Architect Bill Pelham looks back on 30 years of success by design
Bill Pelham wanted to be an architect since the fourth grade. As his company celebrates its 30th birthday on Oct. 4, he is confident he made the right decision.
Pelham says his father was a real estate appraiser while he was growing up, and they would go looking at homes together every weekend. That instilled in him a love for home design and architecture. He attended Clemson University and received a bachelor’s degree in pre-architecture in 1977 and a master’s in architecture in 1981.
After college, Pelham took a job in Fluor Daniel’s architectural department constructing commercial buildings. He says he worked on mostly industrial projects – an apartment building in Saudi Arabia, the Coors East Coast Brewery and a visitors center for Kellogg in Battle Creek, Mich. “I had to make myself credible to my colleagues every day,” he says.
But he realized his true passion was residential architecture, so he started designing houses on the side. When he was hit by downsizing, he decided to go out on his own.
Initially Pelham did commercial and residential – pretty much anything that came in the door except for churches and government work, he says. But about 10 years into it, he decided to focus mostly on residential architecture. “Homes are very personal, and that’s the challenge.”
Over the years Pelham has had clients and projects ranging from master bath renovations and garage additions to multi-job projects and even some occasional commercial projects like offices and restaurants for customers. Today his business is about half home renovations and half new-home design.
Pelham enjoys the process and tries to make it “fun and painless” for his clients. He sees part of his job as educating his clients on the process and counseling them to make decisions that will add value to their homes and make them sellable in the future.
“I try very hard to be respectful and enhance the original home,” he says.
Most of Pelham’s customers come through referrals and family and friends, and projects are mainly located in the Upstate at communities such as The Lakes and The Coves. He has done one project in Cape San Blas, Fla., and some in western N.C. and Columbia.
Over his 30 years in business, technology has been the thing that has changed the most, he says. When Pelham first started out, drawings were done by hand in pencil and parallel bars were the main tools of the trade. “You really have to be able to draw.”
Today, computers and AutoCAD software take some of that away, but Pelham says a new trend is going back to doing some sketches again by hand.
Pelham has kept his firm small, with just himself and two employees, a designer and an administrative assistant. He currently shares space with a landscape designer.
“We consult with each other on occasion,” he says, “but his work is very different from what I do.”
Pelham stays connected through various boards and organizations. He served for 18 years on the board of directors for the Warehouse Theatre. He’s also served on the Peace Center board, the Museum Association board, and the Arts and Public Places Commission, and is currently president of the Clemson Architectural Foundation.
“It’s a good way to give back and meet new people. It’s a good way to get out of your sphere of influence,” he says.
The company has moved several times over the years but has always been in downtown Greenville. When Pelham first started the company, he was working out of his studio at home. Upon advice from his father – who told him he needed to “get out of the house to be credible” – Pelham leased some office space on Toy Street. Later he moved to Williams Street and then to offices on Whitsett Street and Washington Street before settling in his current office at RiverPlace.
As an ever-changing, evolving architect, Pelham plans for the future by keeping up on the latest technology and trends in the business. He intends to relocate his company once again to office space in the renovated Bank of America tower when it’s complete in about 18 months.
“I can’t ever imagine not doing this. You never quit learning in this business,” says Pelham. “And that’s what makes it fun.”
