SA+A Architects, which is short for Stephen Auger + Associates Architects, worked its way through the lean times of the Great Recession and is now starting to reap the benefits of the recovery.
The Lake Orion-based architecture firm has hired two people over the last few weeks, including a project architect and an industrial designer. The 19-year-old company has a staff of a dozen employees and two summer interns handling a growing amount of work.
"We landed some big projects," says Steve Auger, president of
SA+A Architects. "We struggled through the downturn like everyone else. We had some nice projects on the bench, and a couple of those came alive."
A lot of the new work is coming from faith-based organizations, specifically churches. SA+A Architects projects include an expansion of the
Clarkston United Methodist Church and the building of a new mega church in Cincinnati called
Rivers Crossing Community Church.
"That's converting a movie theater to a 1,500-seat church," Auger says.
SA+A Architects also got the green light from Oakland County to serve as one of its preferred contractors for architecture work. The approval puts the firm on the short list for architecture firms to do work on designing schools and other government buildings.
"We just won a blanket contract with Oakland County," Auger says. "We want to do some more government work. We want to be more diversified."
Source: Steve Auger, president of SA+A Architects
Writer: Jon Zemke
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