By Susan

Holly

A

couple of years ago when the Internet was really starting to go crazy with

dot-com businesses of every flavor, architect Michael Sheeley took notice. He

had a thriving business in Fort Myers, but he started wondering how a firm such

as his could use the Internet to provide architectural services to a larger

audience. “I kept that thought in the back of my head for a while,” he says.

Sheeley

Architects, in business for eight years, is one of the largest architectural

firms in the area, specializing in all types of commercial design — banks,

office buildings, car dealerships, hotels, restaurants, and multifamily

buildings. Among Sheeley’s most visible work is Shelton Jaguar on U.S. 41, Old

Florida Bank on Daniels Road, AG Edwards and the new Busey Bank on Summerlin,

and Sam Galloway Ford.

These

high-profile designs, however, did not lead Sheeley to his Internet idea. That

came from designing some less elaborate buildings — small offices, warehouses,

back-office buildings in particular — in which Sheeley noticed that many of the

design elements were the same. “We were repeating a lot of elements, even

though they were for different clients at different sites,” he says. At the

same time, he took note of how some large residential builders “mass produce”

single-family home designs and how manufacturers of modular buildings sometimes

have pre-permitted designs.

“I put

all that together in my head and thought, ‘Was there a way to prototype

commercial buildings in a sensible way? Then use the Internet to market it?’ ”

Not only that, he decided, why not provide designs that already have the

necessary building permits? He couldn’t find anyone else who was doing it.

So

after a few months of tossing around ideas in his head, Sheeley finally had his

Internet concept: selling building plans online — pre-packaged, pre-designed,

and pre-permitted. He named his site BuildingsNOW.com and launched it in

January 2000. (BuildingsNOW.com is organized as a separate company from Sheeley

Architects, but shares office space and some members of the 12-person staff.)

“It’s

an easy, fast, and economical way to get a building done,” says Sheeley. His

target market is building contractors — especially the design-build contractor

— who can offer the plans together with their services as part of a total

package. He also sees application for BuildingsNOW. com in rural areas or small

towns that may not have an architect in the vicinity. This gives them a

convenient way to get plans with an architect’s seal. Most states, including

Florida, require commercial buildings to have a registered architect’s seal.

The

road to launching Buildings NOW.com was a little bumpy. “We met with resistance

everywhere,” says Sheeley. The idea of pre-permitting commercial building plans

had never been tried before. When Sheeley went to Lee County with his proposal,

the reaction from officials was, “You can’t do that. We’ve never done that

before,” recalls Sheeley. The story has been the same with every municipal and

county government they have approached so far. “We have to go back two or three

times until we find the right person who is willing to listen,” he says.

Sheeley and his crew then lay out their arguments, pointing out that

pre-permitting is done for residential buildings and that it will simplify the process

for the county, with no additional cost.

Finally,

Lee officials were persuaded. Sheeley is now working with Collier County, the

cities of Fort Myers and Cape Coral, and officials in the Orlando area to allow

pre-permitting in those jurisdictions as well. “The idea is to start here and

work out across the state,” says Sheeley. The eventual goal is to go beyond

Florida and have plans pre-permitted in other areas of the country.

BuildingsNOW.com

now has 25 plans available online, including office, warehouse, retail,

clubhouse, and multifamily buildings. Each is available at different price

levels. For example, a one-story office building of about 6,000 square feet is

$175 for a Starter Pak, including just the design and floor plan; the Fast

Track package for $1,600 includes a full set of construction drawings; the

Ready-to-Permit price is $1,700 and includes six sets of blueprints signed and

sealed by a registered architect; the Pre-Permitted package at $2,200 includes

the blueprints as well as a building permit from Lee County. Each can be

purchased online using a credit card.

Within

a few months, Sheeley hopes to have 200 different sets of plans available

online. Many of these will be based on suggestions received by visitors to the

Buildings NOW.com site asking for a specific type of building. For example,

Sheeley says, they have received a number of requests for churches and plan to

broaden their catalog to include that category.

The

company is also working with Lee County’s Economic Development Office to

develop plans to match requests that office receives. EDO sees

BuildingsNOW.com’s pre-permitted plans as a sales tool to show prospective

businesses what they can easily build in Lee County.

The

BuildingsNOW.com site sees an average of 25 hits per day, but so far that has

resulted in only five sales. “With so much activity, it seems like we should

have had more sales,” says Sheeley. To improve sales, BuildingsNOW.com is

trying to target its products more carefully and broaden its selection. It is also

looking at pricing. “We are extremely competitive when compared with hiring an

architect, but we may have to lower our prices further.”

The

site is also increasing its Internet marketing. “Within the Internet we are

trying to do more links and cross marketing,” notes Sheeley. The company has

also done traditional direct-mail marketing to members of building associations

in Florida.

Computer

Rescue Squad in Cape Coral designed the BuildingsNOW.com site. It hosts the

site and continues to enhance it, says Sheeley. “Our biggest fear is how well

people understand it and navigate it,” so they continually ask for feedback

from users and make changes as needed. Last year BuildingsNOW.com was honored

by the Building Industry Association as having the “Best Industry Web Site.”

The

company has received very few negative comments about its Internet endeavor,

says Sheeley, though he expected to get some flack from other architects,

“because [as a group] we treasure our role as custom designers. I received one

e-mail that said it would be hurtful to the profession.” Sheeley responded that

it might actually create a higher standard of design. BuildingsNOW.com deals

primarily with smaller, less expensive projects, which are often not designed

by professional architects, he explains. Through the Web site, these projects

can now economically use an architect’s design. “By making our [architecture]

services competitive, we could elevate the level of design,” says Sheeley.

He

concedes that many designs simply will not work for BuildingsNOW.com. “You

couldn’t do a real customized design, such as Shelton Jaguar, because it’s too

specialized. But this works for a contractor’s office that has two offices and

a place to store tools in back. These tend to be more repetitive in use and

needs.” Even these types of buildings can be customized to a degree, so that

not every building looks alike, he adds.

Granted,

BuildingsNOW.com was not part of Sheeley’s dream when he first decided to be an

architect growing up in Phoenix, in the shadow of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin

West complex. Nor did it enter his mind as a student of architecture at Georgia

Tech. But in today’s world, the Internet is a reality not to be ignored. The

traditional side of Sheeley’s business continues to thrive, but the dot-com

side has added a new dimension to the company. “People understand we’re trying

to look ahead,” says Sheeley. “I think our customers appreciate that. “

Susan

Holly is a freelance writer on Sanibel Island.