Know the best path ahead with the Brick & Mortar Design Primer.

The beginning of a project can feel like you are lost in a forest - you know where you want to go, but you're not sure how to get there. The Brick & Mortar Design Primer is suited for small business owners to clarify the key paths leading to your goal, empowering you with the knowledge and confidence to pick which path to follow while also grounding you to your original intention.

You’re not sure where to go. Together, we’ll find the way forward.

The right tool. The right time.

When small business owners in the Toledo area are considering renovating or building a new location, the place to start is the Brick & Mortar Design Primer with Lyndsey Stough, Assoc. AIA. Confirm your idea is tenable BEFORE investing in expensive studies, designs, and surveys that are time-intensive and meticulously detailed.

The Brick & Mortar Design Primer is made precisely to:

  1. Understand requirements, opportunities, and constraints.

  2. Provide custom expert recommendations.

  3. Fortify the original inspiration and intention.

  4. Illuminate the path forward with confidence.

Four Steps…

  • 1

    Project Visioning

  • 2

    Rapid Survey

  • 3

    Code Review

  • 4

    Options Analysis

…Three Methods

  • Book

    Brick & Mortar Design Primer Process

    • Detailed layout of the process

    • Accessible without design background

    • access to future versions

  • Online Course

    • DIY guided workflow

    • worksheets, questionnaires, and templates

    • lifetime access

    • access to updates

  • 1:1 Expert Guidance

    • Work directly with Design Primer expert, Lyndsey Stough

    • All-inclusive or à la carte package options

    • Start with a free, no-strings call

Schedule a Clarity Call to see if the Brick & Mortar Design Primer is a good fit for your project.

Starting a building project isn't easy, and neither is finding the right expert. Buildings are a big investment, and the early steps are key to reducing the risk of lost time, money, and energy. 

You need an expert that "fits" and has the specific skills for guiding the project through the complex building process in the Toledo area.

This may or may not be me! That's why we've made the information in this report not only vital, but also transferrable.

If we discover we're not an ideal "fit", then I encourage taking the Primer to another expert to continue the process. In fact, I will share recommendations on others better suited for your project and you.

Lyndsey Stough, Assoc. AIA
Stough & Stough Architects

First brick & mortar?

It’s time to top postponing your big ideas.

Maybe you’ve daydreamed about moving into a live-work studio. Maybe your hobby is ready for a storefront and workshop. Or maybe you have a vision for that beautiful, vacant building down the street or the empty corner lot. Opportunities are everywhere. Let’s explore them, not ignore them.

You can do this. We can help.

Our Story.

As a third generation family firm, Stough & Stough Architects have seen the long-term results when care, effort, and expertise are thoughtfully applied. Our core belief is that communities are better when many people are invested in their community.

We also recognize that inexperience makes navigating the complex building process at minimum a big headache and at worst nearly impossible… let alone expensive.

Lyndsey and Craig empower small business owners with the design knowledge and guidance needed to make informed, confident decisions before diving into one of the largest investments of their life. We specialize in the challenges new developers face in the Toledo area so you don’t have to do this alone.

Together, we’ll keep your big idea from turning into a big mistake.

 FAQs

  • Hello! My name is Lyndsey, and this is a subject dear to my heart. Let me share with you why.

    My first big investment was my home. I can still remember the thrill of taking my next life step, but also the fear of the unknown. Even though I’d just graduated with a Masters in Architecture, investing in the built environment was still intimidating.

    Looking back, I’m so glad I started the adventure. By surrounding myself with caring experts, they ensured my risk was minimized and I was on the best path for me.

    That investment enabled me to make other investments to build wealth and strengthen my community. Since buying my first home in 2014, I’ve created supplemental income and neighborhood benefits by renting Airbnb guest rooms, hosting fundraisers for non-profits, and featuring a “living room concert” with a national musician between acts.

    The success of leveraging my residential investment gave me confidence to embark on new, even bigger investments. Now I’m in process of updating my Main Street home’s basement into a usable, flexible living space to rent as a unit on airbnb or for long-term tenants.

    Next (and next door), I’ll be developing a mixed-use building containing a first floor commercial unit with two apartments above in my hometown’s central business district.

    I’m setting myself up for long-term wealth by creating opportunities for passive income and adding value in the same neighborhood as my other investment. Simultaneously, I’m also enriching my community with this infill project aligning with the city’s masterplan and market analysis.

    In addition to my personal investments, I’ve also empowered others to make impactful investments, too. With a decade of building design experience, architectural and incremental development wisdom, and passion for Northwest Ohio, I am the leading consultant for new developers in the Greater Toledo area.

  • Your expertise is your craft, not the intricacies of successful building projects. You no longer need to learn the world of codes, permits, materials, contracts, etc. in order to make your idea a reality.

    By combining my architecture and development expertise, I’ve created resources specifically to assist new developers as they navigate the potentially overwhelming building ecosystem.

    For an immediate boost, here’s how I can help:

  • Most often, developers are thought to only be the big national homebuilders and big box builders. However, there are many more varieties.

    If you’re working on a small-scale urban commercial, mixed-use, or missing middle housing project, you are known as an Incremental Infill Developer.

    These projects are often new builds or renovations. They are often occupied by a locally owned, non-chain business and help create vibrant, resilient neighborhoods.

    From Strong Towns: “They work at smaller scales: mostly individual, scattered lots, almost always in already-established neighborhoods. They tend to build a lot of Missing Middle housing, rarely over 3 stories or more than 20 apartments or houses in one project. They are often sole proprietors, subcontract locally, and often live in and are personally invested in the neighborhoods where they work. They often, in fact, live in the very same buildings they've built or renovated—because getting a home for yourself out of the deal is one way to afford to do these projects on a limited budget.”

    Does this sound like you? If so, we can help.

Step 1: Project Visioning

Clarify your Vision and honor your intention throughout the project.

If you don’t have a clear destination in mind, it doesn’t matter what direction you go. First we must know what you want to achieve, then we can figure out how to make it happen. While a vision will grow and change with time, removing the fog is critical to prevent getting lost along the way.

Our project visioning process will clear the fog.

Step 2: Rapid Survey

Get a Rapid Survey to know enough for initial decisions.

Typical building surveys cost thousands of dollars, take weeks to complete, and contain broad amounts of data. This makes sense and is required, but only after a project is shown to be worth the elevated investment of time and money. To reduce waste for developers in the early stages of a project while still enabling confident decision-making, we’ve created a faster, cheaper, and more precise option.

The rapid survey maps the terrain towards the destination.

Step 3: Code Review

An early Code Review will prevent unexpected blocks.

Building and zoning codes provide critical limitations to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the public. While full extents of project requirements cannot be determined until detailed design phases, general codes must be known early in the project to understand the rules the project must work within. Luckily, constraints inspire innovation and through these boundaries is where unexpected paths to reach your destination become visible.

A code review will reveal the boundaries and opportunities along potential paths.

Step 4: Options Analysis

Know your best paths forward with an Options Analysis.

Now that we know the vision, the reality, and the constraints, we can start playing with ways to fit the puzzle pieces together. Here we identify the key paths leading to your goal, empowering you with the knowledge and confidence to pick which path to follow while also grounding you to your original intention.

The options analysis enables confident decisions for the path ahead.