Tony handled our project with care, his work was meticulous and he listened to all of our needs…read more We knew we would need plans for our renovation and Tony was our guy. His services were reasonably priced and he was attentive to our requests, giving his expect opinion as well. We had minimal permit issues with Tony's plans. We would happily work with him again and highly recommend his services.

So far Tony has been very easy to work with. Not arrogant or pushy but laid back and agreeable…read moreeven when the site conditions and code constraints pose challenges. Tony is very good at thinking outside the box and troubleshooting said issues. He also has a good network of consulting engineers to help advise and offer solutions.

I just used Rick for a second time on a JADU project for my 1900 historical in Santa Rosa…read more He and his team were perfect the first time. Perfect the second time around as well. Thanks a million Rick

In order to get permits approved for some proposed work on our home, we required the services of…read moresomeone who could prepare professional drawings. Our contractor suggested we contact Rick Balduc to get these drawings done. From start to finish, Rick was prompt, efficient and easy to work with. He delivered what he promised in a cost-efficient, timely manner and made the process seamless and smooth. In addition, he worked well with our contractor, communicating in a very professional and transparent manner, which we appreciated. We highly recommend Rick Balduc and his service.

We hired Studio 101 Designs to do an extensive remodel that completely transformed our aging ranch…read morehome into a modern, green, energy-efficient home. Studio 101 Designs has a great process, and immediately understood the kind of home we wanted and did a great job moving the project throughout the various phases from early sketches to schematic design to construction administration. Because they have extensive green building experience, they had great advice on materials and product choices. Our project had a number of issues throughout the construction process, but Studio 101 Designs was always able to deal with issues in a reasonable way. We found them to be very responsive throughout the whole process. They were excellent to work with, talented architects, very honest, and thoughtful, and I highly recommend them.

When we purchased our home 3 years ago it needed a ton of work. The potential was there, but the…read morehouse had no flow (each room had a different theme), was not very functional (i.e rooms dominated by over-sized and outdated fireplaces), and desperately needed a major remodel after +30 years since the last update. Scott and James listened to all of our needs and ideas and were able to transform our home into a contemporary gem within a very modest budget for the scope of this project. Hard to explain in words- I'll let the before and after pics of the "San Rafael Remodel" on their website speak for itself. Beyond the quality of their work, Scott and his team know how to manage expectations and are great people to work with. The only bad news about this house is the projects never end. We're looking forward to working with Scott and the Studio 101 team again this spring to design a guest house/office addition

Even though they weren't able to help us with our project, Becca responded promptly and went above…read moreand beyond by giving us referrals to other local companies. I appreciate it Noah Young Law Group

Thrive renovated our 1975 contractor's spec house, taking advantage of all the property's pluses…read moreand eliminating the minuses. After living here 18 months, I still marvel at the high level of comfort, functionality, and beauty that Thrive achieved. Quality subcontractors, piles of practical knowledge, and genuine human beings.

Working with Sam was one of the best decisions we made for our project. He's the rare designer who…read morebalances creativity with genuine care. He listened closely to what we wanted, then brought thoughtful suggestions that made the final result even better than we imagined. He also helped us find and communicate with contractors, which saved us so much stress as it was our first renovation. Sam is kind, patient, and truly invested in his clients' happiness while also being so gifted creatively. We're grateful for his work and would recommend him without hesitation.

I had the pleasure of working with SDL Residential Design for a custom Tubbs Fire rebuild in Sonoma…read moreCounty. Overall it was a very positive experience. Sam produced a great site feasibility document and we spent several months working on a design for the project. I had an initial vision, but Sam really helped me articulate exactly what I had in mind and created an amazing design for my project. He took the time to meet with me on site multiple times and the beautiful design really integrated well with the site and local conditions and would have greatly enhanced my property. He also helped me get in touch with several local builders and solicited initial estimates for the project. Those estimates ended up being above my budget and I decided to delay the build. However, my initial work with SDL was extremely positive and laid the groundwork for me to be ready when the time comes for my project to continue. I highly recommend SDL for your custom home project.

Plans were so good for a bathroom addition at my daughter's house they were approved with no…read morealterations within 10 minutes by Santa Rosa's planning department. We're going to have Ivan come up with a bathroom addition for our house next.

Ivan has been our architect on two major projects now and we feel so fortunate to have been…read moreintroduced to him!! He is first of all a man of integrity, talent and intelligence and second of all has a way of listening, probing and really 'getting' what you're looking for..and sometimes he anticipated or offered ideas that really furthered our thinking! He also brings years and years of all kinds of experiences, styles and a full range of budgetary understanding to his work. We had a fairly complex structural job done on completely remodeling our kitchen/family room and bath and within a couple of rounds of drafts he nailed it and then moved on to the final drawings. Ivan also worked beautifully with the contractor and structural engineer and made the whole thing work so well that we returned for a second project of remodeling our master bedroom. Ivan is the consummate professional and man of integrity and masterful ideas and follow-through!! He is an A+++ architect in our book and YES, we're now thinking of yet another project...!!

Brent designed our new home and we could not be happier. He did all the engineering and energy…read morecalcs along with designing our perfect home.... Highly recommended

Beware. Colleen Mahoney, the principal and owner at Mahoney Architects earned my trust in November,…read more2021 by relating to our remodel objectives and budget. I've done two large remodels in the past so am experienced with the process. As far as remodels go, this was considered on the small side and largely consisted of opening up the kitchen to the living & dining room and opening up the space to the outside. We allocated a budget of $230,000 for this project. Colleen said that was reasonable and estimated her architectural services would run 10% of the total budget or $23,000. She assured me that her firm was excellent at managing their services to a budget. Short story is Mahoney Architects completed about 35% of the project for 100% of their estimate. Their invoices reflected rework and unnecessarily working on designs that did not meet project objectives and could have been easily resolved by talking to the client. Perhaps worse, is that Colleen never saw an issue with her invoices. A more detailed account follows. Mahoney Architects started the project on Nov 16, 2021, measuring the house and drafting the As Built Drawings in AutoCad. Because of a bookkeeper error, I did not receive the November invoice until Dec 30. At $5,926, it seemed high but after I asked how much of the project that invoice represented, Colleen emailed that it represented "20 - 25%." That projected total architect fees of $23,704 - $29,630, which is higher than the original estimate, but still in the ball park. On Jan 7, 2022 I received the December invoice for $18,098. I was stunned the two invoices totaled $24,024. There was no communication that their billings were already over the estimate. All that had been completed was As Built Drawings (Site Plan, Floor Plan, Elevations, Cross Section of Floor Plan) and two design sketches that did not meet the project objectives. We still did not have a workable Design nor Construction Documents (Demo Plan, Floor Plan, Electrical/Mechanical Plan, Interior Elevations, Exterior Elevations). After I requested that all work stop until we had a discussion, Colleen took 6 days to write me a formal letter in which she listed everything they did and said it was all appropriate. She never acknowledged that they were over the estimate. She estimated that it would take at least another 100 hours or roughly $19,000 to finish a design and create the construction documents. We met to attempt to come to a reasonable resolution. But Colleen could never answer why the As Built Drawings were so far above the estimate, nor did she acknowledge or recognize why a client would be worried about that. There was no project scope increase and measuring and drawing the existing house is the most predictable part of a remodel project. In the end, I paid her firm $20,426 for the release of the four As Built Drawings. A very expensive lesson for being too trusting on what I was sold.

I have worked with Colleen for the better part of 25 years. She has always been very professional…read moreand has beautiful designs that the client is always happy with. I would recommend her highly to anyone that is interested in new construction, remodel/addition. Walt Kehr