My husband and I hired Nate Kipnis and his firm after interviewing several architects about the…read moredesign of our vacation property. Our wish was to build a second home with green features, and the Kipnis firm was without question up to the task. He educated us about the options for building materials, helped us select a contractor, then worked closely with the contractor to make sure he understood all of the innovative design features. Other members of his staff were equally professional. Nate was highly knowledgable, yet he listened to our input and designed a home that remains today a huge source of pride for our family. He was a pleasure to work with every step of the way!

I have been working with Nate for years. I first met him when I bought an office building and…read morewanted it completely redone. Nate is beyond creative and has to be top 3 green architect in the state. Since our meeting I have done several projects with Nate and couldnt be more pleased. I am very picky who I send people to but would recommend Nate to anyone. He really is excellent!!!

Amazing intuitive design by Chris Bremer on our attic renovation. I sent him a Pinterest image and…read morehis work made it come true and more. He also helped us sift through contractor offers and was with us all the way to the end (12 plus weeks). We were blown away so we hired him again to design our tree house. Thank you Chris!

I called on a weekend, expecting to leave a voicemail with a question I had, but to my surprise,…read moreChris Plummer answered the phone immediately and spent time answering my questions about Chicago residential code and reassuring me about a small project we were contemplating. The project was far too small for Compass to even consider, but Chris's generosity with his time left an impression. We will definitely use them for larger projects in the future!

They were quick fast and responsive. Their quality of workmanship has been spot on. Me and my…read morehusband already remodel our whole kitchen including granite counter top, which looks as amazing as it does on their website. We will be calling them soon so we can redo our master bathroom!

Stopped at Newline to see about installation of a skylight. Talked to an architect who said they…read morecould do this. He came to our house, took measurements and said he would call with a drawing and an estimate in a week. No call after two weeks so called him back. He said he still needed to get more information to give us a quote and would call us soon. After another three weeks we stopped at the store. He was not there but talked to a women who was very apologetic and said she would talk to him and have him call. Two weeks later we still have not heard from them. What an awful way to treat a perspective customer. They may do good work but we will never know.

We hired Richard Chuk of Richlind Architects to design our deck and provide plans for permit…read more Richlind did a great job. Richard provided us with several design ideas, from simple to complex. He worked closely with us to ensure that we were happy with the final design and that it would meet our budget. He visited the site, took comprehensive notes and planned a deck that would work well in the allotted space. Once we selected a design, Richard drew up plans, which were accepted by the village for permit with no hitches. In addition to the plans, Richard did extensive research for building materials and made several recommendations. All in all the experience was excellent, the deck was built and everything passed final inspection. I found Rich's approach professional and thorough, and his designs were creative yet functional.

From the owner: We are driven by a single focus. From your private residence to places of work; from interior…read morerenovations to your multi-level facilities. Our dedication is to achieve the best architectural experience for our clients and their community through the use of design excellence.

We completed a major home remodeling project with LaMantia recently and are thrilled with the…read moreresult. They did a beautiful job and were a pleasure to work with! We were especially impressed with our designer, Jackie (and her assistant Katie). They had fantastic ideas: from designing the overall layout, to help in choosing materials, to even how to paint a difficult area to enhance the design. One of the unique parts of our project was the desire to keep some beautiful existing components (specifically some cabinetry, stone countertops, bamboo woodwork and a sauna) but move them to new locations. Jackie did an excellent job in designing that arranging. We lived onsite throughout the project, so we were able to see the process "up close and personal". All of the construction personnel from LaMantia and subcontractors they used were very skilled and personable. Our project manager, Mike R, kept us informed on progress and who was coming each day. The initial schedule was "almost" met. We got delayed by lighting and electric (more our fault than theirs) in the middle, but they did a great job of an extra push to make sure a critical section was usable prior to a wedding brunch we were hosting. We would HIGHLY recommend LaMantia to anyone looking to remodel their home.

I could not be more pleased with the excellent work LaMantia did remodeling my kitchen and master…read morebath. From start to finish, they exceeded all of my expectations. Nancy and Natasha patiently guided me through every detail of the design and selections. Mike was a fantastic project manager, and all the subcontractors work was of the highest quality. They even finished ahead of schedule. You can tell this is a family owned business because they treat their customers like family. Thank you LaMantia for helping me create these wonderful spaces in my new home!

If I could give 0 stars I would. Absolutely horrible experience with Olson - Sean in particular. He…read morerefuses to communicate with us about our custom home project. It's taken him 2 months to draw up plans but they still aren't correct and still battling him to get anything done. We even provided him the drawings for the layouts of everything we wanted so all he had to do was draw it officially because we aren't architects or we would've done it ourselves. We've bought land, have our contractor and subcontractors on standby, just waiting for him to send us floor plans. He still won't. He tells us "I'll have floor plans to you in a day" then the day comes and goes, still no floor plans. When you call, he's always "out to lunch and will return your call" but never returns the call. We have called multiple times a day and rarely actually get to talk to him. He doesn't respond by email either. He sure sent us the contract form demanding the $1,000 retainer before he would continue with our project. We met with a previous architect in the area but thought Sean would be a better fit based on his style and what we wanted - boy were we wrong. If you take away anything from this, DO NOT USE SEAN FROM OLSON!!!

I would never recommend this business. Do yourself a favor and do not ever use these architects…read more Here is a list of reasons why: - completely unprofessional -horrible customer service (never respond to emails, phone calls) takes weeks to get anything back from them -do not communicate anything to their customers -Do not know how to follow instructions - do not provide you with accurate drawings and still charge you, even though they make mistakes and tell you something different. Overall just horrible people, definitely better architects out there and worth the money you will spend. If you could give less than 1 star I would.

We had twelve 30-40 ft spruce trees that lined our back yard. The trees, due to disease, were dying…read morefrom the bottom up about 3 feet each year, to the point where they needed to be replaced. It broke our hearts to have the trees removed. But Ashley and Bailey from Bret-Mar designed a beautiful new yard for us with a variety of trees, shrubs, perennials, and outcropping stone. The work was impeccably done, the crew (led by Adam) was incredible, and the attention to detail was amazing. Ashley and Adam were present everyday to insure that everything was going according to plan and to our satisfaction. Their follow up and response time to any post-project questions has been personally and professionally answered. I would highly recommend Bret-Mar for any and all of your landscape design needs. Ashley and Bailey are incredible to work with.

Ashley, Bailey and Adam were a pleasure to work with on our stone wall project. Very responsive…read moreand helpful during the design and implementation. Will definitely use Bret-Mar again! Thanks guys.