Wm. F. Holland/Architect

We had a very positive experience with Bill. He took the time to collaborate and really listen to what we wanted, and also brought some great ideas and enhancements to the table with his design that we would never have thought to do–and were thrilled to have. It took us quite a while to get from initial concept to final project, and Bill always made himself available to answer questions and help us work through things that popped up during construction. We would definitely recommend him.

Bill Holland has worked on two California projects of ours, one in Piedmont and one in Rockridge. We have developed and remodeled a few projects over the years but these two being personal residences have been the most important. There are two things we look for in an Architect: skill and process. Skill is technical, creative, and administrative. Process is timing, forethought, billing, transparency, communication, flexibility, and plain old personality. For us Bill meets all of these things exceptionally well. Bill understands space, volume and usability. There is a balance and flow to a W.F. Holland design. It reverberates when you live in one. Things are subtle, balanced and harmonious. Bill's experience comes into play especially well with design feasibility. He understands the ramification of design, how to avoid triggering costly engineering requirements and how to solve problems efficiently without sacrificing creative design. An architect also needs to have the experience to navigate city planning and regulations. Bill worked tirelessly with a changing building and planning staff in the City of Piedmont during Covid and was able to keep our project moving along in a timely manner. Bill still charges for services the traditional way. If he designs your house he charges for the service of designing your house. Not for how much it eventually costs to build your house. I am tragically old-fashioned in my continual belief that this a fair way to work with an Architect. Bill is one of the last of this breed. The process working with Bill is great. First of all he listens, and really makes your ideas sound awesome. Then he makes them better and presents them back to you as an initial design. You can look at the spaces and flow of the design and make a million changes. Once things are finalized it goes into true design. Building and engineering plans are produced. Bill works closely with my structural engineer and my contractor so the whole process was seamless. Costs were transparent and there have never been any surprises with Bill. Best of all Bill is a down to earth guy. He is great to work with. He displays no attitude and I've never seen him have a grumpy day. He is warm, conversational and reachable. He communicates well and often. This is really important. I think of Bill as an Architect's Architect. He has an amazing amount of experience, an amazing portfolio of work, and a personality that makes it seem as if you are his only client. Personal and extremely capable in every way.

Bill did a fantastic job on our exterior remodeling project. We gave him a general idea of what we were looking for, and he quickly produced a thoughtful proposal that met our goals, while respecting and enhancing the historic character and style of our 1906 Craftsman house. He shepherded the project through the City of Piedmont's design review process, patiently answered our questions, and met with our contractor to ensure that every detail was done properly. The result looks fantastic, and we'd hire Bill again in an instant.

Mr. Holland helped us conceptualize our new small house. The challenge was to utilize the limited floor space (< 1,400 square feet for a 2-story house) permitted by zoning regulations in the most efficient and useful manner. We wanted the house to be comfortable for 2, but able to handle our entire extended family of 9. This was not going to be an easy task and would necessarily involve trade-offs and compromises between desires and reality. Working with Mr. Holland was a pleasure. We are not laid-back people and have strong opinions - despite (or perhaps because of) no knowledge of building or architecture. He listened carefully, understood our goals and desires, and was able to show us where we might want to change our opinion to get the best result. He created detailed hand sketches that had enough detail to allow careful review but did not involved repetitive expensive drafting. We were able to do a number of rounds of back and forth changes until the design was optimized to everyone's satisfaction. The whole procedure felt collaborative, and we grew to implicitly trust his judgement. At each step along the way, Mr. Holland kept to his promised timeline. The quality of the sketches and his ability to match our needs with a buildable plan were impressive. We were extremely pleased with our experience and would recommend Mr. Holland to others without reservation.

My husband and I worked with Bill on a kitchen/bath remodel. This was our first renovation, and Bill was very patient and informative. He put up with us scaling up and scaling down several times. He always offered his honest and informed opinions, without ever pushing us in any particular direction. And, he was always SO fast in turnaround time - he never kept us waiting. He is kind and thoughtful, and has a natural ability to understand what his clients want. We really enjoyed working with Bill.

Bill has done extensive work on our home -- skillfully updating a midcentury home that needed a great deal of vision and TLC. The result is outstanding. (This is the second project he's tackled for us -- the first was a complete overhaul of a 1910-ish home 20 years ago -- again A+ work.) He is thoughtful and knowledgeable -- about both form and function. With an unerring sense of design and years of experience, you can count on Bill to design elegant and practical solutions. Moreover he knows his way around local building codes and regulations. Easy to work with, he's flexible and works to incorporate client concepts and preferences. Highest marks for Bill.

It was a pleasure to work with Bill from the very start. We had some unique ideas in mind to build a detached studio/ garage. Bill was fabulous in helping to incorporate our ideas while being up to city code and keeping safety in mind. He also was great at navigating the city’s review board in order to gain a building permit. Bill worked diligently and quickly to get our project done, approved and ready to be built! Our new garage studio is complete and we are very very happy!

We did a major remodel to our home. Down to the studs and rebuilt from the ground up. Having never gone through a remodel before, this was uncharted territory. The best advice given to us from friends with remodel experience was to put together a good team: Architect and Builder. You, as the client and homeowner, need to be comfortable and have good communication with the team. If not, the process (and it's a long one) will not be good. Not only has our experience been good, it's been highly enjoyable. How many people going through a remodel can say that? Bill was the first architect I talked to, and the last. I knew he was the one for our project. He is a very kind person. He is honest, likable, and highly experienced. He is a straight-shooter, has high integrity, and you can tell he takes pride in his work. Bill did an excellent job translating our goals and wishes into his plans. We are nearing the final stages of our project and we couldn't be happier. I would highly recommend working with Bill. You will not regret it.

Bill helped transform our house beyond what we initially thought possible. From the first meeting Bill really understood what we wanted from the project and gave us several great options, offering ideas and suggestions we hadn’t thought of initially. Moving through the design process he was always attentive and responsive to our feedback. When it came to submitting plans, Bill's relationships and expertise with the city were super helpful in moving the project along. We could not be happier with the final product, it is exactly what we wanted.

I chose to work with Bill Holland because he had experience dealing with the local Planning Commission. He was most helpful in obtaining the necessary approvals. This was my first significant project, an expansion and full kitchen and den remodel, and so I relied on Bill a great deal at every phase. He was prompt, attentive, a good listener, and great to work with. With the benefit of now being able to see the finished product, I can say that his design was brilliant. He managed to maintain the older character of the house while creating a dramatic new space that opened up scenic views. Various simple suggestions that he made really enhanced the appearance of the new space. He was very creative turning what was a one-car garage into a legal two car garage despite certain space limitations. As a novice, I did not anticipate how often I would be called upon by the general contractor to make decisions on various issues as the construction progressed. Whenever I felt I was in over my head, I would call on Bill and he would respond in a timely fashion. Bill worked seamlessly with the general contractor and made good value engineering suggestions. All in all working with Bill was a very positive experience.

Bill Holland rescued our home remodel project. We knew we were embarking on a big renovation, but we didn't have a budget to match. We therefore started out by choosing a very affordable architect, figuring we'd control costs from the get-go. Big mistake. After multiple go-rounds with our first team, we felt uninspired, uninterested, and unprepared to get our project off the ground. Add to that our concerns surrounding dealing with the City Planning office and we felt like we were marching inexorably toward a cliche home remodel disaster story. Enter Bill. From the outset, his experience and know-how were palpable. He listened very patiently and carefully to all our objectives for the project, never pointed a finger at our previous team, and then disappeared with a promise to come back with some synthesis of what we'd described to him. How impressed we were! His initial vision was clear, incorporated what we'd hoped to see, and achievable within the constraints of budget and the City rules. He thought through every aspect of the project, from the location of the stairs to the flow of the rooms to the design of our ceiling. Most importantly, his plans were infused with his own knowledge and experience, they didn't just consist of our own ideas bounced back to us. We ended up choosing from the various potential layouts that he offered in a modular fashion, putting together a synthesized whole that we really love. And this is where the practical aspect of his experience became evident: he got us through design review and building permitting in under 6 weeks, and without any significant concerns/revisions from the City (a monumental achievement in Piedmont). To offer a balanced review, I feel compelled to also include a drawback. Bill does his drawings in Photoshop, not in Autocad. This did present a bit of a problem when interfacing with the structural engineer, although I don't fault Bill for sticking to his chosen medium. Also, Bill isn't cheap...but then, as we learned, with him you get what you pay for! Plus, the amount of time and money saved by putting together a good design from the beginning (avoiding multiple City reviews, construction snafus, and revision once building has started) MORE than made up for his fee. One example: the staircase, as drawn by our initial architects, wouldn't actually have fit in the location that they specified. It was off by a few inches, but Bill picked this up, and saved us goodness-knows how much in redesign/rebuild costs. Bill always met the deadlines that he specified, was easily reachable by phone when necessary, and displayed quite a bit of patience in talking a couple of newbies through a huge project. Our project is now complete, and we are living in the beautiful space that Bill designed. He will always be welcome in our home and we appreciate him every time we walk in the front door (ie every day).

After interviewing several highly regarded architects in the Bay Area, we chose to work with Bill to plan a rebuild/remodel/expansion of our 3,000 sf home. Bill is thorough, a great listener, is current on and encyclopedic about the latest in materials and finishings, and boasts a terrific network of support service providers (structural and soils engineers, landscape architects, builders, etc). If you want a partner who'll help you think through things along the way without dictating outcomes or being heavy-handed, Bill is fantastic!