Who we are

Imagine. Collaborate. Plan. Develop. Build.

When you are imagining making a change to your living situation such as building, remodeling and interior design, where do you start?  

Some look for an architect, some look for a builder, some look to a design firm. You may call a friend, see a sign, or try and find someone on social media. Do you ask around and interview several?  How many actually come to visit? What if you don’t like the pictures on their website? Who do you use for the pool?  Someone else for the remodel, pergola, landscape?  How do you manage insurance, risk, payment and accountability?   How do you make sure each portion of your vision is planned so you don’t have non-negotiable stops in the future, or worse, run up costs?

We show you this list to empower you in your process. When you hire us, we are your partner to guide and plan you through all of these areas. While this list isn’t exhaustive, here are many of the steps we help you consider in detail: 

Design

·         Design the entire vision in advance

·         Local Designers

·         In House Design

·         Design/Build

·         Interior Design/Decor

·         Global Crowdsource Design Concepts

·         Historic Restoration

 

Architectural

·         Architectural talent & experience varies

·         Design/Architect - Local Austin

·         CAD/REVIT drawing/Rendering for consistency

·         City/Municipality approval assistance

·         As built, technology driven vs. manual 

 

Survey & Engineering (landscape, structural, etc)

·         What/How much can I build based on restrictions/ordinance

·         Which firm, who will be responsive, knowledgeable, flexible

Planning, Permitting, & Environmental

·         COA is one of the most challenging environments in which to build

·         Heritage Tree, Protected Tree

·         Arborist Requirements

·         Permitting Expedited

·         Water, Soil, Drainage

·         Impervious cover, sun/heat exposure, winter spring, summer, fall

 

Interior & Exterior Design

·         Paint Colors

·         Walls 

·         Floors 

·         Textures

·         Materials

Team Introduction

Meet our Founder & CEO Dan Garvey.

At 10 years old, Dan was put to work at the family concrete company as a mechanics helper.  Most memorably the head mechanic “Henie” taught an early lesson.  While shoveling debris and taking three steps to dump the shovel full of debris into a wheel barrel, Heinie asked “what are you doing and why not move the wheel barrel closer to the pile?”. Dan replied “cause I’m a hard worker”.  Heinie, without skipping a beat said, “No, you’re a dumb worker”   

Dan worked in several capacities in construction for the next 15 years, founding two companies before moving into technology. Dan went on to work for leading technology companies including notables like IBM, BlackBerry, Malwarebytes and others. At one point, as part of the executive leadership team for a technology startup, Dan pitched and landed a second funding round for the company of $386M.  Even during this successful 30+ year career in the technology industry, Dan still continued to enjoy crafting heirloom quality creations in wood, metal and earth.

In 2023 Dan decided to leave the technology sector behind for a more human focused, tangible and fulfilling life chapter, where meaningful interaction, creativity and exceptional execution would be valued by others in the community.  


Mad Custom started with a deeply complex design remodel, addition and pool, landscape. Our customer needed to remodel their family home to meet special needs accommodations and create accessible indoor / outdoor space while updating the home. And while being full time professionals & parents, they didn’t want a 3rd full time job managing vendors, details, timelines, orders and processes.


The customer was at their wits end trying find qualified contractors, designers, builders, and specialists who could understand the family’s lifestyle and pull together a cohesive plan for design and execution without scaling costs.  Requiring quality craftsmanship, innovation, trust, transparency and clarity was paramount. In particular, our customers ask that every dollar and tradeoff is visible, clear, and agreed upon. This is the specific gap that most within the industry can not solve for. The industry understandably specializes for the sake of efficiency, i.e. design, architecture, interior design, engineering, carpentry, plumbing, pools, furniture, etc., but by acting individually, they were not able to pull together the abstract concept of marrying vision, design, implementation, accountability, risk and outcome.

Our personal inspiration….

“Find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life" - Attributed to Mark Twain