Peter will provide you with an aesthetic and functional design that meets high standards for energy…read moreefficiency. He will work with you to make your home more livable and reduce its impact on the environment, while staying within your budget.

Peter did a great job helping me design a home renovation project. Great, frequent communication,…read moreattention to detail, and helped me think through what I wanted. Also followed up to make sure everything was okay with approvals from the city. I would definitely go with Peter if I ever need an architect again.

Don't think you need an architect for an upcoming renovation or new construction project? You do…read more Don't let the builder trick you into owning the construction AND design! How will you know if anything is done right? Don't think you can afford an architect? You can. Not all architects work on an hourly retainer. Frank helped us successfully navigate the Arlington County Use-Permit (aka variance) process. We got everything we wanted! He did all of the legwork, making it as simple as possible for us. Frank directed us through the design, always warning us when he thought we might have had some bad ideas, but was always willing to incorporate them into the design. His reasons behind the bad design was always substantiated with facts, and he always let us make the final call. Frank always made us feel like we were his only client, even though I later found out that was certainly not the case! Frank did all the footwork for the permitting process as well. His calm disposition makes for friendly interactions at the County, which is beneficial when looking for "unofficial" answers to permitting and zoning questions. That has lead to a savings for us in both time and money. Frank priced out our design lump sum, for each of the different projects we needed. We were able to select which pieces we wanted and although the scope did creep and expand, we were not ever hit with additional fees for those services. I would not hesitate to recommend Frank Durkin for any design project. His past experience shows that he can capably and creatively handle large new construction projects and small complicated renovations. You can afford an architect and your renovation/construction project will be exponentially better for it!

We used Greg at Barnstar to design a new en suite bathroom. He was great. Very punctual and very…read moreprofessional. He was able to suggest various contractors also, and helped oversee construction while we were on vacation. I strongly recommend.

We worked with Greg of Barnstar Architects during a complete remodel of the second story of our…read moreCapitol Hill townhouse. Greg was very responsive and creative, and he helped us out on to paper the vague ideas we had about redoing our second floor. He is very familiar with all the quirks of Hill homes, and also helped us through the incredibly complex process of getting all the necessary permits. He regularly visited the job site as the project progressed at no extra charge, and gave us many mid-project tips and ideas. We were very pleased with Greg's work and can't recommend him highly enough.

I have a property in a historic district, built circa 1860, and needed to renovate the entire…read morefaçade, which was literally falling apart. JC did drawings and contract management. JC's designs for the new façade were great, and his management of the project was great. I selected JC because of his experience with historic properties. Everybody I've talked to about the painful process dealing with DC's Historic Preservation Review Board, months of delays and back-and-forth and seemingly arbitrary rules that their drawings didn't meet. The HPRB reviewer approved JC's drawings in about five minutes. She even had a few admiring words for his drawings. I liked the designs too, and he provided guidance on all sorts of little details that kept the project on track. The contractor I hired made a solid effort to do the least possible work at every opportunity, but JC didn't let any of it slide. The contract stipulated that he sign off on each stage before I wrote any checks, and he never relented in pointing out low quality work, and was impressively patient in walking the contractors through every step of what they were supposed to do. He even contacted suppliers of some of the custom work to make sure they did the work right too. Of course, I paid more for his more extensive efforts, but I don't think there was a single hour he billed for that didn't show up in a better quality renovation. The house looks great, and it is to a large extent thanks to JC and his ability to keep the entire project focused on a consistent and appealing vision for the project.

This guy presents himself as a guru of green architecture, but his main talent is writing invoices…read more To design a top-to-bottom remodel of my four-story house, he visited it once. He flew in a young architect from Colorado (!) to document the house, but they were both distracted by a disaster on another job (frantically redesigning at the last minute) and the drawings of my house were a mess - a door where there wasn't one, pipes and radiators missing, measurements wrong. They brought in a 'structural engineer' who jumped up and down on one part of the concrete floor like a toddler on a trampoline, pronounced it sound, and added, grinning, "I went to school for 10 years to learn how to do this." Maybe he should have studied longer, since it turned out that the floor was cracked through, and only one inch thick in parts (and underneath it was a sewer pipe that could have passed for a colander). Helicon also gave wrong information about the DC code and regulations. As for Helicon's proposed drawings for the renovation, just for one example, we would have had to walk around a bed to get out the back door. When I began to raise questions about the work, he simply refused to answer my emails and refused to go to mediation - although that's what his contract calls for in case of a dispute. When we finally parted ways, he kept all of his hefty fees and retainer, and didn't even return the books and magazines I had lent him as examples. Now, I'm glad to say, I've got a sound, beautiful renovation underway, and a great architect - who just can't believe the drawings from Helicon.

Helicon Works provided me with truly global guidance during a major whole-house renovation,…read morebringing expert attention to the practical/technical details of design and construction as well as the spiritual aspects of making a home. The result is a home that is beautiful, functional, and energy-efficient. I did not hesitate to call on them again when undertaking a second major project.

I hired Scout Motor Company many years ago for my house renovation. Thank you Rauzia and Gregory,…read morefor doing your best to make our place an amazing place that we truly love and cherish. As you always said, a home should feel like you're on vacation, and ours truly does thanks to you. Every detail was thought through. Every aspect considered. Thanks for your talent, creativity, and patience to create our dream home. More so, your grace and professionalism are seldom seen in the fast-paced lives we lead. Gregory is meticulous with his design; the drawings were extremely detailed. He stayed in constant contact during the project and kept us completely informed on all the specific issues as the project was being built. Rauzia monitored the time-line always and made sure the contractor was building the project as designed. They are very easy to talk to and became great friends. I can speak volumes on how wonderful they were. If you're thinking about hiring them, don't hesitate in the least. Truly an amazing experience.

Rauzia was the best designer for our project. After going through a bad experience with an…read morearchitect who promised me a very low price to reel me in. This led me to look for another commercial architect. I was referred to Rauzia and she was on point, professional and worth every penny. She delivers on time and all her work is approved immediately. She also goes out of her way to meet her customer needs.

Charlie Moore and the architects at Moore Architects were a pleasure to work with. After a couple…read moreof visits with us at their office and our house, they came up with great plans for our project that incorporated our needs and as many things on our wish list as we could afford. They were also invaluable keeping the contractor on schedule and honest. They saw things during their weekly site visits that only an experienced eye would pick out. Thanks to Moore Architects, we had a great experience expanding our house. Thanks, Charlie, Chris and everyone at Moore Architects.

Go elsewhere! Save yourself the drama and total lack of accountability. One excuse after another…read morefrom begging you for a payment to pay his workers, repair upon his endless repairs with always the response "I got rid of him now I'm sending you my best" and now being completely ghosted when the poor workmanship is truly showing itself! Please see the attached ceiling, under the roofing to the extension he placed but "it's not our problem" followed by complete silence and no return calls. Pm me for additional pictures and details.

Do NOT hire Graves Design. What should have taken 3 months took over a year! From start to finish…read morethere was nothing but problems. We signed a contract in August and went to his show room on Traford Ln. in Springfield which had recently been updated with some beautiful cabinets. His assistant drew up plans for us and we chose cabinets. The drawings were sent to us and upon review, I noticed several discrepancies in measurements. I brought these to the attention of the team and they made some changes, but I would later find out not all issues were remedied. Come October we inquired when the cabinets would arrive and to our surprise it sounded like they hadn't even been ordered. After all that, the cabinets still arrived in the wrong sizes. This set us back several more months as we ended up having to reorder several. On top of that, no trim was ordered. There were no kickplates, island trim or anything for moulding. Once the second order arrived, there were still problems with the island cabinets being too tall on one side. Doug suggested we just rig them and make the island an inch taller than the rest of the kitchen. I said absolutely not. I then sat up for hours one evening trying to think of ways to make it work so we didn't have to wait yet another few months for more cabinets. I came up with a plan and we ended up doing a two level island with a bar on one side to accommodate stools. As a customer, I should never have had to be this involved in correcting the contractor's constant mistakes. Along with this, throughout the process Doug was hard to get ahold of and would never come to the home to check on things unless I insisted he did. Even then, he came once or twice over the course of 3-4 months of construction. Working with all of his subcontractors was ok, but they were not well coordinated. For instance, the countertop company showed up before the cabinets were installed. They said Doug told them that the kitchen was ready with cabinets. They came from a long ways away, so they measured what they thought would work. Of course they were wrong and we had to have new countertops cut adding more time to the process. Beyond this, we had wood flooring in our living room that came up to our kitchen tile. I told the contractors countless times we only had a few pieces of wood to replace what they might need to move, so they should be extra carful to keep anything they could. On the day they removed flooring, a large part of the wood floors were removed without care. In the end we waited another month for them to go find something similar and make it right. As the tile flooring went in, it was fine, but within a few weeks the grout started to crumble. After speaking with Doug and his assistants several times, we finally got one of his contractors to fix it. Unfortunately several months later grout started breaking out again and after months of trying to contact Doug again, we are still without a reply.