We had the pleasure of working with Jill Finn of TANGERINEdesign LLC when our longtime designer was…read moreunavailable -- so she walked into a situation where we were already feeling a bit off balance. But from day one, Jill exceeded our expectations. The project involved tearing down an old, dilapidated screened-in porch that had never really worked for us -- too cold in the winter, too hot in the summer -- and transforming it into a usable interior room. We wanted to keep the light and airy feel of a porch while gaining insulation, comfort, and year-round usability. We also wanted ideas for built-ins: maybe a window seat, maybe bookshelves -- we weren't quite sure. Other contractors over the years had taken one look at the porch and declined to get involved due to its age and condition. Not Jill. She had ideas right away. Jill brings so much energy, creativity, and practical knowledge to the table. Even while juggling big personal commitments (like her son's graduation across the country), she delivered several strong design ideas within a few weeks -- and they were fresh, inspiring, and budget-conscious. She collaborated easily with our civil engineer, adjusting her drawings quickly to meet his needs. She also understands our local codes and regulations really well, and met directly with our contractors to make sure her designs were realistic and executable before we got too far into the process. On top of all that, Jill has a fantastic personality. She made the experience fun and engaging, and she brought a sense of momentum and confidence that really helped us move forward. I can't recommend Jill highly enough -- her creativity, responsiveness, and enthusiasm make her a true gem. If you're considering working with TANGERINEdesign LLC, you're in excellent hands. Karen & Greg Marriner 6/22/25

My fiancee and I met with Jill to explore building an ADU in our backyard from the ground up along…read morewith a home expansion. We were glad that we chose Jill; she brings with her a wealth of knowledge in all facets of the construction phase, and she was very friendly and easy to talk to also! Most of the time we would ask her a question, then just let her talk, as she was very detailed with all of her answers and did a great job teaching. We also appreciated that Jill also has no problem telling you if your idea is a bad idea, but will provide the context and reasoning why. Lastly, we loved tapping her creative mind; she has the ability to look at a space and give you plenty of ideas for it that you might not have even thought of! We would definitely recommend her and would work with her again.

The team at Zenith Engineers really are fantastic. I have worked with them many times through my…read morebuilder contractor client, and Zenith are producing regular engineering solutions for retrofits in the cities of Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Santa Monica. Soft-story retrofits can be complicated and complex, especially with the various councils' soft-story ordinances, yet Zenith create *great* results on a regular basis. I was originally working with Jason Leon who is the Business Development Manager at Zenith Engineers Inc. Jason is professional, courteous and very helpful. He knows what he is doing and his plans and solutions are very clear. These days I work directly with Juliette Chandler, the Engineering Estimator at Zenith Engineers Inc. Juliette is fantastic - she works very quickly with the turnaround of engineering solutions, and this makes my job a lot smoother with soft-story retrofits. Happy to recommend Zenith - five stars.

I want to express our gratitude for Zenith Engineers Inc. prompt, professional, and outstanding…read moreservice throughout our remodeling project. From the very beginning, we were impressed with Senthil, Ryan and other members of Zenith team's level of professionalism, prompt response, architectural knowledge and effective communication.This level of service was seamless through our entire engagement with Zenith Engineers Inc., from obtaining the building permit to successfully passing all necessary inspections by the SF Building Department. No one questions their architectural work because they are so good at what they do. We had some initial concerns after reading negative reviews, but as the project progressed, it became clear that those comments were based on personal grievances, rather than valid concerns. The team at Zenith Engineers Inc. has a high level of professional ethics and integrity. Zenith's management team had explained to us early on in the project, the strict adherence to code and compliance was paramount throughout the project. If Zenith compromises to satisfy unsatisfied clients, the building will end up being non-compliant and more importantly unsafe. We truly appreciate Zenith's commitment to quality and integrity, even if it means earning a few negative reviews along the way, which seem rather unfair to them as they are simply doing their job. I am extremely satisfied with the professional and excellent work the team at Zenith Engineers Inc. provided us and will hire them in a heartbeat for all our future structural and/or seismic engineering needs. Thank you Senthil, Ryan and the Zenith engineering team for your professionalism and support. It was our best decision to work with you and experience such high standard of professionalism, work ethic, and integrity.

They were responsive and provided a very fair price for their service, it's unfortunate that I…read morecould not use them because my client went in a different direction. However, I will certainly call them on a future when I have another project. I need Engineering and Design. I appreciate when you're working with someone in the trades and they're responsive and helpful.

So I'm seeing cracks on my ceiling and they are starting to worry me…read more I checked Yelp and Nextdoor for some structural engineer recommendations. When I contacted them to get more information they responded timely. Made an appointment with them about a week and a half later. Arash came to the house and looked everywhere garage, outside, all the rooms. And thankfully he said there is no foundation concern. Took him I want to say about 40min to look everywhere. They are not cheap. My eyes almost popped out of my socket when I heard about their rate. But I want someone with experience to look at the house. Anyways, there is a little hiccup with the invoice but they reached back to me quickly to resolve it. The inspection cost is separate to the report fee. Just fyi. Nice people, happy to have found them.

We had an excellent experience with Shawn Sharaby of Create Interior Design, due to factors too…read morenumerous to explain. We had a complicated situation since we were gutting and redoing a condo in Walnut Creek, while we were living in LA part of that time. Shawn worked at record speed getting permits, ordering materials, and communicating with us on hundreds of details. He uses high quality vendors and when we were in town, we were able to visit the carpet supplier, the workshop of the custom cabinet maker and the warehouse of stone to pick out stones for kitchen and bathrooms. Shawn always offered a range of options from less to more expensive. Shawn has a wonderful flare for design and helped us pick out furniture, fixtures etc and stopped us when we were going in the wrong direction. Yet he respected our sensibility and vision. He worked feverishly to get us into our house. His crew was working in a community with many rules and we were told repeatedly by neighbors how polite and respectful his crew was. Shawn was accessible and responded quickly to calls, often answering himself. He gave us an estimated time of completion and met it. He turned somersaults trying to meet the deadline. We came in on the original estimate. any additional costs were due to upgrades at our request. The quality of the work was outstanding. We have been in the house 3 weeks and can appreciate the excellence. Finally, we truly love our house because of the beauty of the design, the stone and woodwork that feels timeless and the excellence of the work done. Thank you

We had discussed a major remodeling of our outdated original master bathroom for a few years but…read morefelt overwhelmed with a project of this size. We just did not know where to begin. A thorough search LED us to Shawn and Create Interior Design. He came and met with us several times to explain his process and guide us through the entire project step by step. He drafted several design concepts based on our input and refined them until we were happy. After the basics had been locked down, it was much easier for us to choose specific tiles, colors and fixtures. The lifelike 3D renderings provided a clear vision of what the finished bathroom would look like, and removed all the guesswork and stress from this project. Shawn provided us with an extremely detailed list of every item and exact cost for the project including scheduling, permits, demo, construction, inspections and every material and fixture. It was clear that we were in experienced and competent hands. We chose to have Shawn and his team handle the project and complete all of the work period his crew was incredible. Each craftsman who worked on different parts of the remodeling was clearly a skilled professional with attention to detail and pride in their workmanship. They accommodated small changes and dealt with unforeseen issues as they occurred. Despite the scale and duration of this total remodel, they kept the work area much cleaner and more organized than we had expected. The finshed result is truly amazing. We now have a totally new bathroom which is the highlight of the entire house. We would highly recommend Create Interior Design and Shawn's thorough approach to designing, documenting, organizing and implementing your home remodeling dream project.

Mabel was amazing! Super responsive and her plans were fantastic. She took the time to meet with me…read moreand my husband several times and had fantastic input to our "vision" for our remodel. She's extremely knowledgeable and was able to answer all our questions no problem. Overall she is a pleasure to work with and I would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for an architect.

Mabel is friendly, thorough, communicative & professional. Highly recommended. She did her due…read morediligence on our job request before submitting a very detailed & price-competitive estimate.

Wafaa did an amazing job. She was super-responsive to my initial request. She came in, saw the…read morespace, and immediately had great ideas and vision for how to transform it. She really listened to what I was looking for. She did the drawings fast and made requested modifications in a day!

Scam artist! Subs out work to contractors who leave her because she won't pay them, or according to…read moreher "die"... zero management zero safety protocol, disaster start to mid finish aka paid for a lot of work she never did. Sub contracted all her work to shit people, useless. Had to hire another GC to fix her mess. You will be on American greed program soon. Plus, change your profile picture lol, u don't look like that ! Scam! Stay away

I hired DG Design (Dino Garcia is the owner) to provide design consultations and architectural…read moreplans for the renovation of my house, which included a MAJOR face lift to the front (s.f. addition, outdoor living area, etc.). What I liked about Dino is that he was - very down to earth (unlike many of the architects/designers out there), - very patient (I'm sure we drove him nuts with all the changes and questions we had :)), Dino came up with many ideas, which is what I'd expect from my designer. Dino provided a 3D version of the design, which really helped us visualize the house. Dino provided not just design services, but also provided structural engineering plans, and even went to the county office and had the plans signed and approved. Dino continued supporting us, free of charge, throughout the project in a very timely manner for any questions we had (working with contractor to clarify how to implement plans, confirming whether we can slightly deviate from plans, supervising contractor's work when being asked, etc.). On top of all of this, Dino is very price competitive (you'd be amazed with the price delta we've received for our project). I truly recommend you contact Dino (dinofg@sbcglobal.net) if you're looking for a designer / structural eng. (please note that for many projects all you need is a designer, and you don't really need an Architect, which is much more expensive!!!)

Dino is a very talented designer who did a beautiful job designing our new home in Palo Alto…read more After he finished the plans, we interviewed six contractors to build the house, and I think virtually all of them commented on how detailed and professional the plans were. This is very important so that the builder knows exactly what you want and does not take "artistic license" where the plans don't specify what is called-for. Dino understands this and works with you to understand what you want and how best to implement your preferences into the design / plans. He is also reasonably priced for the final product that he delivers, and I would recommend his services.

My wife and I had the pleasure of working with Geoff and his team on a full demolition and new…read moreconstruction of a single family home with ADU in San Francisco. We loved our experience and wholeheartedly endorse Winder Gibson to anyone looking for a full service architecture firm. From the outset, Geoff and his team demonstrated an exceptional understanding of our family's needs, which they transformed into a beautiful house design that resonates with our aspirations and lifestyle. We are currently transitioning to the construction phase, and are excited to raise our family in such a thoughtfully designed space. Also, Geoff and team are true experts at navigating the San Francisco permitting process. They efficiently moved us through permitting, both reacting to feedback from the city and helping us manage our neighbors. Honestly, we could not have permitted the house without their guidance. In a city where building homes can be difficult, the one two punch of beautiful design + the knowledge and skill to get it across the line was invaluable. We are so appreciative of Geoff and team.

We found our way to Winder Gibson through our realtor and could not be more grateful. We worked…read moreclosely with Geoff and Daniel to design our dream home. They were an absolute pleasure to work with and took on all details at every stage, including handling a difficult neighbor. At the same time, they were efficient and budget conscious, helping us stay on track both financially and time-line wise. They made what could be an overwhelming process move smoothly and enjoyably. We unreservedly recommend Winder Gibson.

My wife and I met with Brian Milford through a common friend. The referral was so strong that his…read morefirm was the only one we consulted with. We engaged with MMA as soon as we closed on the house. Our project was to increase the footprint of our San Francisco home by about 47% & modernize the front and back elevations of this ordinary, mid-century building. While we are in the starting stage of the process with MMA, we are so happy with the milestones that we feel compelled to write a review. Dealing with professional services firms is a crap-shoot. But not MMA. Our interactions and the work product were a revelation. Our definition of a good architectural firm starts with communication, education on process, expectation setting, and more communication. Layer all of that with superior design aesthetic, a keen ear for client needs, quality deliverables, on-time delivery, professional management and more communication. At the very top of the ideal 'professional cake' - the icing, if you will, is good leadership, compassionate client-management skills, and even more communication. The cherry on top, is that we ended up becoming good friends through this process. The MMA team is as solid as they come. Their work, their portfolio, and their clients (past and present) should be testament enough. That's pretty much what got us to sign up with them in the first place. But for those who want to hear directly from present clients, let me say this: Our expectations were exceeded most times, were met at others, and the few times we disagreed their process kicked in, and we were set. From a creative standpoint their work is exemplary. While it should be noted that creative firms reflect your tastes as a client, a good firm will help you move out of your zone and deliver something you would relish not just in the present but also in the ensuing years, if not decades. I am confident that our engagement is going to be very similar with MMA. And I am looking forward to seeing this relationship grow with the firm and all the people we have come in contact with. Thank you, Brian!

My husband and I highly recommend Martinkovic Milford Architects! Blake, Amanda, and Amelia were…read moreour brilliant team of architects overseen by Brian Milford. They designed our dream home and also monitored the construction/renovation process in addition to recommending a great contractor to build our home.

Highly recommend Mr McQuillan's architecture firm. Doug came out to the site in person, took…read moreextensive notes, furnished a rough draft in a timely manner, made changes and adjustments at our request very patiently, and delivered an EXCELLENT finished product. Doug McQ was a pleasure to work with, and very responsive in communicating.

Doug has been an integral part of three remodels for us. He is professional and very experienced…read more We have loved working with him and would recommend him highly.