Basically self-taught, he found work as a junior draughtsman in the Edinburgh office of James Graham Fairley in 1896.
He took a leave of absence to tour the United States and Canada prior to establishing his own practice at 27 King Street in Crieff, Perthshire, and living at Fairmount in Auchterarder.
On 20 July of that year, prior to his departure, he was admitted as a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
[1] After arriving in Edmonton, he was appointed to the office of English architect Roland Walter Lines.
He remained there for a "considerable time" before becoming chief draughtsman to the Edmonton Public School Board.