Details, details.

Chris Martinez has a passion for the small touches and incorporates them in the overall artistry of his Spanish-style homes. Look in any room, and the eye is drawn to pattern and design—Moroccan mosaics, hand-carved stone, antique corbels. The effect is both elegant and inviting. Behind this Old World look is the latest in electronics and utilities.

“I used to pray for a job I would have love and a passion for, and I believe God has blessed me with that,” Martinez says.

The New Mexico native began his construction career six years ago working at a small cabinet shop in Tijeras, New Mexico. He later worked for a Santa Fe builder. “We did everything ourselves—plaster, concrete, framing, Sheetrock, foundations,” Martinez says. “I learned how to do a lot of the trades and discovered a love for it all. The builder I worked for paid really close attention to detail. He was strict about that kind of thing.”

When Martinez started Picasso Builders three years ago, he carried over that practice. But on the matter of style, he broke with his mentor, who builds Southwest-style homes. Martinez has chosen a more
traditional Spanish architecture. He describes his homes as “old Spanish haciendas with Mexican and Moroccan influences.”

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