Wiki/Tellus Design + Build
Overview
Tellus Design + Build was a Southern California green construction company that Jesse Fowler started in 2004 and wound down on his own terms through 2023. The firm kept architecture, estimating and construction under one roof, with a team of more than 60 in the field and about 15 in the office, and ran about 40 projects at once at its peak.
Over 19 years the firm completed more than 400 projects and over $300M of built work, and did about $480M in business across owner's representation, general contracting, trade work and property maintenance, with more than $1B in architectural and construction projects completed. It was active on about $22M in construction projects when COVID began, carried custom homes and commercial work through the 2008 collapse and the pandemic, and built an in-house estimating practice a decade before software could do it.
Tellus grew up in a messy industry and set out to fix its corner of it: green building was both the mission and the differentiator, years before the market caught up. The relationships from that era, with owners, cities, trades and suppliers, run through the work Fowler does today at LÏEF Development and Common Ground.
Work on record
Ritz-Carlton Laguna BeachTwo narrow Tellus-era credits: an outdoor patio built for the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Beach and development advisory on Ritz-Carlton branded residences.Development · 2004 to 2022
Village San JuanTellus Management kept a 446-unit community's maintenance and emergency contract on a board vote and ran it for seven years.Operating · 2015 to 2022
Santa Monica houseTellus finished a custom Santa Monica home in 2020 after the crews stopped coming, sorting open work by license or skill and doing the skilled work itself.Development · 2020
LA Clippers Practice FacilityTellus designed and rebuilt the Clippers' practice facility room by room, in phases, with the team in the building the whole way through.Development · 2017 to 2018
LACMATellus Build fabricated and installed an artist's interactive sculpture at LACMA, inside a two-year volunteer owner's representative seat on campus art.Development · 2016 to 2018
Carroll Shelby International, GardenaTellus built Carroll Shelby International's California hub in four phases over four years and won an exemption from Carson's construction freeze.Development · 2013 to 2017
Contractor GorillaAdvisor with an equity position in Contractor Gorilla, a Los Angeles agency for contractors; wrote the search plan that held Tellus on Google's page one for years.Brand · 2014 to 2017
Soft-Story RetrofitsTellus launched a seismic retrofit line for Los Angeles's mandatory ordinance, with PACE financing and a structural engineer inside one offer.Development · 2017
Habitat for HumanityA construction partner to Habitat chapters in three Southern California counties for nearly a decade, shifting from surplus material to labor and bid work.Development · 2007 to 2016
Shelby American Las VegasOwner's rep and construction manager for Shelby American's Las Vegas move, run trade-direct where Tellus held no license; opened on schedule in March 2015.Development · 2014 to 2015
Greensburg, KansasAfter an EF5 tornado, national supplier partnerships sold as on-camera category slots delivered more than $30 million in donated green materials.Development · 2007 to 2008
All engagements on record
At a glance
