How Do You Plan for a Bad Economy?

Brooks Walker
Co-owner and founder
Walker-Warner Architects Inc. AIA

Brooks Walker didn't intend to start his own residential architecture firm. One day

When Walker graduated from college in 1983, unemployment and interest rates were skyrocketing. There was hardly any building taking place, so Walker considered himself lucky when his uncle's San Francisco based architecture firm hired him on to help with some of its recession-proof clients. Walker stayed in the family business until 1987, when he decided to learn the construction business firsthand. To do so, he built two houses on speculation.

Suddenly, due to the influx of money into the Bay area from Asia, he had two more spec houses to build. Working out of the dining room of his apartment, he did construction by day and architecture by night. Almost overnight, he had too much work — and a small business of his own.