Sam Clark designed and built our kitchen. He is our gold standard of what we look for in someone…read morewho works on our house. Sam is smart, friendly, incredibly knowledgeable, is never trying to "sell" you, and is really interested in helping you get the best plan and the best prices. He wants your place to work well, and to be a source of enjoyment and satisfaction to the eyes, as well. His rates were well under those of other people with much less skill & experience, and in fact we have since called on him for consults about new projects and future work.
There are so many good things to say about working with Sam.
He really listens to what your budget is, and suggests lots of options about doing things within your budget.
We really like his taste and style - he emphasizes beautiful materials, and lets the natural materials shine through. To me, his taste is for solid, simple, elegant, non-fussy, non-faddish designs, where the lines and the materials are what pleases.
He listens to what your needs are, looks at your space, discusses various options, and will give you iterations of plans - the opposite of a cookie-cutter approach. He is a flexible thinker, and likes to know how YOU are going to use your space.
He will tell you when he disagrees with choices you're considering, make a straightforward case for why he thinks it would not enhance your space, but he lets you choose in the end.
He was interested and knowledgeable about making environmentally healthy choices, and using local suppliers, but is flexible and not dogmatic. He always explains his ideas.
He knows people, places, materials, shops, suppliers, contacts in all the related fields of house building and renovations. We asked for and got suggestions from him for stone counters (VT Stone Arts), radiators (Myson), local clapboards (Ward Mill in ME), electrical code information about a vent that someone else was installing, insulation, lead paint removers, flooring, etc, etc, etc. He's an incredible resource and consultant.
There's a really good character vibe about Sam. He was gracious to all of our other subcontractors. He has great relations with his past customers - he put us in contact with a previous customer so we could go and see their kitchen, and later sent a prospective customer to look at ours.
He is extremely responsive by phone and email. He sends plans by mail, as well.
Sam has great personal integrity - he is a straight-shooter, genuine; the money aspects are always clear, and he does what he says he'll do when he promised it. He gives honest answers to your questions - doesn't try to talk you into things, and doesn't have a show-off-y attitude.
It was a pleasure for us from start to finish working with Sam Clark. We recommend him wholeheartedly.
