About

Through years of practice and countless hours spent on optimizing design projects, TBT Design Services, and its sole proprietor, Tim Tarrillion, have developed a unique set of capabilities that become evident in every project that he personally executes from start to finish.

He personally provides you and your family a full range of architectural design services—from the initial concepts, to the contractor estimating, and through construction specifications—on a range of residential projects, including: simple redesign and modernization of a single room, to a complete renovation of a entire house, to major new additions on existing houses, and to the conceptualization and completion of new construction plans for your dream home.

No project is too big or too small.

Tim Tarrillion

Born in San Antonio, Texas, and was one of 8 children—5 daughters and 3 sons.

  • Grew up working with his father in the construction industry
  • Has lived in Houston 50+years
  • Earned Master of Chemical Engineering degree from Rice University
  • Earned Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University
  • Has been married to his wife, Melody, for 41+ years, has 3 daughters and six grandchildren.
  • In addition to his design business, he enjoyed a 30+ year career buying, managing, and growing small-to-medium sized businesses as the CEO, COO or CFO.

Professional Activities:

  • Trusted business advisor to private company owners on growth, financial control, and management development,
  • Architectural designer of residential renovations and newly constructed houses for homeowners and builders

Personal Avocations and Hobbies:

  • Church related activities/charity work,
  • Architecture and Design,
  • Rugby (former player), golf, fitness
  • fine dining
  • playing with grandchildren, family gatherings,

Construction and Design Background:

My father was in the commercial and residential construction industry in San Antonio. I started working for him at an early age and learned the basics of the business. As an adult and during my professional career, I developed a strong interest in residential architectural, as a hobby. Initially, this was evidenced by simple drawings done with pencil, scaled paper, architects’ rule, and drawing templates. I found this to be very relaxing and intriguing, and my “design” projects became more complicated and challenging, and eventually evolved into a much stronger avocation.

Later in life, one of my daughters married a residential contractor, focusing on remodeling of existing homes and constructing new custom houses in the Houston market. When he saw the drawings that I was doing as a “hobby,” he asked if I would start doing simple design projects for him.  I did and we realized that I was able to do most of his work at a reduced rate, with a much faster response time than he was getting from other architectural firms. As the number of design projects grew, I continued to expand my design capabilities. I learned AutoCad and the City of Houston building code requirements, so that I could provide professional construction drawings for building permits and the construction specifications necessary for more complex projects.  Since that time, I have completed more than 60 projects, big and small, even though I still treat this business as a part-time “career”.  Because I love type of this work, and have a true passion for it, I believe I am able to provide services that are faster, less costly, and more customized than what might otherwise be provided by other design firms in the area, with a quality of design on par, or better, than those providers.

To me, architectural design is still my hobby—it is my passion–and I love doing it.

  • "My wife and I would highly recommend Mr. Tim for all your design needs.  He is very creative (even with the limited space of our home), responsive to our request, and very cost conscious."
    - Drew W.
  • “We contacted Tim after Hurricane Harvey when our initial designer quit on us with no notice.  Tim was a life saver! Wish we had gone with him from the start of the project.”
    - Teresa F.
  • “Tim was super easy to work with and always gave us options to choose from. His expertise and professionalism were just what we needed to bring our project to completion.  He worked very quickly and was always responsive to our requests.”
    - Teresa F.
  • “Tim is very knowledgeable and creative and made several great additions to the plan making it look completely different than we thought possible yet giving us what we were looking for.  He also helped us through the City of Houston inspection process which is no easy feat.”
    - Teresa F.
  • “Tim came up with some great options for us to choose from and maximized every inch of our space. He was very fast and responsive to our requests.”
    - Angie Z
  • "We had a great experience with Tim. He was attentive to our conceptual ideas, quick with his design work and created just the space we were looking for in our remodel." 
    - Brook B.
  • “Tim was very easy to work with and professional. He listened to our ideas and quickly produced several options, which enabled us to make our final decision with confidence.”
    - Justin H.
  • “We really loved working with Tim. He made the whole process digestible and un-intimidating for someone who was new to the process.  Discussions were easy and flexible, and he really tried to get an understanding of what we were hoping for combined with his years of expertise knowing what would work. He was thorough and pro-active, and we really benefited from his insight into the planning and design process.”
    - Claire and Chris W.
  • “Tim has a great passion for house design and planning. His creativity and experience enabled our vision to come together into our forever home!” 
    - Melanie L.
  • “Tim came up with some great options for us to choose from and maximized every inch of our space.  He was very fast and responsive to our requests.”
    - Angie Z.
  • “Tim has a great eye for space and was able to give us a design that maximized our existing living space to fit our needs while respecting our budget."
    - Casey R.
  • “What I really liked about Tim was that he was creative, but, at the same time, very cost conscious—he avoided changes than would drive up the cost of the renovation.  In addition, he was not tied to any pre-conceived designs or ideas.  He listened to us and gave us what we wanted.  With all of this he was able to deliver the plans on time and within his original estimate.”
    - Hannah W.
  • “We can't recommend Tim enough for his design services. He took an awkward master suite in our 1960s home and created a beautiful design that took advantage of every inch of space. Tim was extremely responsive throughout the process and provided high quality designs on a fast turnaround. We are so happy with the final space and Tim will be the first person we call if we decide to do additional renovations.” 
    - Katherine R.
  • “Tim was super easy to work with and came up with great options for me to choose from.  We loved how he explained the logic behind the design and helped us make informed decisions about what would work well for our family.”
    - David G.
  • “Tim is not tied to any pre-conceived designs or ideas.  He listened to us and gave us what we wanted. Tim is super easy to work with and provides good feedback and advice on design and layout ideas.”
    - Phil Z.