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nearly every day, thinking as long as I was going to fix the broken things, maybe I could improve some things that are outdated, or that were designed inefficiently to begin with.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

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!

Chris is thoughtful, and insightful. He offered creative solutions and ensured accountability to…read moredeadlines and milestones.. Chris is a collaborative partner and is always reachable by phone. ,,Added more Sq.Feet ,Bigger Rooms ,but came in on budget.Thanks again Chris.!Photos to come Later.!!

We used Chris for our renovation/addition in the old North End in Burlington, VT and were…read moreincredibly pleased with all of the work he performed throughout the entire process. Because our rental property is in an historic district with very strict zoning and building requirements, we had to understand and adhere to these standards and conditions in order to permit the project. Chris was great in this phase of the renovation, as he knew the regulations, how to work within them, and how to properly relay this to my team and to the town to permit as planned. The actual design was great! Not only did it solve a lot of our issues with the space, but it incorporated other small, smart details in the form and function of the space, all while being aesthetically pleasing. In addition, the design and the finished material recommendations for the exterior were in line with the city's historic zoning rules by both working with the look and feel of the original building, and clearly being a new addition/renovation. Even thought we designed and began the permitting process, literally years before starting construction, Chris was there ready for the final phase when we were finally ready to build (after our tenant moved out). He recommended us an amazing structural engineer for the final engineering drawings, truss design and load/foundation needs, and then helped us troubleshoot a few details once the project began. All in all, i would absolutetly work with Chris again on a future project, and have already recommended him to others in Burlington who have used him and were also extremely satisfied.

I am a general contractor and I have worked with Max over the last five years. We have done several…read moreprojects together and I have always been pleased with his work. Highly recommend!

I rarely do these reviews but as a 1st time homeowner, I cannot tell you how helpful Maximo was…read morethroughout the whole process that I have to share it. I met with many architects to discuss a new-build project and out of everyone I met, and spoke with, he was hands down the BEST. He was able to take my vision and put it on paper while addressing all the needed legalities/setbacks/change/etc that the city and county require. I always felt that I was given the proper status updates and as well as any changes to our design so as to keep the project moving forward and on track. I never felt like I was left out of any pertinent information and always felt like I could talk to Maximo about anything I didn't like or wanted changed. I recommend Studio Borkosky Design, and particularly Maximo, for anyone is looking to have a stress-free, well-informed and timely experience with any addition/new-build/design for your home!! I plan to work with Studio Borkosky Design for any and all improvements to my home.

T7 Architecture was great to work with! Their architectural style was very compatible with…read moreours--contemporary with lots of clean lines and natural materials. We always enjoyed our meetings with them. They got excited about our ideas and inspirational pictures and designed spaces that reflected what we needed and wanted. They are also practical and let us know if something we liked might push the cost of our project up a lot. They have a strong understanding of building codes, and work very well with City staff. They also worked really well with our contractor, who appreciated that their plans were implementable. We found T7's services to be a great value and are very happy with how our addition turned out!

T7 was amazing to work with! Andrew Crocker and his team worked with us to make our house exactly…read morehow we envisioned. They are very responsive and helped throughout the project when we had questions. Highly recommended!

I would recommend Ergo Architecture to anyone looking for an engaged, approachable and experienced…read moreteam to help them design, permit and get built a project in San Diego or elsewhere. We hired Ergo to design an extensive addition onto our hillside home - a challenging design and permitting situation - and were very happy with the results. The team at Ergo was highly collaborative, helping us explore possibilities while being realistic about our constraints (site limitations, budget, etc.) Ergo also oversaw & participated in the construction of our addition, a process which certainly provided great learning opportunities for them as well as bringing the designers' insights to the process. Given the complexity of our project, the involvement of the Ergo team in this stage was certainly helpful in getting our house built as we intended. Though Ergo is a small firm, the experience and professionalism that they brought to our project rivaled that of larger firms. And in the end, the level of service and attention given to our project exceeded expectations. Disclosure - I am married to the Principal at Ergo Architecture who participated in but did not manage the project. The guidelines of Yelp allow such reviews and I hope readers find it useful.

As first-time business owners, there was a very large learning curve when it came to making our…read morebuilding compliant with the city. Ergo Architecture, specifically Steve M. and Paul, were our acting guiding light in this very complex process. They explained everything in a way we were able to fully understand. When extreme obstacles would arise, Ergo researched up to date building codes that eliminated unnecessary requirements for our business type. They always answered the phone when we called. They always kept us up to date with detailed emails and itemized the charges of their services. Their charges were absolutely reasonable and we feel they deserved more. We plan to expand our business in the future, and they will be the first we call for our architectural needs. They personally wanted to see us succeed and grow. Their intentions were genuine and heartfelt. True gentlemen. We have even been told by our city council member and building planning department that these men are highly regarded and extremely professional. I couldn't agree more. They have really gone over and beyond for us. I have no doubt that I would not have been able to stay in business without them. As requirements from the city arose, Steve M found a way that I could become compliant in an affordable way. We couldn't be more grateful. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts Steve and Paul.

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.