Benjamin Wey, 41, was born to Mexican-Chinese American parents in 1967 and began his architectural career not long after, spending much of his childhood digging in the dirt, constructing intricate designs for his toy cars. As a boy, he was fascinated by structures of all kinds, and frequently found himself wandering past construction sites wanting to observe and be apart of the construction process. In the following years, his fascination for construction evolved into a love of design and architecture. He began drafting simplistic blueprints in high school, and when he was old enough, became an intern for a construction company, working part-time during the academic year and fulltime during the summer. Benjamin Wey also took advanced placement tests in high school that accelerated his education and qualified him for honors classes. He graduated an entire year ahead of his class and went on to pursue a higher education soon thereafter. Unlike many of his peers, Benjamin Wey knew exactly which major he would choose, and after carefully weighing his many in-state and out-of-state options, Benjamin Wey chose to remain in his home state and join the UC Berkley student body.

In 1988, Benjamin Wey graduated from the front running California University with a BS in Civil Engineering and immediately applied to the school’s graduate Architecture program. Due to his extensive list of extra-curricular activities, including working as a construction supervisor for a small Bay Area firm, Benjamin Wey had no trouble getting accepted to the Master’s program. While studying for his second degree, Benjamin Wey became the construction foreman of a prominent firm, and three short years later, he graduated with his Masters degree. Having little experience with practical application of design and consulting techniques because of his focus on the construction side of the industry, Benjamin Wey chose to broaden his area of expertise and pursue a variety of different architectural and consulting positions after college, thereby rounding out his professional experience. In 2002, after working as a designer for a San Francisco area architectural firm, Benjamin Wey decided to take a break from designing and became a construction foreman at Donofrio Construction, a Los-Angeles based construction firm managed by his future father-in-law. Several months later, Benjamin Wey married his wife Lorraine, and over the next three years, he familiarized himself with several forms of commercial and residential planning, zoning, and constructing in several parts of California, preparing him for the day he would own his own construction consulting firm. In 2004, the couple moved upstate, where Benjamin Wey’s lifelong dream of founding his own consulting and design firm became a reality. A1 Construction Consulting was born just after the New Year, and Benjamin Wey has never been more proud of any other professional accomplishment. As the sole proprietor and chief construction consultant, Benjamin Wey is passionate about increasing his company’s sphere of influence and inspiring upcoming architects with his varied designs.