About David M. Sanders

Dave has been involved in the construction industry since age thirteen, when he was first hired as a Finish Carpenter's apprentice for Mattinson Construction. He continued work for them through his high school years, while also working for C&C Hardwoods, a boutique hardwood lumber milling and procurement company, and Generation 80, a contract furniture manufacturing company.

On graduation from high school, he relocated to Phoenix, Arizona and completed a one year technical program in Architectural Drafting at the Phoenix Institute of Technology. His studies at PIT included courses under Michael Sutton, AIA, a Taliesin alummni. During his time in Arizona, he worked as a cost estimator, specifier and proposal writer for B.D. Reicher and Son, a construction firm specializing in governmental and industrial refrigeration and testing facilities.

He returned to Southern California in 1986, married his high school sweetheart, Shelby, and began his architectural career at Muir Architects in Dana Point. A year later, he was hired away from them by an up and coming firm, Synergy Architects in San Clemente, principaled by two uniquely talented men; Paul M. Bleck, AIA and James L. Glover, Jr. His years at Synergy were formative; He served in a multitude of capacities including design, construction document production, drafting standard implementation and maintenance, construction observation, and specification writing on projects ranging from residential remodeling to multi-story commercial developments. Later, he went on to work as a production staffer for Ed Lohrbach and Associates, Linnaus & Luna Architects, Scot Martin Associates, and James L. Glover, Jr. Design, all at various periods, specializing in construction document production for full-service, luxury estate projects.

In 1991, Dave went on his own as a production consultant doing work for a larger number of local and regional architects, designers and structural engineers, including many firms and individuals he had worked for in previous years.

In 1994, Dave and his wife founded Dave's Aircraft Works, a model aircraft manufacturing company, and pioneered a new genre of radio controlled model sailplanes which are still known the world over to this day. They sold the company in 2001, and Dave moved back into his career in architecture, continuing work for many of his previous clientele, as well as landing a number of his own residential commissions for homeowners.

Today, Dave continues a brisk consulting and design practice for professional and private clients, with Shelby providing secretarial and accounting duties. Working from their home office in Capistrano Beach, they provide an economical solution for a wide variety of clients performing a full range of services from presentation, to design, to production.

They have two adult sons, Ian and Trevor, who are professional musicians and adventurers.

Dave earned his California Architect's License in the Spring of 2013, passing each of the eight registration examinations on the first attempt. He also earned his Hawaii Architect's License in Summer of 2014.

Dave's other interests include architectural history, furniture building, music, lutherie, aeromodeling, bowling, macroeconomics and monetary history.