By Jake Murray
Zak placed 1st in the Chief Architect Kitchen/Bath & Interiors Design Contest! A start with Lego houses has led to a long career and successful company of his own, Livara Design Inc.
Zak, his wife, and two children. With a passion for design that began at an early age, his work is the product of an experienced and talented designer. Congratulations on winning 1st place!
“I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with a small stint in British Columbia. I always knew I wanted to design homes. I can remember sitting on the floor as a kid building Lego houses and hotels, and I always gravitated to drawing sprawling dream homes over all the other topics little kids usually draw! I was gifted my first drafting table when I was 13 or 14, and I was off to the races. I had a great Drafting & Design program in my high school and it definitely solidified my want to do this for a living.
“I worked for a couple of small architects once I finished College but was lucky enough to get hired when I was 20 with a top builder in Calgary. I spent 15 years there, 8 of those as the Drafting & Design manager. The company built all over Canada and the US, so I had the opportunity to work on a lot of different kinds of projects and visit a lot of cool cities. Three years back I moved to an award-winning renovation company, where I was introduced to Chief Architect! I was worried that I would have issues learning a new program as I’d used the same one for 15+ years, but it literally only took around 2-3 weeks before I was proficient enough to start taking on new clients. What an amazing program, I loved it from day one! The ease of use and online tutorials are awesome, any issue I’ve ever had could be solved in a matter of minutes.
“After almost 2 years, I left that company to start my own, Livara Design Inc. (named after my daughters Olivia (Livvy) and Clara) and have been working hard to grow it for the last year with my extremely supportive wife Laura and my diligent project manager Sulley (the dog). It was a no brainer for me to purchase Chief for myself, as I’ve found it is hands down the best program to be able to present a vision to a client and have them actually be able to walk through and see the potential of their project, not just a 2D floorplan. I don’t remember ever getting a crying hug from a client saying, “I can’t believe this is what my home is going to look like!” when I showed them a 2D floorplan!”
I brag about Chief Architect all the time and can’t wait to see what they will come up with next!
Thank you Zak for showcasing your work in our Design Contest and using Chief Architect to present your vision to your clients! To see more work from Zak, check out the design gallery at the bottom of the page.
Winning Design
Connect with Zak
(403) 863-5618
zak@livaradesign.com
