Houston and Galveston since 1981
One firm, one contract, from the first sketch to the day the last door is hung. Forty-five years of custom homes and remodels across Houston, the Villages and the coast.
Sheet 00 / Credentials
Jack Knowlton holds design credentials and construction credentials, which is unusual and is the whole reason this firm can hold both halves of a project. Garrett Shaw came up through the jobsite with a construction management degree from the University of Houston.
1981
Designing and building in Houston
5.0
Google rating across 6 reviews
9
Professional bodies and certifications
30-50%
Of projects include aging-in-place work
Sheet 01 / What we do
In the traditional way of doing this you hire an architect, put the finished drawings out to bid, pick a builder, and then spend the next year standing between two firms who answer to different incentives. Envision holds the whole thing.
A-01 / Design
Most design starts with a shape and finds out later what it costs to stand up. Jack has been drawing houses since 1981 and building them since the nineties, so the plan arrives already knowing how it gets framed, what it spans and what it will run to.
Design in detail
A-02 / Construction
Garrett runs the site. He is there to make the specification survive contact with the trades, which is the point in a project where drawings usually start losing arguments. There is no second company to hand the problem to.
Construction in detail
A-03 / Remodeling
Kitchens cut off from the family room, dark interiors, low ceilings, storage that ran out decades ago. Remodels are now a large part of the work, including the full ground-floor rebuilds that followed Harvey.
Remodeling in detailSheet 02 / Designed for later
Aging-in-place features run through 30 to 50 percent of Envision's projects, usually without the house ever looking like it. Most of it is decided at the drawing stage, because that is the only cheap moment to decide it.
Stacked closet
On one two-storey house the plan put a closet exactly over another, so the shaft can become an elevator later without touching structure. Until then it is storage.
Flush thresholds
Level thresholds at the doors and at the exterior. Nothing at framing stage, expensive and ugly to retrofit.
Roll-in shower
Set out at the slab and drained to fall, tiled so it reads as a design choice rather than a medical fitting.
Wider openings
Openings and circulation drawn to take a walker or a chair from the start. A plan decision, not a later demolition.
Sheet 03 / After the water
Ike in 2008. Harvey after it. Envision has rebuilt ground floors, raised houses, put in safe rooms and whole-house generators, and taken families through the part where nothing about their home is decided yet. Three of the clients on the testimonials page came to Envision with a flooded house.
Sheet 03a / One contract
1981
The year Envision started drawing houses in Houston. The firm has been building them as well as drawing them since the nineties.
When the drawing and the build sit in separate firms, the homeowner ends up carrying the gap between them. Every assumption that was never written down becomes a change order, and every change order becomes a conversation about whose fault it was. Here the same people answer both questions, because they made both decisions.
Sheet 03b / In their words
“You have to be a good builder to live where you build. We rented a place two doors down and I watched our home go up.”
David Sharp, who built with Jack after twelve feet of water came through his house
Sheet 04 / Clients
“We've been in our home for two years now and I can tell you there's not a wall out of plumb. There's no other house like it in Houston. I can't believe what a great experience it was, and the contractor I assumed I'd despise I now consider a friend.”
David Sharp
Client, new build after Hurricane Harvey
“I was really impressed with their work. I liked the pride Jack took in the job he was doing and his attention to detail. I've had previous experience with builders but never one who took so much time to help me make decisions.”
Suzi Colbert
Client, custom home
“I have used Envision Design Build for four major projects over the last 14 years. Jack Knowlton, with his small professional crew and seasoned subcontractors, has never failed to do high-quality work with excellent communication throughout the project.”
Dick Swan
Client, four projects over fourteen years
“Garrett was invaluable to the success of the effort. He used qualified subcontractors and craftsmen. He coordinated them efficiently such that there was always forward progress and no back steps.”
David and Jackie Bergquist
Clients, remodel and addition after Harvey
“What we appreciate the most about them is the way they helped us to build what we wanted in the most cost-effective way. From design to construction, we trust Envision to deliver, and they are batting a thousand.”
Katherine and David
Clients, two full remodels
“Even our builder as well as other builders and people in the business remark on how clean our plans look. We have had builders who have long ties to other designers ask for Jack's number based on the work he did for us.”
Ryan and Avril
Clients, West University custom home
Sheet 05 / Questions
Sheet 06 / Start
Envision Design Build has designed and built custom homes and remodels across Houston and Galveston since 1981. One firm holds the drawing and the build, from the first sketch to the day you move in.
800 Wilcrest Dr, Suite 120
Houston, TX 77042
Mon-Fri: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sat & Sun: By appointment only
