HOW WE WORK
How a project moves through our office.
Every project starts as a conversation. From there the work moves through the same stages — concept, analysis, detailing, permit drawings, construction. Not every project starts at the beginning: plenty arrive with permit drawings already underway, or with a contractor in the field asking a question that needs an answer today. This is the shape of the whole thing, so you can find where yours sits.
01
EARLY CONCEPT & SCHEMATIC DESIGN
We start with the architectural idea.
Our approach begins with the architectural idea, followed closely by the realities of construction. Rather than forcing a familiar system onto every project, we study the load path, geometry, material behavior, sequencing, and detailing to find the solution that belongs to the building.
Once a project lands, we start with your drawings. We review them and come back with feedback — suggestions for the trickier parts, and an early flag when the structure is heading somewhere heavy-handed. Where something in the design won't work well, we say so and offer alternatives that are simpler to build or more economical. Red flags get raised while they are still cheap to fix.
On complex projects we'll trade sketches back and forth — preliminary plans, or a detail worked out together — until the architecture and the structure agree.
Austin lots are rarely simple. Sloped sites, expansive soils, heritage trees, and tight urban infill all shape what a foundation and frame need to be — so we engineer to real site conditions instead of forcing a standard solution onto a site that calls for more. Where there is a geotechnical report, we treat it as a core design input.
02
MODELING & ANALYSIS
We see the whole structure.
For complex projects, the structure is modeled as a complete three-dimensional system and run through advanced structural analysis. Capturing how the whole building actually behaves — not just isolated members — leads to more accurate, more efficient designs that take full advantage of the structure's three-dimensional strength.
When a vaulted roof, a steel frame, an elevated bridge, and curved earthen walls all share the work, you cannot check them one at a time and hope the interfaces sort themselves out. The building behaves as one object, so it has to be analyzed as one object.
If you want to push the limits, ask. We can test viable member depths, spans, and limits so the design team understands the available range before committing to the architecture — and we can run spot checks as the design develops, rather than saving every answer for one review at the end.
- Full-building 3D analysis models
- Gravity, lateral & code load combinations
- Member sizes optimized — efficient structure without sacrificing performance
03
DETAILING & COORDINATION
The details do the work.
We dedicate real time to working out every detail — and to communicating each one clearly, so what gets built matches the architectural intent. Behind every clean line is a connection detailed to fabrication clarity, drawn so it gets built the way it was designed.
Exposed structure leaves nowhere to hide, so geometry, connections, and tolerances are resolved in 3D before fabrication — not in the field. This is the stage where a project is won or lost, and it is where our practice puts its emphasis.
Details get resolved in exchange rather than in isolation. We'll often send sketches or 3D models back and forth with the architect or the fabricator until a connection is settled — it is faster than describing geometry in words, and it means everyone is looking at the same thing.
We coordinate through the milestones established for the project and issue drawings at each one.
He is always openminded when discussing cost sensitive options for the client. As an architect, I appreciate this as well as his clear and thorough drawings.
Caroline Porter, Architect
04
PERMIT DRAWINGS & PRICING
Drawings a crew can move on.
Coordinated construction documents, stamped and ready for permitting and inspections. For fabrication work, that means fabrication-ready packages a shop can price and build from with confidence.
Where it suits the project, we sequence early coordination or permit packages so review can begin while non-permit-critical details continue to be refined. Every issued set identifies its purpose, its status, and any remaining coordination items — so no one is guessing what they are holding.
Clear, buildable details mean fewer RFIs, more confident bids, and fewer surprises in the field.
05
CONSTRUCTION
We stay on the project.
Higgins Designs is small and principal-led. Benjamin stays directly involved in structural concept development, critical design decisions, coordination, and construction-phase problem-solving — so the person who understands the building is the person who answers when something unexpected turns up in the field.
When construction-phase services are included in our scope, we perform our own site observations and prepare the reports in-house, so field questions are evaluated by people who know the design. RFIs get real answers, not a restatement of the drawings. When something doesn't go as drawn, we work the problem. When a substitution is proposed, we check it against what the structure actually needs.
We stay flexible on execution without compromising structural performance.
- Site observations and reports prepared in-house
- Detailed RFI responses
- Construction issues resolved as they arise
- Substitution requests checked against the design
WHEREVER YOU ARE IN IT
Bring us the hard part.
Tell us what you're working on — the ambitious geometry, the unconventional material, the site that shouldn't work. That's the part we love.