Brett Ligo became an architect almost by default.

Ligo grew up around his father, Lee Ligo, and his company, Ligo Architects in Slippery Rock. Even when he was young, his father let him work on construction projects.

However, Ligo, 50, of Butler Township said that his father tried to talk him out of becoming an architect because it can be a difficult job.

“You never know when your next project is going to come up,” Ligo said.

He also said that there is difficulty in working with money, working with clients and working with contractors who do not share the same vision as the architect.

His father told him that he should be a dentist or an orthodontist, but Ligo did not want that. He saw the passion his father had for architecture.

“I saw that my father really enjoyed what he was doing,” Ligo said.

Brett's father, Lee Ligo, founded Ligo Architects in 1968.

The company, which employs five people, designs commercial buildings, banks, churches and other worship facilities, residential dwellings and facilities for mentally challenged and autistic people.

“Because we're so small, we have to be diverse,” Brett Ligo said. “That's really helped us with the economy over the last couple of years.”

Because of the poor economy, residential work recently has decreased greatly. However, commercial and retail work has increased. Ligo said that this may be due to confidence among business owners.

“That's been very good,” Ligo said. “It's helped us.”

The company works on 60 to 80 projects per year. Ligo said that the number of projects that it does has tapered off the past few years. The company worked on 65 projects in 2012 with its small staff.

“A lot of ball juggling,” Ligo said.

When Ligo attended Carnegie Mellon University, the school had the number one ranked architecture program in the United States.

“It was very difficult at Carnegie Mellon,” Ligo said.

He said that the philosophy at the school was to make the architecture classes for freshmen so difficult that only the students who really wanted to be architects stayed. When he was a freshman, there were 88 students in the program. When he graduated, 14 remained.

“Those 14 knew they wanted to be architects,” Ligo said.

But following graduation, Ligo's path did not lead directly to his father's firm.

“When I graduated, he would not give me a job,” Ligo said.

He said that this was good because it forced him to work at other firms and get good experience.

So, Ligo worked at Burt Hill's Pittsburgh office from 1986 to 1988. The office had 125 employees, and Ligo said it gave him good experience by being able to see how a big firm operates.

After Burt Hill, Ligo went to work at a small firm that a former Burt Hill architect started. Working at such a small firm, Ligo's day could involve anything from answering the phone to working on designs.

“I did everything,” Ligo said.

In 1989, after that firm closed, Ligo went to work at a mid-sized firm from 1989 to 1992.

“I saw everything there was to see in a firm,” Ligo said.

About that time, Ligo got married and considered moving back to the Butler area. And, his father was working on a large house in Sewickley and needed help. So, Ligo finally went to work for his father in 1993.

“The timing was ideal,” Ligo said. “It's been a wonderful experience.”

It is not always easy working with your father, he said, but it is rewarding.

“You're expected to work harder than everybody else,” Ligo said.

In January, Ligo bought the firm from his father and took on more responsibility in terms of running the company.“The timing just seemed right,” Ligo said.His favorite part of being an architect is taking a client's vision, using pen and paper and then seeing the finished product.“The satisfaction of seeing a building built,” Ligo said.When he's not working, Ligo is the president of the Butler County Historical Society, is on the executive board of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce and is active with the Moraine Trails Council of the Boy Scouts of America.Additionally, Ligo was a part of the first Leadership Butler County Class in 1993. He decided to get involved so he could become familiar with Butler County after having lived in Pittsburgh for several years.“It was a good introduction to the community,” Ligo said.He said that he learned a lot about how community leaders operate and what they do outside of their business, especially in community service.“It gave me a lot of connections, which was very beneficial,” Ligo said.Being a part of the first class, the program was different at the time. It did not have a community project as it does now. The class spent a lot of time discussing what role class members played as a leader.“There was a lot of learning about what was appropriate,” Ligo said.

<B>Age: </B>50<B>Address: </B>Butler Township<B>Family: Wife, </B>Cynthia; son, Hunter, who is a senior at Sewickley Academy<B>Education: </B>Bachelor’s in architecture from Carnegie Mellon University, 1986<B>Employment: </B>Owner of Ligo Architects, 262 Grove City Road, Slippery Rock<B>What it does:</B> Designs buildings, such as homes, churches, offices and health care facilities<B>Employees:</B> 5<B>Community leadership: </B>President of the Butler County Historical Society<B>LEADERSHIP IS:</B>“It’s having a clear vision and being able to implement and having the focus and the passion to see that vision through to the end.”<B>INSPIRATION:</B>His father, Lee Ligo“(He has a) fearlessness about taking a project and seeing it through completion.”Brett Ligo says his father will give directions that might not make sense at the time, “But he’s almost always right. You may not know why, but he knows what he is doing.”