A client of mine was looking for a good Architect to consult with concerning the feasibility of a…read moreremodel/expansion of his single story home in Bellevue. He had contacted several Architects who didn't seem to want to be bothered with this small of a project. I recommended Michelle Linden of atelier a+d and she has been stellar. She determined that the addition of a second story is in fact feasible and they have moved into the design phase. As Michelle is just starting her own practice (after working five years for a PNW Architectural firm as a registered architect) she is accommodating and affordable. But don't let that fool you - she knows her craft. She has strong technical, aesthetic and communication skills, all desirable traits in an Architect who is charged with translating ideas and dreams into a built space.

We recently bought a condo that needs a complete remodel. We hired Michelle to draw up the designs…read moreand also to take us throught the permit process. We are thrilled with the plans and are very impressed with how efficiently Michelle guided us through permitting. She took care of every last detail, freeing us to do the work we do best.

Motionspace was the third architect we worked with on a basement and kitchen remodel. They were…read morealso the best. They were incredibly professional, had great insight, and worked closely with our structural engineering firm. We just finished our remodel and couldn't be happier with the final product.

Nazim and Motionspace were asked to work quickly and meet a nearly impossible deadline required for…read moresubmittal. They met for a site-walk within 48 hours of the request. They worked quickly and made the permit process painless. They met our needed budgets for permits and we look forward to a continuing business relationship.

We had a fantastic experience working with ArchiUS. From start to finish, Uttara, Swati and Josepha…read morewere responsive, detail oriented, and genuinely invested in the success of our project. They offered multiple options for our space that stretched our imagination, but were sensitive to our end goals and the final drawings reflected that. Uttara and Swati's process was transparent and they were available throughout the renovation as needed. They demonstrated patience with us and our contractors and were ready to jump in with design clarification when necessary. As the Interior Designer, Josepha took the time to understand the exact vibe we were aiming for and guided us through fixture and finish selections that truly completed the look of our space. The result reflects our vision perfectly. We would gladly recommend ArchiUS to anyone looking for thoughtful, high quality design, good value and a collaborative process.

I hired ArchiUS to architect and manage an extensive remodel. I was very impressed by their…read moreprofessionalism, creativity, and attention to detail. In this review, I will share my experience of working with them and highlight some of the features of their work that I liked the most. Design Process ArchiUS followed a collaborative and iterative design process that involved me at every stage. Right from the beginning they listened to my needs, preferences, and vision for the house. They presented me with several sketches and models that captured the essence of what I wanted. We iterated the design dozens of time. ArchiUS was patient enough to go through the iterations until I was happy with the designs. They were open to feedback and suggestions all along. ArchiUS drove the permitting process as well which I really appreciate. Construction Management ArchiUS helped me find contractors, structural engineers, survey partners, landscape architects, and many more trades people. ArchiUS were closely involved during the construction phase. Changes in design were inevitable as we discovered new opportunities during the process. Team ArchiUS were creative, agile, and thorough with their changes in design. ArchiUS coordinated some difficult design decisions that had to be made along the way with the engineers, contractors, and other trades people. Finishes selection My project required us to make hundreds of decisions on finishes. Team ArchiUS helped create an inventory and timeline of what decisions needed to be made and by when. The mood boards reflected my taste and were a great starting point for me to start selections. On several occasions ArchiUS did not shy away from asking me to reconsider some of my selections which I really appreciate. Final Outcome I am very happy with the final outcome of the project. The house is beautiful, functional, and comfortable. It reflects my personality and style and suits my lifestyle and needs. It has everything I wanted and more, from the gorgeous kitchen, great outdoor space, cozy bedrooms, elegant bathrooms, and the landscaped garden. It is truly my dream home. Conclusion I would highly recommend Team ArchiUS to anyone who is looking for a reliable, creative, and professional architectural firm. They are experts in their field, and they deliver high-quality work. They demonstrate high work ethic and are easy to work with. They made the whole process of my extensive remodel much easier. Their project management approach is the sweet spot between what complete design and build firms offer (higher cost, higher degree of project management support) and doing everything on your own (lower cost but higher time commitment). I am very grateful to them for helping me turn my vision into reality.

I hired this company to complete an as-built and a build-out, and the experience has been nothing…read moreshort of frustrating. My main contact, Joe Pascua, has been completely unresponsive and constantly procrastinating on the project. At first, they claimed they couldn't start until they received more information once they got it, they added another four weeks to the schedule. After I submitted payment, communication became sparse and inconsistent. Joe repeatedly promised updates and completion dates that never materialized. This ongoing lack of communication and follow-through has cost me hundreds of dollars per day in delays, and continues as I have yet to receive the finished permit-ready drawings. I would strongly caution anyone considering this company they do not deliver on their commitments or communicate in a timely manner. If you don't have money to waste stay away.

Hands down the best experience I've had with a company! Joey Pascua was a pleasure to work with,…read moreand to be frank, he deserves a raise! He was extremely knowledgeable, kind, and offered advice when the government was illegally trying to hold us up on our project. They by far have the best prices in the industry, and a company has never looked out for my interest the way these guys did! They did a wonderful job on our shop inspection, and the home design they are doing for us is coming along beautifully. I can't recommend them enough, whether you need an architect, structural engineer, designer, or anything in between, whatever your home needs are go to these guys! They will take good care of you! P.S. If you see this same review for Rueppell Home Design/Design Build NW, it's because the companies are related and I wanted to give these wonderful guys a shout out everywhere I could!

Chris at Bodhi builders has done several projects for us over the years. The first on was my front…read moresteps. There were very unstable and rickety. Chris bought new hardware took the existing steps apart and put them back together, with the new hardware, and the were solid and better then ever. The next project was the "Dining room". He removed the wallpaper and scraped the popcorn ceiling. Pulled up the old carpet. Installed a new subfloor and some gorgeous black slate. He removed the old framing from the windows and doors. Replaced all the windows (eventually "all 30 windows" in the entire home) with new Pella windows. He also replaced the 3 sliding doors. He stained and put up new framing on all the windows and door. He installed my new chandelier. As mentioned above he also replace all 30 windows in the house and did all the internal framing. He introduced me to a painter and they worked together on the outside, Chris framed up the windows on the outside and painter was able to caulk and paint the exterior of the home. Other projects Chris has done for me "The Garage" Cleaning (taking all my old junk away, and there was a lot of it), adding a second floor for storage with a pull down stair case, and a slider in the in the back of the garage for easy access to the 2nd floor. He put up insulation, siding and painted the entire garage and added several new outlets. He also built a custom shed that fits next to our deck. Chris is my go to guy for advice whenever I am considering any project and he has come out to oversee work on several occasions! Highly recommended!!!

I knew my basement needed a remodel but first I had to figure out how and why water was continuing…read moreto seep in at the corner of my foundation. After spending 10k in new drainage outside of my house hoping to stop the water intrusion and finding it did not, felt defeated and had no idea where to turn next. I had heard about Chris and Bodhi Builders through some friends and decided to give him a call. Chris came out and asked if he could pull out a section of wall where the water was before we discussed my "vision" for downstairs. First thing was stopping the water. He knew right away what the problem was and it was simple - old deck flashing was allowing water to get trapped and it was making its way down the wall onto the floor! I don't know how the prior two companies missed this but needless to say, I felt so much relief because I could see the issue myself and with Chris' explanation it made it much more easy to digest. Chris and I finished the walkthrough with what I wanted to accomplish and he and his crew fit me into their schedule. Peace of mind was on the way. Throughout my time with Chris and the crew learned that the team has extensive design and build crossover with the restaurant industry apart from residential work which only adds to their artistic eye and craftsmanship. This is a well tenured group that I will bring back when I remodel my upstairs bathrooms and kitchen. I am still moving things around so my picture story is not complete but this was once a 1976 wood panel (the kind of panel that would give you slivers and that had spiders living in it) kind of basement. Thank you Chris and Bodhi Builders for bringing me into modern times! Leah M.

Highly recommend, able to get the test done accurately, and it is the limited vendor who can do…read moreovernight noise testing.

The team at SSA was extremely responsive, knowledgeable, and helpful providing guidance and support…read morefor selecting and testing floor underlayments. Amazing to have this class of expertise right here in the neighborhood!

It's taken awhile to write this review, I have so much to say... Hiring an architect was one of the…read morehardest parts of building a new home. We found the perfect lot and I had a vision of what we wanted there. We interviewed three architects and Carl blew us away. (He was also very busy with other projects.) So after meeting him, we knew immediately that we wanted to hire him for the house. Carl doesn't take on multiple projects, so we felt pretty lucky that he was able to take ours. Carl asked a lot of thoughtful questions to drill down on what we valued in a home. He was interested in flow, size, budget, the view, style, room count... We had a lot to think about. Because of the thoroughness of his questions, he had a great feel for the project immediately. After each breakthrough, Carl would come over with the latest design. One of my favorites came to him while trying to sleep. He was always creative and excited about our home. He blew us away with his tissue paper designs and he often had more than one to choose from. Carl is very easy to communicate with. He understood the changes we made. He was efficient with his time, with our time. He visited the job site during construction, often. I feel he had a great relationship with our builder and the contractors on-site. And almost everyone building our home remarked at the wonderful design. If you are looking for a custom home, Carl is the guy. I marvel at what he created. His design offers a view from all five bedrooms, our kitchen and dining area, the living room and the lower TV room. Our bedrooms are situated away from the noisy street. He added beautiful finishing elements and maintained the integrity of the style. "I love my house"only begins to describe how much I enjoy and appreciate what Carl designed.

While creating a website for Carl Colson (http://carlcolsonarchitect.com), I had the pleasure of…read moreseeing many samples of his beautiful work and collaborating with a highly creative, accomplished, and thoughtful architect with a great sense of style and impeccable attention to detail. Carl can apply his passion and experience to many different projects, commercial as well as residential, while always staying true to the beauty and harmony of the architectural language he has developed over many years.

I am extremely disappointed with their design, which caused us significant frustration and added…read moreexpense. I would not recommend this firm to anyone. They specified 7' interior and exterior doors, which must be special-ordered and cost nearly three times more than standard 6'8" doors. By the time this issue was identified, the house was already framed. We requested that the contractor lower the door openings from 7' to 6'8", which required additional materials and labor. In construction, any change order means redoing completed work, resulting in unnecessary additional costs. The bathroom windows are also oversized for the rooms. No privacy. Additionally, the drawings were inconsistent across the three bathrooms. In two bathrooms, the toilets were correctly centered at 18", but in the third bathroom the toilet was centered at only 15", even though there was sufficient space for 18". The plumber had to move the toilet 3", which again resulted in added expense.

This review doesn't exist for any reason other than to let others know of our life-altering…read moreexperience from trusting AIRD with our home; a fact-based caveat emptor of sorts. An outcome of trusting AIRD is delayed retirement to fund remediation of design/construction defects so our 1000sf house can function w/o long-term structural, water & other damage. AIRD's reviews & ratings on this site as well other sites are compromised by reviews made by employees of the general contractor she collaborated with). (Rebuttal to Jan2023 reply: Alexandra Immel did not fully cover costs related to one of her firm's erroneous omissions. We were still stuck w a $3K balance for one subcontractors. We paid for/endured delays due to her employee's other omissions. Wasting $3K+, extra months of double rent/mortgage, do-over construction materials & labor is a tiny expense relative to our total cost of remediating issues that originate AIRD's design (& omissions), as well as trusting the contractor Alexandra so wholeheartedly recommended for executing AIRD's plans. The client should never need to research City construction energy code when they're paying professional designers. But I was forced to. Like most people, I *want* to give good reviews, want to believe that when several hundred thousands of dollars is being borrowed & spent, it's spent it wisely. In reality, some people will allow emotions to positively bias their reality of such a huge investment, their reviews, enable excuse-making for individuals they find personally amiable, overlook the aspects that were professionally lacking. Unlike them, for this project, I invested time & money not to make a new "friend" to forgive, but to have a home with better space & small 250sf addition for a better quality of life. The cure is almost always worse than doing things right w the right people from the start. We had/hv no choice but to remediate ASAP. The time to minimize risk of preventable rot (of materials Alexandra insisted on), leaks & other defects is upon discovery of such design defects, not 5-10 years down the road which is when they would have shown up in the form of compromised structural integrity (final product & plans were evaluated by several design/construction pros). There's no space for "positivity bias" in this case no matter how much benefit of the doubt I wanted to extend. When a project involves moving out/in, (14mos of gas guzzling time-suck commuting is more than adequate for adding 250sf & a bathroom), mortgage $, it's critical staff hv adequate skill, knowledge & attn to structural/enviro detail, be *up-to-date* on critical skills/issues involved (appropriate materials, enviro impact, bldg & energy codes). Also essential is a genuine leader of a team who also truly values the time & financial resources of their client. AIRD fell short in all these respects. I'll never forget the comment spoken out loud at an early zoom meeting where Alexandra Immel literally said, in her own words w/ a smile, "money is cheap" (interest rates were lower; conversation is on record). The standard *looking* design plans AIRD produced were so lacking in detail, especially at critical structural junctures that the builder Alexandra recommended could not to execute her firm's designs, w/o trial & error & multiple do-overs, as if they were learning on the job & lacked the experience Alexandra Immel claimed they had. They'll naturally blame each other but absent legal action, the client is stuck w/ the total cost. Cascades of decisions are based on upstream decisions & good data, visual renderings. In our case they were asked for & promised at the start. But were never delivered in a timely manner PRIOR to critical decision points. A logical *looking* workflow on paper from a designer means nothing w this frequency of omissions (incl on plans signed off by the then lone registered architect in the firm at that time & caught by the city inspector). Any builder is dependent not just on designers' plans, but also knowledge of & respect for city code, as well as time-tested experience. Per WA records for just the last 7 yrs, the builders so heartily, *gushingly* recommended by Alexandra Immel had numerous safety violations & violations involving unlicensed (in our case, also incompetent) workers. Per state court records the builders also have 16 cases listed, between the state SUPREME, Appellate courts plus superior courts of at least two counties. When I checked with the state, spoke with Olympia, Immel's own registration attempt as an architect stalled out over two decades ago. Which would be fine had she kept up with the ever-evolving field of residential design (sub 4000sf builds don't require registered architects). I wasn't looking for inspiration, just competency, honesty. What I got was, & is still to this moment, a nightmare of a mess to tediously undo & clean up at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, robbing us of years of quality of life.

Josh does an OUTSTANDING job! He is very honest, easy to talk to and will help you design the home…read moreof your dreams. He is very transparent through the process and makes you feel like he is in your corner every step of the way. I would highly recommend him to anyone I know in the Seattle area looking for architect needs.

From the owner: Josh Architects focuses on friendly, personalized modern residential design with exceptional…read morequality and extraordinarily prompt service. Our background in construction paired with our out-of-the-box thinking provides innovative architecture while being considerate to realities of the construction process. We assist clients in project feasibility, concept development, permitting, getting bids from qualified builders, construction drawings, and monitoring quality during the construction process. We also have a knack for overcoming challenging permitting issues.

Great reputation but when I met with one of their executives I felt they were the definition of…read morearrogant and evasive. I wasn't impressed. Check out their website. You may have a different experience.

From the owner: Mithun is an integrated design firm dedicated to creating positive change in people's lives. As a…read morenational practice with offices in San Francisco and Seattle, we are a unified design studio with an open and collaborative spirit founded on a process of inquiry and listening. Our team of Architects, Landscape Architects, Interior Designers, Urban Designers and Planners creates seamless experiences that are unique expressions of each client, community and place. We work in a wide range of typologies and scales - with a focus on urban environments and places where people live, work, and learn. Mithun is an internationally recognized leader in sustainability, combining exemplary design with a focus on building and site performance, human health and social equity.