“We hired Brian for an 800-square-foot home addition for three main reasons: First, he came highly recommended from friends whose house he’d designed and built; second, we liked the idea of an architect, builder and general contractor all in one person; and third, we loved that he was green-certified, because we wanted to “green up” our 1926 Tudor and make sustainable choices but knew we’d need some guidance. We were a little concerned that his work seemed primarily focused on new, modern and/or contemporary homes and ours was 88 years old, but that turned out to be no concern at all. In fact, his knowledge and appreciation of art and design, history and architecture make him not only a great conversationalist but a wise consultant, helping to ensure that our choices in materials and design fit our house as well as our vision and budget.
Brian is smart, conscientious and an excellent communicator. He anticipates concerns before they happen and/or before they affect the budget. His estimates were detailed and on target; there were no budget surprises along the way. Through the course of the job, Brian was on site at some point almost every day, touching base, checking and directing the work of his many tradespeople, who were consistently top notch. We were impressed with every single carpenter, plumber, tiler, dry waller and other worker Brian brought in — they always put down drop cloths before entering the house, were mindful of the landscaping or the cats or the kids, cleaned up at the end of each day, etc.
Overall, working with Brian was a great experience. He’s a highly trained architect and builder with a great team but he isn’t afraid to pick up a hammer or a broom. His overall know-how, sense of humor, diplomacy and respectful relationships with his trades (and us) kept things running smoothly and worked well for us and our project. We have a beautiful, energy-efficient new master bedroom, bathroom, dream closet and fourth bedroom to prove it!”
Cyndi Summers & Rick Neilson
Birmingham
