Stay away from this business at all costs, just as previous, legitimate reviewers, such as Darius,…read morehave indicated here. I hired Sean Canning at Ten Seventy Architecture to design an ADU for me in the Kensington neighborhood of San Diego. After I paid him approximately $5000 in advance, he failed to produce a viable design, even after I provided him with multiple opportunities. He put a recent SDSU grad, who isn't an architect, in charge of my project as the designer and incorporated none of what I had requested. For example, multiple times I shared my desire for bays of windows and a "tree house quality." Below is a picture of the design that I got for my $5000. Furthermore, by their own admission, what they presented me, for the thousands that I had paid, was filled with technical errors. I therefore cancelled the project, because I had completely lost faith in their abilities and didn't want to continue to throw good money after bad. Now, they're trying to extort more money out of me, threatening me with legal action because I cancelled the project. Be warned!

When I need to pull out the big guns, I call Sean and his team. Sean is an architect whose…read moreexpertise is invaluable to many stages of a projects including preliminary conceptual planning, value engineering, and City review cycles. He has a thorough, meticulous nature which is a critical quality to have in an architect (I learned the hard way). It's a beautiful thing to work with someone who knows a lot of key code by heart and brings clarity to confusion. I recommend Sean highly, but don't need him when I do! ;)

Brandon was really helpful on our phone conversation. He explained what we need to do. He spent all…read morekind of time with us we will be using BVM DESIGN for our project

Brandon was great to work with on the design of our two story home addition. From concept to…read morepermit in hand everything went smoothly. Thank you for all of you expertise. We are happy to recommend BVM Design!

I have a simple single family home near Windansea beach. It was built in the early 90's, and has…read morerequired, up to now, very little maintenance. But it needs some work now. I visited Mark Bucon's office, as I walk by nearly every day, thinking as long as I was going to fix the broken things, maybe I could improve some things that are outdated, or that were designed inefficiently to begin with. I made a career in commercial real estate development, and felt confident of my ability to assess the needs of updating my home myself. However, very quickly, evaluating my own home became overwhelming. I knew I needed a second set of eyes. Mark has a real eye for detail. With my permission, and total disclosure of his fees, etc.... he measured up my house, shot grades, all that kind of groundwork that is needed to make smart decisions regarding building changes. Just having that information alone kept me from making expensive mistakes. After that groudwork was done, he, again with my permission and knowledge of his costs, drew up some easy to read concept designs to address all of the broken things, and various ideas to update the look and functionality of the property, and didn't waste time designing things outside my budget. He has tremendous knowledge of the suitability of the materials that will endure in the environment they'll be built in (here a marine environment). He has an excellent eye for what will look and function well, as well as just being practical. He never tried to upsell me, or marry me to any particular product or contractor, or anything like that... just design ideas and options. I was also able to get a handle on the costs for the various options... very helpful in prioritizing what will likely be a multi year project; one thing at a time, as I am working with a small budget for an expensive neighborhood I do not want to leave. Before calling Mark, I did call other architects and contractors prominent in the area, who all left me feeling a little abused. Like they did to my neighbor... just drew up some outlandish plan covering every square inch of their property.. costing millions to build, and charging my neighbor a lot doing so... Neighbor ended up just moving. In addition to being a damn good designer and architect, Mark was just friendly and low, low pressure. He came out to my home several times to dig around himself looking for details on the foundation, the property line markers, stuff in the crawlspace, condition of the roof, etc... Normally, I would have been asked to find that information out on my own and deliver it to him, which is costly and problematic. So now, I have solid ideas, options, information on costs and materials, and time to decide what to do while looking for the funds to renovate. Bottom line, Mark approached this project with a holistic, "multi-generational" view. His best idea, although the most expensive, would allow my family, my grown children, and their families to live at the property after I'm gone (or, even if I am here). Mark lives in the area, and knows the rules as well as anyone I've spoken with. It's nice to know I can house my whole family if times get rough (I didn't think that would be possible before). And, probably the most important point, if you are still reading this novella, Mark won the trust of my highly skeptical wife, who generally distrusts anyone proclaiming to be able to help with renovation of the house... That is her purview, and she is protective as hell... it's one reason maintenance is deferred... She would just chase away the people I would hire to fix even the simplest thing. When the time comes for actual drawings, I will absolutely stick with Mark. He knows the staff at the City.. he knows the rules, he is a good advocate, and has given me a lot of peace of mind that I won't screw this project up, like I have seen in so many other renovation projects. I highly recommend Mark Bucon, well above the other local arrogant professionals who really do just want to draw up a random set of plans for an overbuilt project, charge you $30k, and not even bothering to ask what you really want, which in my case, is to live here comfortably and affordably for decades to come.... everyone else wanted to look at what I can do to improve the property and sell it for a big profit... they didn't understand that is not what I am seeking.. Mark did. Thank you Mark Bucon!

Mark was fantastic at giving me some initial information and assistance as I am looking at doing a…read moreCustom Home. I have not started the project yet, but Mark invested the time to provide assistance and his expertise as he met with me and my General Contractor. Very professional.

Hi Doug, I hope that…read moreall is well. I've been admiring your designs and work for quite some time. Feel free to reach out to me if you ever have an ORCO Block questions, or request. Hennesys Hernandez Architectural Sales 760-799-4925 hennesys.hernandez@orco.com

I wanted to remodel my home but found "design build" type companies lacking in any real depth of…read morearchitecture and art history. I'm a bit of an academic type and a history buff and wanted to work with someone with similar interest and knowledge who could not just help me bring my ideas into reality, but could introduce me to new ones as well. Douglas exceeded my expectations!! He made a fixed price for what he called the "Design Phase" and then proceeded to take took me through as many ideas and versions of plans that I could ever have dream of, and then some!! He was extremely sensitive to not just functional things like sizes of rooms and circulation, but also had a great sense of natural lighting, proportions and architectural style. Working with Douglas was a pleasure. He was patient, generous with his time, and together we came up with a plan that I'm very proud of. Of course doing a remodel can be scary, but I was so confident with our final design that bringing it into reality was actually fun and exciting!!! I can truly say that, if you want to work with a highly skilled, creative, patient and generous architect, choose Doug Simon Architecture!!

Our expectations when offering referrals are very high. I'm only going to refer my friends and…read morefamily to people whom I know and trust. Seth Larsen is one of those people. He's more about building relationships than structures, and he realizes that every project is about the customer and not him nor his company. Another great thing is that Stel studies the markets and understands where the return on investments are going to be in any particular area and type of project. I recommend Stel Builders for your remodeling project... 100%.

We were becoming totally frustrated in our search for an architect and a general contractor to…read moreguide an extensive remodel of our home. What we needed and seemingly could not find was an honest estimate of costs, an architect who could help us design our project and drive the permit process, and a contractor to build the project. Finally we happened upon STEL Builders. Cory, a walking advertisement for why you need to contract with STEL, jumped on our project and quickly gave us a realistic idea of costs. He introduced us to Frank, who is an awesome person and STEL's in-house architect. Frank gave us three options of drawings to choose from. Each option met our basic requirements and also outlined possible upgrades. Based on our budget, we committed to a plan. Within two months we had permits and construction began. We were assigned a dedicated project manager with whom we met weekly to assess progress in demo and ultimately new construction. Even before demo began, we met our design angel in Ivette. She guided us through selection of fixtures, cabinetry, tile, wall coverings, flooring; all the aspects of a remodel that keeps novices like us up at night. Her calm demeanor combined with her creative ideas made this an amazingly pleasurable experience! Ivette led us to our dream design outcome, and all within the budget we worked out with savant Cory in the beginning. STEL has great relationships with all the best subcontractors & receives priority on their projects, keeping the downtime in construction to a minimum. Midway through construction, our project manager left STEL. They hired a super pro replacement in Roberto. His many years of experience enabled us to stay on track for completion and enhanced the quality of the final product. Roberto is already a tremendous asset to STEL! And all along, even as he continued to take on new projects, Cory stayed in touch and treated us as if we were his only client. No question or inquiry we had was too small or insignificant for him to address nearly as quickly as it was expressed. We moved back into our home after six months and felt like every dream we had dreamt for our forever home had come true. The outcome has exceeded our very high expectations. In Cory's introduction, he touted STEL as a small, family oriented and local Design & Build Company. He was right about that. However, we think he understated how committed to these values Seth Larson and STEL Builders really are. They get it! For people like us, this is the largest and last big expenditure we'll ever make. They treated us with respect, congeniality, honesty and integrity. Our lives and our home from now on are forever enhanced from having met and worked with Cory, Frank, Ivette and Roberto. Thank you Seth Larson for the team you've built. Thank you STEL Builders, our new extended family!

I looked for a structural engineer for over two months. Interviewing and talking to over 6…read morestructural engineers. I became very frustrated and then I was referred to Moe and his team at NJ Design and Build. It was the BEST decision I made through this entire new construction project. MOST IMPORTANT - they do everything under one roof so if any situation arises they don't blame another company. Their knowledge, expertise, communication, quick responses, attention to detail, and professionalism was beyond what I expected. Not only are they extremely knowledgeable with structural engineering but they are familiar with the entire process start to finish with architects all the way to how the city works. I wish I could give them 10 stars. I highly highly recommend this company and would use them for any future projects I have.

I am very pleased to work with Sajad from this company. The staff are very hard working, on time…read moreand always professional with their work. I communicated with Sajad and she helped me to schedule an estimation site visit. They were very reasonable and convenient with their prices. Mo also explained to me the steps for my bathroom remodeling. I highly recommend this company for any of your construction projects or designs. I am very satisfied with their work even though I am hard to satisfy when it comes to my house and I am very picky with small details. This will definitely be my go-to company for any projects in my office or home.

I was referred by an interior designer to Jennifer to get help with a smaller project. Seems like…read morearchitect in the Bay area don't want to take on a smaller project. I spoke to Jennifer and I think it is her assistance by the name of Torrey multiple times about my project. I am very thankful for their honesty and kindness. These 2 ladies know what they are doing, they return calls as they promise and they are detailed oriented. Thank you Jennifer for taking time to speak with me today and explain to me hwo to go about changing plans for my project. After having a horrible/dishonest experience dealing with a design company up here it was very refreshing to know that honest people are out there.

We recently used Jennifer at EOS architecture for a large Eco-oriented project. Their office is…read morelocated in OB. She could visualize & put our aesthetic/style into a plan. Jennifer is extremely professional, honest, and fair priced. I would say she went above and beyond the calling. If we had changes, she would quickly ammend them on the blueprints. Not only is she spatially minded, but design oriented. We found her through a mutual friend. She was our first choice after interviewing a few other architects. Her intern Christian was equally delightful to work with. I would highly recommend EOS. Many designers come into our establishment & compliment the space. We are thrilled to have worked with EOS. It was the right choice.

Bill was perfect to work with. He was able to turn our visualization into reality. His patience,…read moreaccuracy and creativity are First Class. You won't go wrong with Bill Metz and Primary Design.

Bill has provided architectural planning and permits on several jobs for us at Keller and Keller…read moreConstruction here in San Diego. He is friendly efficient and very talented I recommend him highly.