BY AARON BREWINGTON
Craig Bailey and Don Weiler may seem like the proverbial odd couple, and the owners of Bailey & Weiler Design/Build do have very different skill sets. Bailey, 53, takes on the creative work; Weiler, 52, focuses on the business side. “He can’t do what I do, and I can’t do what he does,” Bailey says. The outcome of this complementary pairing has been a decade of growth for the company.
The two formed Bailey & Weiler, now 14 employees strong, in 2005 when Weiler was general contracting his own home and brought Bailey in on the design. They worked well together and found that both were looking to branch out.
Since then, the company’s main focus has been design/builds, which they think differentiates them from other builders. “With our design staff in-house, we can take a contract from concept to completion,” Weiler says. “If you have a relationship with another architect, then we’re happy to work with that person, but we have the ability to take a project from start to finish.”
While custom builds are a big part of what they do, renovation and remodeling projects are becoming more prevalent. “There are a lot of homes here that were built in the 1950s that are due for an update,” Weiler says. “We bring them up to what people want these days and convert them into more open concepts for entertaining or create a large master suite.”
The Rootworks building, 1516 S. Walnut, represents a recent marquee project. The accounting firm wanted to expand its headquarters and needed a highly collaborative workspace for its software company. “The challenge was the space where we were building was between a century-old building on one side and a more modern building on the other,” Weiler says. “There were a lot of design challenges to get a building that, from the street, looked like it belonged there yet was more of an open concept. We were happy with the result.”
Bailey and Weiler believe in giving back to the community. The firm sponsors local organizations like Cardinal Stage Company, and volunteers its time biennially to building a home with Habitat for Humanity. “That is where we probably make the most impact,” Weiler says. “It makes sense since it’s what we do.”
For more information, visit bailey-weiler.com.
