In February 2015 Nick Leko decided to venture out on his own and start an architectural practice that reflected his values as an architect. Later that month he also invested in a ‘Refresh Renovations’ franchise license, primarily to create business leads for his new practice. what became clear when meeting Nick, was that he wasn’t your typical residential architect. He was more interested in how a home worked rather than how a home looked. As an architect, he focused more on ‘function’ than ‘form’. Nick engaged with his clients slightly differently from the other architects that we’d worked with, preferring to learn how his clients ‘lived’ in their homes, and how they needed their homes to work, to create a happier home to live in. This approach underpinned his philosophy of creating ‘homes with a heart’, ensuring that his clients always got what they needed and that they also got the most out of the spaces that he created for them.