When Luis was growing up, he wanted to be an architect, but his hometown didn’t offer career-building opportunities in the field. Picking the next closest, he received his Master’s degree in civil engineering from Iberoamericana University in Mexico. Soon after he received his construction management degree in Mexico City, a Mexican company hired him to come to the United States to start a new housing development in El Paso. The company that brought Luis to the states joined forces with a U.S. company to build 425 small houses in a year, but after the first 160 houses were built the venture collapsed due to financial and funding differences. The company planned to send Luis back to Mexico, but he had already started his MBA at UTEP, so he decided to stay. Six months later he quit the company and founded MRQ Construction in March 2001.
Five years later Luis is still pleasantly surprised, “I never thought about starting my own company, and I’ve owned it for five years now.” For every house he designs, he starts with a blank page, “Houses are like clothes—they have to fit you.” Two architectural designers, Mario Felix and Susanna Lujan, work with Luis and together they meet with customers almost every day to ensure that each house “fits” its owner. Using computer design, they are able to show the homeowners exactly what the house will look like when finished, and during the framing stages this digital imaging allows Luis to envision the next building steps he plans to take.
“I like shapes, arches...I don’t like boxes,” says Luis. “Fran Timbrook, ASID, is my interior designer, and we’re a team. All of the houses we do, we do with Fran. We have a really strong relationship and I think that has been a part of the success of MRQ. As a team, she can do a lot of things that she dreams about and visa versa.” Even if the style of the home doesn’t fit Luis’ tastes, he is driven to satisfy the customer’s needs. The first home he built for himself was for the 2004 El Paso Parade of Homes, “It was my dream home. I dreamt about that house for five years.” Ironically, the house remains out of Luis’ price range. “I’m not in the business because of the money. Most people think that if you become a builder you can become rich soon, but that’s not true. I’m always looking for balance, and through mistakes and dreams I find that balance and learn from mistakes.” Finding this balance has definitely led him to success. He went from working on two houses during his first year, to his current rate of ten houses per year.
But what does MRQ stand for? “When I started the company I was looking for a logo that captured the soul of the company. I knew I wanted it to be an angel. I’m very religious, and I’m very obsessive about quality. And the only person who can say whether it’s right or wrong is God, but He doesn’t answer phone calls, so I needed someone in between.” Traveling throughout Europe for inspiration, Luis walked museum halls and city streets in France, Holland, and Belgium, but he couldn’t find the face for the angel. Finally, on the last day of his trip, in Paris he spotted his future logo. On the Arc de Triomphe he found the strong face he had been searching for. “My business is based on quality and I wanted a logo that encapsulated that and strength, so I named the angel Mr. Quality.” Thus, MRQ was created.
Although Luis is very happy in El Paso, he considers himself a citizen of the world. “I love traveling, and my ideas come from traveling. I’ve been working for two years with no travel and I feel I’m becoming stagnant. I’d like to plan a trip in the U.S., yet Italy and France are the most inspirational for me.” As for the future, he has his license to start building houses in Las Cruces, and is planning to have a house ready for the Las Cruces Showcase of Homes in the summer of 2006. “I’ve already talked with Fran and we’re getting ready to do something in Las Cruces. People will know me through articles, but I’d like them to physically see the kinds of houses we build.”
His obsession with quality has provided Luis with great accomplishments at a young age, but his feet haven’t left the ground, “It’s not your career. It’s not your degree. It’s how you feel about yourself that makes you successful. And you have to be paid for what you do. If it doesn’t cost, people won’t value it.” Confident in himself and in the work he does, Luis Medina might not have needed an angel after all...but it couldn’t have hurt, either.
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