HONCAD was founded in 1989 as a modest computer-aided design service company. Richard Lewis, an architect, who dabbled in computer modeling during his school years at North Carolina State, did modeling, drafting and training. Jim Hogarty, a technology wiz-kid, operated a sister company, which sold CAD systems and computers to architects and engineers. He would funnel clients who needed help learning the technology to Lewis, who would train them or do the work himself.

The following year, Hogarty convinced his partner to give up architecture altogether and transform HONCAD into a full AutoCAD dealer. In retrospect, the pair's timing seemed lousy. The Japanese bubble economy had just popped and plans for a new resort developments were nonexistent. In addition, AutoCAD is a high-end business and there were already three dealers in town. However, one of those dealers, which represented the highly regared graphics computer maker Silicon Graphics Inc., had recently gone out of business. HONCAD got the dealership, but also got an unexpected bonus:access to powerful, cutting-edge technology.

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