From Maui for Maui: Jordan Haler’s Why
If you ask Jordan Haler why he does what he does, his answer starts and ends with one place: Maui.
He is not talking about glossy postcards or luxury brochures. He is talking about people, families, and neighbors who never chose to be in a rebuilding process, but suddenly had to learn how to navigate design, permitting, budgets, and construction while carrying grief and uncertainty.
As he puts it, “the best work we could do [is] actually making an impact.”
This is the story behind WMC Design-Build and why Jordan leads the architectural division the way he does: grounded in reality, community focused, and committed to homes that actually get built.
Jordan’s connection to Maui is not a marketing angle. It is personal history.
“Yeah, my name is Jordan Haler. I was born and raised in Maui. I grew up mainly upcountry.”
He did what many ambitious young designers do. He left the island, studied, practiced in cities like Seattle and Portland, and worked on beautiful projects that may or may not ever be built. Then the Lahaina fires happened.
“What kind of brought me back to Maui was the Lahaina fires, of course. That’s what founded WMC. It’s a design build and through the process of working with a lot of fire victims, we’ve been scaling our architectural division.”
Coming home was not about career convenience. It was about a need. There were families who had lost everything, a shortage of architects on the island, and an urgent need for professionals who cared about more than the next portfolio shot.
“Maui does have a lack of architects here. So there’s a lot of work that can be done. And so really trying to keep it local was, you know, one of the reasons as well.”
For Jordan, “from Maui for Maui” is literal. It is about keeping design and construction power in the community and using it to rebuild lives, not just structures.
Many Lahaina families never intended to design and build a house from scratch. They did not opt into a complex capital project. It was forced on them.
That is exactly why WMC was structured as a design-build practice instead of a traditional “separate architect and contractor” model.
“The idea behind WMC Design-Build was to be that turnkey service, so take everything from kind of conception to kind of handing those keys over to the families that, especially for Lahaina, had never done this, didn’t choose to do this, have enough on their plate.”
By having design and build under one roof, WMC can keep fees realistic, make decisions faster, and keep the focus where it belongs: on the families.
“As opposed to that traditional practice where using ballpark numbers and, you know, we all know that those numbers range greatly. It has been edited to include proper punctuation. Feedback as quickly as possible, as opposed to that traditional, you know, you get all the way done with the process and then you may or may not get an update once or twice a year on build costs or, you know, backlog of contractors themselves.”
Jordan is clear about the mission:
“There’s a need for professionals, a need for good companies that do good work, both on the build side and the architectural side.”
WMC’s role is to take families from “I lost everything and I do not know where to start” to “here are your keys” with as much clarity, empathy, and technical rigor as possible.
Before Lahaina, Jordan worked on multifamily buildings and high-end homes. He already understood that residential architecture is deeply personal.
“Previously, I worked with developers, multifamily, apartments, and then high-end homes. And I think there is a real emotional side to the luxury homes. You really get to understand and know people and they’re trusting you with a lot of money.”
But working with fire victims introduced a different level of emotional responsibility.
“Just the raw emotion of dealing with somebody who lost everything has been such a different shift.”
When you design a home, you learn things most people never discuss openly.
“Architecture is super emotional because you do, I mean, you talk details that you wouldn’t share with even some of your friends. When you design a home, understand bathroom habits, sleeping patterns, things like that that you might not talk too often about, but are important to the design of a home.”
For WMC, those conversations are not a side effect. They are the work. They are how you rebuild in a way that respects each family’s culture, routines, and hopes for the future.
Jordan sums it up simply:
“I think that kind of sums up why we do what we do, you know, actually seeing it on people’s faces and the raw emotions of what our impact can be.”
One of the biggest gaps in architecture is the distance between beautiful drawings and realistic construction budgets. Jordan has lived that gap.
“I’ve been blessed to work on a lot of beautiful projects at my previous firms. Unfortunately, most of those will not, or have not been built, maybe one day.”
That is exactly what he wants to avoid at WMC.
“I always like to say I don’t like to draw for fun. I want to actually see these projects get built so I want to try to be as realistic in design as we can so that they don’t die because of budgetary reasons.”
That realism shows up in details most people never see but always feel: ceiling heights, insulation values, cabinet configurations, and schedule planning.
“We analyze a lot of things throughout the design process. We run the numbers. What’s the difference between, you know, insulation values, minimum, maximum? What is that value? Ten thousand dollars, is it five hundred dollars? We’ve calculated what’s the difference between an 8-foot ceiling and a 9-foot ceiling.”
The goal is not to strip out design quality. It is to give families clear choices, backed by numbers, before concrete is poured.
“Being proactive, right? It’s really hard and really expensive to change something once it’s done. The best time is before you’ve broken ground. So really trying to set everything up, procurement on that side, making sure schedules are aligned, because really one of the biggest killers on the construction site is schedule. Costly delays because material didn’t show up…”
For Lahaina and beyond, “grounded in reality” means fewer surprises, fewer change orders, and more homes that actually cross the finish line.
There is a certain stereotype of the architect: the solitary genius, the silent designer, or the ego-driven personality who “knows best.”
Jordan is the opposite of that.
“I’m definitely very honest. I can’t lie to save my life. I think that’s a pro. I’m never going to… you’re always going to know what I’m thinking. I talk maybe a little too much sometimes. I’m a little over communicative, but I think that’s, you know, you can’t go wrong there.”
He also knows that clients at every level want to be treated like people, not like a portfolio opportunity.
“We have some projects with some famous musicians and, you know, at the end of the day they want to be called by their first name and they want to be asked how they’re doing as opposed to, like, ‘Oh, can you sign this?’ So I think, you know, treating everybody just like, you know, you’re a normal person. I think that’s how I want to treat it.”
His goal for every project is simple and human:
“The goal of design is to become friends and hopefully get invited to that first barbecue. That’s the goal, not necessarily never show up to the project again.”
That mindset also shapes how he steers clients through choices. WMC’s job is not to control everything. It is to protect people from decisions they might regret.
“This isn’t our house that we’re designing, so we want to step into your shoes. But at the end of the day, you know, we are professionals and we want to steer you in the right direction, make sure you don’t make any dumb decisions. And that’s important there. But at the end of the day, you know, I may not love the house stylistically… but it’s your style and that’s the house that we want to build for you.”
That combination of honesty, empathy, and shared decision-making is what turns a stressful rebuild into a collaborative process.
Jordan is clear that one person cannot solve Maui’s housing or design challenges. The shortage of professionals is structural, and WMC’s answer is to scale a strong, values-aligned team.
“I think maybe one thing that I realize here is I think there’s just a lack in Maui, and I think Hawaii in general because that’s what I can speak for. There’s a lack of professionals. We don’t have enough people here and I want to be able to provide for that.”
That is why he intentionally hires people who are better than him in specific areas.
“I always like to surround myself with better designers. That’s important. I always like to say I want to have everybody on the team be actually smarter than myself. That’s important to me because the sky’s the limit when you get a good group of people together to do good work.”
The culture at WMC is not built on loud self-promotion or bus-stop ads.
“Very few people still probably know we exist. It’s just been word of mouth. It’s just been friends of family. It’s been people walking by and seeing our work. I think that’s what I want to grow. It’s that organic instead of trying to necessarily go pay to get clients for ads and that sort of thing. I don’t want my face on a park bench. That’d be weird.”
Organic growth, better professionals, and more capacity for Maui. That is the long game.
What does WMC Design-Build actually do for Lahaina families?
WMC takes families from first conversation to handing over the keys, combining architecture and construction in one team so that design, budget, and schedule stay aligned.
Instead of drawing a design and handing it off, WMC’s design-build model keeps the architect and builder together from day one, which helps avoid budget shocks, delays, and expensive rework.
What is Jordan’s personal approach with clients?
Jordan values honesty and over-communication. As he says, he “can’t lie to save [his] life” and his goal is to become friends with clients by the end of the process and “get invited to that first barbecue.”
Firms like WMC Design-Build embody what Social Brick believes in: architecture as service, not just aesthetics. Our role is to make it easier for homeowners to actually find and connect with teams like Jordan’s, especially when stakes are high and the process feels confusing.
If you are a homeowner in Hawaii or on the mainland looking for a thoughtful architect or design-build team, platforms like Social Brick can help you discover firms whose values and experience match your story.
If you are an architect or design-build firm doing meaningful work and you want more of the right clients to find you, Social Brick helps you:
If you are rebuilding in Lahaina or planning a custom home on Maui and want a team that is “from Maui for Maui,” ask us about firms like WMC on Social Brick.
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Join Social Brick to share your “why,” grow your visibility, and connect with clients who value honesty, empathy, and homes that actually get built!