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! ;)

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nearly every day, thinking as long as I was going to fix the broken things, maybe I could improve some things that are outdated, or that were designed inefficiently to begin with.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!!

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!

After carefully rsearching the best design-build firms, we picked Stel Builders because they are a…read morelocal, right-sized, family-owned company who could personalize a design just for us. Jason and Frank patiently created the perfect building plans, and Brian expertly managed the project. We are very pleased with our newly remodeled home.

We used Mark Lyon's services for a major remodel of our home. We had a number of meetings with Mark…read moreto draw up our dream home and he came up with multiple options. After working together, we came up with the perfect plan, however, we had to put the project on hold for a year. When we were ready to resume, Mark welcomed us back and got to work right away. We proceeded to get the plans ready to submit to the city and he brought in engineers to help with the plans. Now before we got into everything, we did receive a quote, however, what we ended up paying for was above the quote. The additional expenses were explained, however, I would have preferred if we discussed some of these before incurring the expenses. Once we got approval from the city, we did need to meet with Mark and our general contractor as there was some confusion on some of the specs. We ended up working through it all and everyone was happy in the end. Mark made sure that our voices were heard by our GC and that any changes made were our decisions. I appreciate that Mark looked out for us and that he wanted to make sure that we were happy. Even with some of the hiccups we encountered, we definitely would recommend Mark if you are looking for an architect. He is an honest guy and really took the time to make sure that we were able to achieve our dream home.

A Terrific Local Architect With Years of Experience in La Jolla!…read more Mark Lyon has been the "go to" architect guy for many locals and out of towners alike. Mark can save you a lot or time and money due to his vast experience in designing new and remodeled local La Jolla homes and ties to the community. We tore down an existing home in the Bird Rock area, put in underground parking and have enjoyed our Mark Lyon designed home going on 8 years now! No job is too small or large. Give Mark a call on your next project.

I highly recommend NJ Design &build The quality of their…read morework is impressive, just look at the beautiful finishing, attention to detail, and thoughtful design. I definitely recommend scheduling a consultation with them. They will listen to your ideas, guide you through your options, and be a great help in bringing your vision to life.

Moe and Sajad are the best in the business. I've completed multiple projects with them, and they…read morehandled everything from architecture to construction to interior design. Their pricing was very fair, and they completed every project on time. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to remodel their home or build an ADU.

Hauck Architecture is absolutely the go-to firm for breweries and restaurants! I've had the honor…read moreof photographing several of their projects in San Diego and can attest to their high level of work and experience. They are also a great company to work with!!

Not a good experience in a multi-year, multi-mistake journey for a ground-up commercial…read moreundertaking. Mistakes on his plan cost us thousands of dollars in construction change orders & costs of delays. I recommend to shop around.

I hired Jimmy with CitiZen to help me with an add-on/remodel and let me tell ya - amazing! I…read morecouldn't be happier. I was in one of those 'hurry up and wait' situations and he waited patiently for our city approvals, then stepped on the gas the moment we needed him to draw everything up. He literally had our elaborate designs done perfectly in just 2 days. No revisions needed at all! He was a kick to work with (what a happy and fun person - wow!), was speedy, and billed very fairly. I highly recommend CitiZen to anyone looking for a great designer. I have worked with others and the experience was nothing like this. Save your money from over-billing and save your heart from the stress of the run around. This truly was a ZEN experience....

My husband and I needed help with the design of the home we recently purchased. We found Jimmy…read moreSullivan at CitiZen and couldn't be happier. He helped us redo our kitchen tile, select paint colors for the entire house, select furniture, change out light fixtures, etc. We love Jimmy's sense of modern, yet warm and functional, style. Not to mention, he is very affordable, is respectful of budget constraints, and is just generally a nice guy.