-Rich tapping into AI?
I would say we’re using it casually right now. I’m one of those that’s a little more skeptical than a full ambassador. We may start to see stuff like artificial intelligence being used in the design world – using it to create iterations of ... a site area. Let’s give it some parameters and work within this box. Give us some examples of how to do site development, like what can go into the middle of this outdoor space. Give us some outdoor activity ideas and options. And let’s pick and choose our favorite versions and then use that in a presentation to help generate ideas. For me, where my skepticism comes in is that ... it makes sense to use artificial intelligence to do the more mundane kind of busy work side of what we do. But there’s so much as designers that we do that’s critical thinking. You can’t take the human out of that, and I would argue you don’t want to take the human out of it. There’s a utility for it. There’s some good things that can come from it, but there’s also such a thing as taking the good thing too far. I would hate to lose that human touch to design and the critical thinking that I feel like only humans can do, that make the art in architecture what it is.

What are the biggest challenges facing the architecture industry?
I think our biggest challenge has been managing project costs. It seems like construction costs have been very volatile in the last year or so. When you’ve got projects that started six months ago, 12 months ago, with a certain budget, and you’re starting design now, you immediately have to rethink the scope of the project because what it used to cost per square foot a year ago is totally different now. That’s the one thing we’ve battled the most over any other thing is just making sure that we’re meeting the budget and still trying to satisfy the needs of the project.