The following is a biography on Gainesville Florida Architect Warren E. Barry, D.B.A.: W.E.B. Designs. Warren Barry, born in 1977, was artistic at an early age. In early elementary school he spent his spare time drawing and painting while receiving various awards and medals for his work. In the 4th grade, while in a bookstore, Warren picked up a Residential Architecture book and fell in love with the idea of designing homes when he grew up. Warren was given the book for Christmas that year and studied the book until he had a basic understanding of the systems and components used to construct a home. (Scroll for More)

 

In high school, Warren took four years of drafting and design classes offered at the high school he attended (Leesburg High School in Leesburg, FL). Warren also spent two summers during high school attending a vocational school (Vo Tech in Apopka, FL) to learn AutoCAD, one of the industry’s standard programs for computerized drafting and design. While taking these classes, Warren competed in several State and National high school competitions relating to Architecture and drafting, returning with multiple 1st and 3rd place finishes.

 

Warren began his college education at Florida’s Saint Petersburg Junior College, which has a direct transfer program to the University of Florida’s College of Architecture Program. He began his first year with approximately 60 other Architecture students in his class that was narrowed down to eight by the end of the second year. Of the eight that made it to the end of that second year, Warren was one of three accepted directly into the University of Florida’s third year Architecture program. While attending the University of Florida, Warren met his wife Jennifer, and they married in 1999.

 

Finishing his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture at UF in 2000, he continued his education at the University of Florida to obtain his Masters Degree in Architecture, which he acquired in 2002. Warren began designing his family’s first home while finishing his final year of college, and oversaw its construction while completing his Architectural internship. During his internship, Warren worked at an Architecture office that focused on high end, full Architectural services, for large multi-million dollar commercial projects for universities, the state, housing developers, and more. Warren received thorough training during this time that has assisted him since with providing high quality, detailed, buildable, and code compliant drawings. This training also translated into an ongoing constant pursuit of continued research and self-driven education to master the aspects of architecture relating to project types applicable to Warren’s interests.

 

In early 2004, shortly after completing his internship, Warren opened his residential design office W.E.B. Designs. Warren and his wife Jennifer had their first baby, Devin, in mid-2005. In the first few years of business, Warren focused on growing his new business and passing the 9 licensing exams to obtain his Architecture license, which he acquired in 2006.  During the first three years of business, the office provided design services for over 95 projects ranging from small additions to custom homes of over 6,000 square feet.

 

Also during the first few years of business, Warren spent many days on construction sites watching, start to finish, the process and procedures subcontractors used to complete their work throughout all stages of construction.  This on-site observation contributed heavily to Warren’s education by giving him a more detailed understanding of the on-site work that is performed throughout construction.  This further expanded Warren’s understanding of the work-flow, processes, techniques, tools, timeframe, and worker mentality of those building homes in the field, and provided a better understanding of how weather impacts their work.  This in turn has helped Warren better anticipate the needs of the plans, and to better detail designs to be constructable as drawn.  This background has provided Warren with a high level of both “book knowledge” and “real world knowledge” that is often missing from many in the Architectural profession, especially in the residential market.

 

In 2007 Warren and Jennifer had their second baby, Autumn. In preparation for the new family member, before she was born, Warren designed an addition to their home and acted as the Contractor (Owner/Builder) for the project as it was built in 2007 and 2008.

 

In 2008, upon completion of the home addition, the housing market crashed, and the economy entered "The Great Recession". However, dedicated and focused on the success of his business, Warren adapted to the new market that would become the norm for several years to follow. By the end of 2012, Warren's services and portfolio had grown to be stronger and more marketable than before the housing recession began, and business began to thrive despite the slow-moving housing market.

 

In 2013, Warren purchased a number of architecture books to study and add to his existing collection. One of these books was a detailed guide for Architects on designing senior living facilities (assisted living, memory care, nursing homes/skilled nursing, etc.). This book not only gave detailed information about the special considerations involved in designing senior living facilities, but also contained a chart illustrating the upcoming population growth of the elderly due to the aging baby boomer population. The upcoming need for such facilities, along with senior living projects combining all of Warren’s past commercial and residential experience into a single project type, make them ideal for him. As a result, Warren spent the next 2.5 years studying in great depth the many codes, regulations, and design guidelines specific to such facilities. Completing this research in early 2016, Warren expanded his businesses focus of designing new custom homes to also include smaller senior living facilities (single story, 16 beds or less).

 

For the next few years, Warren continued to provide Architectural services for new homes. However, Warren gradually found that the Structural Engineer he strongly prefers to work with for structural engineering services was becoming more and more overloaded with work, and was beginning to have completion timelines that were considered unacceptable by many potential clients. After searching across the state, Warren could not find any other structural engineers that he considered to do quality work, in a reasonable timeframe, and at a price that was suitable for the residential market. As a result of this, having the appropriate licensing status, and with the encouragement and support of the Structural Engineer Warren likes to work with, Warren began refreshing his memory on how to perform the structural calculations that he had been taught in school (he still had his books and detailed notes from college), continued his structural engineering education further with detailed self-guided study, engaged in in-depth study of many structural engineering specific codes, and prepared the details and specifications needed and applicable to single story new homes. Once this process was sufficiently complete, to Warren’s high expectations, Warren began offering structural drawings for select single story new home projects, while continuing to work with his preferred Structural Engineer for more structurally complex projects. This relieved the Structural Engineer of some of his workload, and benefited both Warren and his clients by making the overall process of generating construction documents more streamlined for smaller projects. This in turn made Warren’s services more desirable for smaller homes than they had been in the past, and helped Warren offer services to a wider range of clients in the residential market. This process was completed just in time for what followed in 2020.

 

In early 2020, Covid came to the United States (and the world). The economy was largely impacted by government orders to minimize social interactions and contact, to help prevent its spread. Warren anticipated a massive reduction in demand for his services as a result of this, but to his surprise, people from major city’s moved into Florida to flee crowded areas, and residential construction demand surged throughout the state, increasing Warren’s workload. Warren’s recently added structural services became necessary in order to serve clients, as his preferred Structural Engineer’s turnaround time multiplied by approximately five during this time. Being able to independently provide structural services was needed in order to provide quality services in a reasonable timeframe.

 

Overlapping the prior timeline, an issue Warren found in the past, was that many potential clients for smaller homes would either not be able, or willing, to spend the time and money required to obtain high quality custom plans. Warren did not like not being able to provide services for such projects, so he often thought about how to offer plans with quality and detail, in a fast and profitable way. To resolve this issue, starting in 2009, Warren worked to develop a computer system that allows him to prepare Architectural Construction Documents for homes he pre-designs using the system, which uses high quality standardized specifications and details, and dose so in a way that allows efficient updating of all plans simultaneously, for new codes as they come out, while also allowing project specific changes for an individual client, without impacting the pre-designed plans. This system has made Warren’s pre-designed plans a very attractive and financially viable option to a wider range of potential clients. Having completed the design and organization of this system in 2022, Warren now spends any free working time that he can preparing additional pre-designed plans in order to serve a larger number of clients, without sacrificing quality.

 

As of 2024, Warren continues to offer services throughout much of the state of Florida for new homes of all sizes, with a focus on quality, detailed plans. Warren also offers services for senior living facilities, particularly single-story assisted living facilities with 16 beds or less.