We met with Courtney when deciding what architect to go with for a home addition project. Courtney…read morewas responsive, professional, and friendly throughout the whole process. Courtney is very quick to respond and communicate requirements and suggestions. Courtney was very meticulous with great attention to detail. His work was top-notch and we were very happy with it. His contacts were also friendly and helpful. When finalizing the plans, he helped us deal with uncooperative engineers we had hired from a separate company. We are nearing the end of our permit approval process and we are happy to recommend Courtney to others.

Courtney Miller did our plans and design for our second-story addition and kitchen and bath…read moreremodel. The first time we met him at our house he had already had a vision where to put the stairs and had a lot of creative ideas flowing. Those ideas were put into the plans and once we saw they were completed in a timely manner we were so thrilled, he did a great job! The city of Oakland approved the plans with no issues which is cost efficient. Courtney is very professional, a very nice person, and knowledgeable and does his job excellently, and all his referrals were just as professional and diligent as he was. What I really appreciated was that Courtney was easy to get in contact with he got back to you in a timely manner. It was a pleasure working with Courtney.

John Britton's work was good, rates reasonable and, other than a few short setbacks because of his…read morebi-coastal work schedule, very timely. He preferred email communication which is smart--you get your point across, have a written record of your agreements and it allows him to spend his time on the project, not on the phone. What's more is that now that John's participation in my project is complete, I have great drawings that can be used by architects or other professionals that may need to assist me along the way.

I've used John for a few projects, mainly doing Title 24 reports, and some general consulting on…read moreconstruction projects. He has always been very helpful, knowledgeable and straightforward, and his fees are reasonable. Unlike some---well, many---professionals in the construction business in the SF Bay Area, he is not out to gouge the homeowner for whatever he can get. I have no info on another reviewer's problems, but John was also prompt and easy to deal with with in the four years I hav dealt with him.

I had a project that was stopped by the city and many people wouldnt even touch it because of the…read morecomplexity of joining a project mid construction. Sam came in and saved the day for me. He also stayed with me and answered a lot of questions throughout the process. The experience was not perfect, and there were times I was frustrated with our communication and speed. But considering the predicament I had placed myself and Sam in, I think he did a pretty good job and I really appreciate that he continued to respond and support my project even after being fully paid. (something a lot of contractors just dont do).

*** I AM STILL RATING ALTUS AT A BIG FAT ZERO ***…read more UPDATE: I had reached out to Sam so that we could come to some sort of agreement and he told me that he would "think about things" over the weekend and get back to me (this was over the 4th of July holiday weekend). He has been MIA and non responsive since. This is now going to court because he clearly doesn't want to work things out and refuses to respond to my calls, texts, and emails.

We could not be happier with our home remodel, designed by our architect, Scott McGlashan. We…read morebought a mid-century modern home and it was incredibly important to us to maintain the integrity of the original design. Scott totally understood that and did an excellent job updating our home without losing the aesthetic that we fell in love with when we bought the home. Scott also brought us our contractor who was a amazing as well. The two of them worked so well together that it made the whole project run really smoothly. Scott is a smart, trustworthy, easy-going guy with a great heart and attitude. We are so glad to have worked with him.

Our company recently built a large addition designed by Scott McGlashan to a home here in the Bay…read moreArea. The project was a great success from conception to completion - due to Scott's design expertise and his professionalism. Speaking as a builder with over 30 years of experience, I've built a lot of projects that were bigger, more expensive, fancier etc. This one will stand in my memory because the finished house works in every way. It looks terrific from both outside and inside. The proportions of the addition complement the original home as do the details. It's not too big or too small, not too detailed or overly plain, in short, it's just right! Before we broke ground, Scott listened to the clients and designed a structure that gave them everything they asked for, and he kept costs within their budget. Then he won the neighbor's confidence and shepherded the plans through the complicated city approvals with only minor comments and alterations. During this process, he saved the clients $15,000 in construction costs by negotiating with the building officials. During the construction phase Scott collaborated with the clients and the builder, fostering a team approach. He brokered sensible compromises, but never lost sight of the original design goal. This steady, firm guidance reassured the clients, and helped us complete the project on schedule and within budget! I would conclude by saying that Scott is smart about energy efficiency. "Green Building" is the rage these days. Many claim to be "green", but few are. If you work with Scott and a good builder, the result will be an elegant structure you will love to live in. It will be energy efficient and it will have a timeless quality that you'll appreciate more every year you are there.

We've had a great experience working with Mike Pourzand of Gehl Design / Build…read more Our original project was to replace a dilapidated shed in the backyard of our North Berkeley home with.a completely new structure having an identical footprint. Mike was very attentive and responsive to our objectives, and he developed a number of innovative and cost-effective design ideas to address our needs. We were often impressed by the way Mike's design ideas built on his extensive engineering and construction knowledge -- and vice versa. We also appreciated his efforts to anticipate and navigate city permitting requirements. Based on our very positive experience during the design phase, we elected to engage Gehl Design /Build to oversee the construction of the new shed, as well as to design and manage several additional projects (including a new and expanded driveway, new fences and gates). As part of this second phase, Mike identified and secured bids from qualified contractors he had vetted and worked with previously. His recommendation -- which we ended up going with -- proved excellent. On several occasions, Mike helped explain elements of our plans with our neighbors. He was very respectful and straightforward in his approach, helping to secure their support and goodwill. What made us feel that we were in excellent hands with Gehl Design / Build was not only Mike's extensive experience and his impressive knowledge and skill set. His dedication, patience, responsiveness, and integrity are all exemplary -- and made working with him a true pleasure.

The guys at Gehl design team helped design, build and implement a 300 sq ft design Artist studio…read morespace from start to finish, as well as build a small detached storage shed, that also looked contemporary in design. Mike and his team helped with every aspect of this project, from initial brainstorming, conception and design, to implementation -- I can't recommend them enough!!

We have been working on a 2nd floor addition to a 100 yr old house. As one can imagine, there are…read moremany significant structural issues that may arise unexpectedly when opening up walls and seeing how people build things 100 yrs ago. David and Ray have been incredible since the beginning of the process, helping us navigate through all the structural concerns and always trying to find a value engineering approach - whether it was optimizing depth of foundation work, or finding ways to reinforce old windows, coming up with ways to get headers into locations where there isn't the space, and/or proposing alternative shear wall options when there isn't room to fit things. Ray, our project engineer, has been the best communicating and responding to all our questions and worries. He carefully reviews the problem at hand that arise and often will provide 2 or 3 possible options that our builder can work on. With our current project, Ray is always super prompt to resolve any issues via call or email, or video conference and if necessary an onsite visit to inspect the construction phase. He was just crawling in our crawlspace the other day and notified our builder if some items that needed to be addressed to maintain a positive continuous connection from 2nd floor down to 1st floor and to crawlspace foundation. We are now adding the 2nd floor framing and almost done the most stressful part of the project. We have done 3 major remodels in the past with other firms where it was difficult to get in touch with anybody. With Ray and David at Simplengi Engineering, it has been a very refreshing experience to have experts that promptly responds to all our concerns. Value engineering, great timely communication, attention to detail, common sense, simple and smart engineering. We highly recommend Ray and David and Simplengi Engineering for any structural work. Simply great engineering. We don't plan to do another remodel for 100+ years but if we did, we would hire Simplengi 100% for sure.

​If you want the highest degree of professionalism​, the best customer service​, and an incredibly…read morewell trained and highly ethical engineer​, who is a supreme problem-solver and someone who actually responds to your questions, then you'll be 1000% satisfied with Dave Yadegar at Simplengi. ​D​ave is a superbly qualified engineer with a ​v​ast amount of varied professional experience​, and with his knowledge and skills​, ​h​e has saved us substantial amounts of time, money and perhaps most importantly - aggravation.​ ​I​nterestingly, I have met ​two other clients​ of Dave's, and they both shared the same opinion of​ his ability.​ ​D​ave will save you time, money, frustration, etc. New construction, remodels, expansion, - commercial and residential: he will simplify your life as ​he has done for me. He is absolutely the very best. PS- a shout-out goes to Antwon Trinh and Santosh Chitturi for helping round out the team!

Had a project done with Rick and his team for my home. They are knowledgeable, honest, and a…read morepleasure to work with. I would highly recommend them to friends and family!

We worked with Rick Kattenburg to redesign a small Orinda bungalow. He was great at absorbing our…read moreideas, adding his own, and preparing preliminary sketches. We agreed on the design and engaged his firm for the project. He suggested several candidate contractors, helped us through the bidding process, and stayed actively involved to help supervise construction. Rick definitely excels at customer service and gets full credit for helping us complete the design and construction on time (in total just 12 months) and within the agreed budget.

My friend Andy runs a great architectural practice assisting with remodels and additions to your…read morehome. Andy has worked in the Bay Area since 1999, and started his own practice 2 years ago. So far he's completed several major remodels and additions, and many smaller projects, in the East Bay and San Francisco Andy aims to deliver his projects on time and is thoughtful in considering the best approach for your project at hand. He also believes that sustainable design is important and seeks to work with his clients to incorporate green design as much as possible. I'd like to recommend him for your next remodel and addition!

Andrew came up with several great design options for a second story addition on our house. His…read moreideas were thoughtful, practical, and visually pleasing. He was always conscious about our budget and very accurate with his estimates. Above all, Andrew is professional, knowledgable and easy to work with.