Mark grew up in the Dominican Republic to missionary parents, moving to United States when he was 16 years old. He is a graduate of Georgia Tech's School of Architecture (1994). He had the unique privilege of spending a year studying the timeless architecture of Paris and western Europe. He spent the next 8 years gaining invaluable experience working for several prestigious design firms in Atlanta Georgia. In 2002, he founded his own residential design firm: Dream Home Studio. Due to his missionary upbringing, Mark has always been passionate about helping others in any way he can. He has supported and founded several non-profits which help those in financial need, and also counsels and mentors men in personal life crisis. Yet during the early years of building his design practice, Mark was deeply disturbed by the wildly over-budget disfunction he consistently encountered in the custom home industry. His passion to help his clients achieve their dream homes led him to create the Custom Home Guide and The Custom Home Institute as the solution to these systemic problems.