We’d like you to meet Adam

Adam Teefey is new to the Travois team! He started early this year as an architect with Travois Design & Construction Services. He is a graduate of Kansas State University where he received a Bachelor of Architecture. Adam holds a National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) Certificate and is licensed in Colorado.

1. What attracted you to Travois? Travois offered me an opportunity to use my architecture and design background to help build homes for tribes and travel to locations I would have otherwise missed. The fun office culture, amazing colleagues and great Kansas City location are just added bonuses to being a part of the Travois team.

2. How does your past experiences help you in your current position?  At my previous position with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), I analyzed damaged public infrastructure and prepared detailed repair and replacement estimates. My experience putting together cost estimates will help when preparing Capital Needs Assessments (CNAs) and formulating construction budgets.  I strive to deliver quality projects on budget.  I also have a background in residential construction and remodeling, going back to my college days when I worked summers as a residential rough framer. In my free time, I enjoy rehabbing distressed homes here in the Kansas City market. These hands-on experiences are invaluable when working through design problems at the office.

3. What is your biggest success up until now? Passing all seven Architectural Registration Exams (ARE) in little over a year to become a licensed architect

4. What places in Indian Country have you enjoyed visiting and why? I really enjoyed my recent trip to Warm Springs, OR.  The drive up from Portland was beautiful with great views of the Cascades and Mount Hood. I love to travel, and I look forward to all of the new experiences that will come with my work trips.

5. What did you want to be as a kid? As a kid I was always building (be it with wooden blocks, Legos, empty cardboard boxes, etc.) and always drawing.  I figured out at an early age that I could do both as an architect.

6. Do you have a hidden talent? What is it? If I told you my hidden talent it would no longer be hidden. Next question!

7. Many Travois staff members are animal lovers. Do you have a pet? I have a dog named Shawnee. Her passions in life are catching a Frisbee and chasing (but never catching) squirrels.  She will be helping me at the office a few days per week.

8. What is your favorite meal? What is your favorite local restaurant? I am a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, but I also consider myself a burrito connoisseur. I could eat Chipotle everyday, but like any good Kansas Citian, barbecue runs in my veins.  Locally, I enjoy Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue (Martin City), Beer Kitchen (Westport), The Farmhouse (River Market), and The Rieger (Crossroads).

9. What is the best gift you’ve ever received? What is the worst? My grandma once gave me a handmade potato bag. “What is a potato bag?” you ask. It is a microwavable bag that magically turns raw potatoes into perfect baked ones within just minutes (microwave not included)! The first one she gave me was one of the best gifts I ever received. However, on the subsequent Christmases, I continued to receive new bags, and I must now dedicate an entire kitchen drawer to their storage. (Grandma, if by some miracle you learn how to operate the Internet and stumble onto this blog, I am sorry.)

10. What talent do you wish you had? Without spellcheck most of my written communication turns into a procession of words underlined by squiggly red lines, so my talent would be to spell. Wow, that’s really boring… actually, I wish I could fly.

11. Do you have a bad habit you want to break? I have a bad habit of packing for trips at the last minute only to discover everything I need is in the laundry.

12. What do you like to do when you aren’t working? If the weather is nice, you can find me outside with Shawnee.  I also enjoy skiing, hiking, camping, and traveling.

13. Do you like to play or watch sports? What teams do you root for? I have been a lifelong fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals, and I pull for Kansas State in college sports. On Tuesdays, I play basketball in a small pickup league, and in the summertime, I also play sand volleyball.

14. What is your favorite thing to do in Kansas City? There is nothing quite like taking in a night game at Arrowhead Stadium.

15. What is your least favorite chore? Going to the grocery store.  I am the dork with the list that walks down the aisle crossing things off on the back of a Cheez-It box while stopping to ask innocent strangers if the peanut butter is in the condiment isle. Despite my lists, I have yet to make it home without forgetting at least one item.

16. What is your favorite season and why? I truly enjoy all four seasons, although I wouldn’t complain if winter were shorter. I love that Kansas City changes with the seasons.  I think it helps delineate the passing of time.