What Damien Georis understands about residential construction, he
learned by making wine
Carmel, CA, March 16,
2021 - Damien Georis grew up
in a Belgian farmhouse built in 1750, maintained for generations, and
ultimately remodeled by his father, a process that ignited his own interest in
residential renovation and design. Today, he makes his home in a very different
landscape on the Monterey Peninsula, running the pre-construction and design
process for Lewis Builders
residential design-build firm. Although it’s not something he imagined, he
realizes it absolutely makes sense.
Georis has a reputable
name in this region, and he does know a little something about wine. Although,
the Belgian-born vintner, who was making wine at Chateau Olivier—a Grand Cru
classé of the Graves region in Bordeaux—was unaware of the legendary Georis
dynasty, who has long been crafting fine art, fine food, and fine wine on the
Monterey Peninsula. Nor did he know that the Georis family hails from the same
tiny town as his father’s family.
Even more surprising,
perhaps, was that Georis, who had left Belgium in 1998 to pursue winemaking in
France, ultimately moved to the Monterey Peninsula in 2005 to make wine, at the
behest of Walter Georis.
What Damien Georis
couldn’t have anticipated is that he would find his way to Lewis Builders and
quickly work his way up from design assistant to his new role as Vice President
of Pre-construction and Design.
“I recall being 9 or 10
years old and drawing floor plans,” he said. “As a teen, every summer in
Belgium, I would work with my cousin, a contractor, till the time I moved to
Bordeaux, and I was inspired. It was very typical to build your own home, which
always held interest for me. Yet, when I caught the wine bug, I put that off to
the side.”
Georis had studied in
Belgium, earning a degree in agricultural engineering, a condition of entering
an enology school in Bordeaux, where he achieved a national degree of enology.
For five years, he worked in the wineries of Bordeaux, until he made the
difficult decision to come to California.
“Moving to Carmel Valley
was a bit of a risk for my wine career,” said Georis, “but I found what I was
looking for: farming and construction and winemaking. I was on a tractor in the
morning, at the winery in the afternoon, and presenting wine to an audience at
a winemaker’s dinner at night.”
A Smooth Move
Damien Georis’ interest
and ability in home design and construction resurfaced after he moved to the
Monterey Peninsula, where he remodeled two homes. Georis began to apply his
interests and aptitude for building design and construction after his friend,
Kierstyn Bachmann Berlin asked if he would work with her on design projects for
Lewis Builders.
“As Lewis Builders was
getting busier, and I was helping as a design assistant,” he said, “I realized
that was not my area of expertise. But I also had to deal with permitting on
various projects, which I really enjoyed doing, so I became that person in the
company.”
The building permitting
process is a complicated world to navigate. But Georis has built his career on
being resourceful and finding solutions. Perhaps more important to the process,
he has proved to be a diplomatic, dependable man, who understands that both the
business and this community are about building relationships and trust, says
John Lewis, founder and CEO of Lewis Builders.
“I’ve never met someone,
who is not originally from this county or even this country, and for whom
English isn’t even his first language,” said Lewis, “yet who is as well-known
and as well-respected in the community. Damien is someone who came from a
different industry, the winemaking world in France, yet has done an amazing job
of learning the inner workings of getting building projects permitted.”
Lewis, who has been
involved in construction projects in many different counties throughout
California, has never known a county to be as complicated as Monterey. But
Georis, he says, gets it.
The guy who was making
wine, is now making construction decisions. He has taken a leadership role, not
only in procuring permits, but also in studying conceptual designs and
understanding what’s possible and what’s not, says Scott Julian, President of
Lewis Builders.
“Damien applies the
mentality of winemaking methodology to the design-and-build business,” said
Julian. “He intimately knows the complexities of making fine wine, and the
challenges that arise if you miss a step, just like in the construction
process. We knew he was a perfect fit for the complex planning and permitting
we experience in almost every one of our projects.”
After three years of
managing permitting and design, Georis’ new role as Vice President of
Pre-construction and Design brings estimating, that third leg of the process,
into his purview.
“From our first meeting
with a client, we estimate cost. As we capture the wishes from the client,”
said Georis, “we confirm the parameters of the project, refine the budget, and
put it into our construction contract. Then, throughout the project, we make it
work.”
Renaissance Meets Reconstruction
Damien Georis is, in all
things, an artist and a technician. Were he to make wine just by the numbers,
he would yield a standard product, says Lewis, without much depth, flavor, or
interest. That would be chemistry without creativity. Were he to make wine with
an artistic approach and not respect the chemistry, it wouldn’t be stable
enough to sustain. Damien understands the importance of a harmonious alchemy of
artistic and technical skills.
“Similarly, in
construction,” said Lewis, “Damien has to understand the permitting, the
zoning, the planning, the budgeting—the technical aspects—and marry that to the
aesthetics of the design and the sensibilities of the client. We want both
beautiful and sustainable.”
That’s what Damien
Georis brings to Lewis Builders projects.
“I appreciate the art
and the science of wine,” he said, “which are the same elements in
construction. It’s all a grand human adventure.”
Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
The Buzz PR LLC
Salinas, CA
(831) 747-7455
https://www.lewisbuilder.com/
