Rivet's first builder profile features Franco Albarran, the founder of Albarran Architects in Houston, Texas. Franco has over 20 years experience in the design and construction of high-end custom residential and commercial projects, including new construction, extensive renovations, and additions.

As an architect-led design, build firm, Albarran Architects guides clients from idea generation through completion of construction. Franco embraces a wide range of styles, from classic to contemporary - the common theme in all of his work is a search for "challenging opportunities for service and problem solving that result in innovative and distinctive solutions."

Franco takes on a limited number of projects each year. While each brings its own set of challenges, a key factor in every project’s success is effective communication. Working one-on-one with clients, subcontractors, and his internal team, Franco uses tools like Rivet so that no detail gets lost in the shuffle and miscommunication is avoided.

"In a nutshell, to me [Rivet] is for communication. And that’s what we’re really lacking in the construction industry - a way to effectively communicate with everybody...Rivet is fast, it's clean, and it's easy to use."

Over the years, Franco has built strong personal relationships with the subcontractors with whom he works. He takes a collaborative approach with everyone involved on the jobsite:

"I know what I want a feature to look like, but rely on their experience to deliver an even better result. We form a game plan around an end product, and figure out what we have to do to achieve that goal."

This collaborative approach not only fosters stronger relationships, but it reduced issues caused by people making decisions that do not actually have the expertise to do so, one of the biggest causes of rework in the construction industry. With Rivet, Franco is able to communicate with people whether they are on the app or not so that the latest information is not only accessible to everyone, but for him and his team, organized by project to easily find later.

This means projects run by the team at Albarran Architects not only finish on time, but are built well, and built to last. It's no wonder that his clients have such wonderful things to say about Franco and his team.

"We feel so fortunate to have worked with Franco on the completion of our new home.  We especially appreciated how he listened to our wants and then found ways to incorporate those elements into his architectural design.  It was a truly collaborative process." - Andrew L, Homeowner on Houzz

At Rivet, we are grateful and humbled to be able to share the story of such a high caliber and high integrity team who embraces new technology to make everyone's lives a little bit easier.