By Ryan Waterfield and Heather Kaufman
Known for high quality homes that not only look beautiful, but also provide a healthy and energy-efficient environment for good living, Mindful Designs is a design and build team in high demand in the Flathead Valley. Each project is a reflection of the shared values of the firm’s partners, Marty Beale, Dave Radatti, and Jason Pohlman. Committed to excellence, longevity, and sustainability, Mindful Designs brings a conscience to construction. Western Home Journal spoke with David Radatti to learn more about the mission of the Mindful Designs and the projects that excite the partners.
It’s a fact of life—with each construction project, the impact we have on our environment grows. It’s that fact that motivated Mindful Designs’ partners to create a company dedicated to quality construction while considering the long-term implications of each project. Lofty goals? Maybe. But according to Radatti, it’s a good thing to aim high.
It starts as a matter of priorities. “We begin each project prioritizing quality of space over the quantity of space,” says Radatti. And it’s a good idea to enlist Mindful Designs from the start of a project because they offer a full range of pre-construction services that help ensure the sustainability of the project. “We start with a feasibility and site analysis while keeping in mind design and budgeting. Then, once we’ve helped a client figure out how to use the site, what to build, and what it will cost, we move directly into general contracting and manage the construction phase from beginning to end.” But don’t worry, if you already have your house plans, you can still go to Mindful Designs and reap the benefits. Radatti says, “We can also manage a build project if a client has a set of plans. And because we are committed to improving the overall and long-term performance of the house, we are always willing to offer our thoughts and insight to the design.”
To ensure a high-performance house that taxes our environment less than traditional building practices, Mindful Designs uses locally reclaimed materials and high-end products that improve sustainability like “the well-known German Unilux Windows, Super Structure exposed steel and exposed timbers (where the function and form are one,) and Building Systems Structural Insulated Panels and Insulated Concrete Forms,” according to Radatti.
The Mindful Designs team is inspired by “finding the point where creativity and aesthetics merge with high performance systems for a design that is practical and sustainable.” And they love the challenge of finding the best solutions to complex problems. “This may come at various stages of the design process. It can be in the initial conceptual development as we work through options to best orient the direction of the project to meet a client’s goals, or the problem solving can come into play with the details of the mechanical and the aesthetics as well. The solutions to these ‘problems’ guide the design and build process.”
Formally educated in Environmental Studies and Business Administration, the partners of Mindful Designs were drawn to the home construction industry as an opportunity to approach their careers in a new and forward-thinking way. “It was only a matter of time contractors started thinking about the sustainability of what they build.” Because they all shared the same commitment to development with a conscience, they teamed up and their clients couldn’t be happier. Garnering praise not only for the quality of their work but also for the process by which they do that work, Mindful Designs understands that good design merges with the surroundings rather than burdening them.
For more information call Mindful Designs at 406.863.9177
or visit www.MindfulDesignsInc.com