Prentiss Balance Wickline Architects

Working with PBW was a total value added experience. The process was professional and fun and the results were beyond our expectations. Our appreciation of the design of our home is only growing with time.

Balance Associates (now merged into PBW) designed our house in Montana and supervised its construction. They have continued to support small associated projects on the property. The house is beautiful, functional, and energy efficient. PBW is always responsive. We couldn't be happier with our experience with PBW.

Tom Lenchek and Kelby Riegsecker were my architects on the remodel. Ten years later, the house works as well for us as it did when it was first completed. Tom and Kelby listened to our family's needs and designed the perfect home for us by hearing our ideas and input. They were responsive and we felt we were the most important clients they had. The amount of oohs and aahs we've had over the past ten years from visitors are uncountable. Small design details become apparent and greatly appreciated after we have lived here and enjoyed the house.

Was a complete pleasure to work with PBW! Easy to communicate, always on the same page. They totally got our “program “ of living in this space and then exceeded our expectations at that! Their projects speak for themselves Ours is a masterpiece , or as someone said, a “jewelbox”(small and perfectly beautiful!) Their website has fabulous photos of this project

Between 2022 and 2023 I spent about a year and around $160k with PBW to be told that our Seattle area residential new construction project was going to be 50% (at least) over the budget we had discussed when I began working with them. If I had gone through with the project, I estimate that I would have had an asset worth around 2mil less than what I had paid for it in total, unless the real estate market were to go to the moon again like 2020-2022, but that's purely speculative. Thankfully I cut ties with them before any physical work had been done, and for my money I now have a few worthless design pdf's. I realize construction costs have taken off in recent years, and this is certainly not PBW's fault, but I never would have anticipated such blatant disregard for a budget. I can't be alone in my experience with them, and I tip my hat to those with the kind of wealth it would take to shrug their shoulders in such a situation, pull out their checkbooks, and say, "well, whatever it takes." In a place like Western Washington there are absolutely enough people who fit this description to keep PBW going well into the future, but for the rest of us - be warned. I'm not sure how I could have protected myself from being in this situation prior to beginning work with PBW. Architecture firms have ballpark estimates for cost per sq ft they will discuss with you, but they will tell you that they can't give you a specific quote for a project until they design it. Unfortunately, this process is very costly and time consuming, and in the end the firm certainly has no contractual or financial incentive to stay on budget. I leave this review as a warning to anyone considering working with them in the future.

The team at Prentiss Balance Wickline Associates Architects continues to send projects our way, each one more unique, challenging and fascinating than the next! We are blessed to have them in the Pacific Northwest as they contribute significantly and consistently to our design community. A truly inspiring group of professionals, and we are delighted to have a long standing, solid working relationship with the team at PBW.

My wife and I own Wolf Creek Cabin. The design fits our tastes and needs exceptionally well. Everyone at Balance listened carefully listened to what we wanted and the styles we liked. Our home is simple, beautiful, practical and easy to maintain. Its placement takes excellent advantage of the site and, in part because of that, little of the site was disturbed during construction. It has great views and takes advantage of sun angles. The specifications were very detailed and the Balance architects paid exacting attention to construction. Balance Architects is the best combination of creativity, detail and follow-through I have ever experienced.

I am just completing a new house project in Ketchikan Alaska, designed by Geoff Prentiss. The house has surpassed my expectations significantly; Geoff has an extremely keen design sense matching the structure very well to the site , climate, and my needs. Was able to incorporate much local wood that I supplied; this was key for me. (I cut siding, beams, decking, interior slabs, and interior trim.) Contrasting of local traditional materials with modern alternatives came out looking great, to the surprise of the builders.

Wow, when the first sketches arrived from Balance Associates several months after we completed the architect's questionnaire, we were blown away by how completely Balance Associates fulfilled our dreams and aspirations for a cabin in northern Michigan. The Balance design team created a light, airy, compact cabin that interrelates closely to its natural surroundings. The more time we’ve spent living in this cabin, the more we’ve grown to appreciate its functional utility, handsome birch finishes, black steel railings, certified sustainable ipe deck, and open spaces that reach into nature. Despite a building footprint of only 22’x24’, the top floor living/kitchen/dining area extends through glass windows on to a broad cantilevered deck, with sight lines extending still further across the treetops, lake, and hills beyond. As one travels through the open stair case that links the three floors, each turn offers views into surrounding nature through thoughtfully placed windows. Consequently, movement between the floors awakens the senses to intrinsic beauty both within and without. This Balance cabin is a wonderfully livable space from top to bottom. An essential partner in this project was Luke Gingerich of Golden Rule Construction, whose skills as a craftsman general contractor brought the Balance Associates design to life. With 2,000 miles between Balance in Seattle and the builder in Michigan, the builder attributed a smooth construction process to Balance's highly professional blueprints, internet and phone contact the Balance project architect to solve occasional problems, and a pre, mid, and post-construction site visit by the Balance Associates principal.

When we decided to build a cabin on the Olympic peninsula we researched architects thoroughly. We interviewed some of the finest architects in Seattle (and there are many) and decided unequivocally on Tom Lenchek and his firm, Balance Associates. The experience was thoroughly enjoyable and professional throughout. We had tough county restrictions which severely limited our building footprint and Tom shepherded us through the variance process. We then had various mitigation factors thrown at us by the county and Tom once again handled all the hoops we had to jump through. We had delays caused by Federal and local government as well as Tacoma Power and Tom stayed with us, always committed to the project. His design of the house was everything we had hoped for and more. There is a wow factor with the home that is unmistakably Tom's. His firm worked hand in hand with the contractor, it couldn't have been a better relationship. We trust his skill and artistry, his judgement and integrity. We are thrilled to have a Tom Lenchek home.

We had our beautiful contemporary home built by Prentiss Architects. We build a home on a bluff that takes advantage of the water views from every room. With the second floor on a different angle than the first floor, the view from every room is different. We have a wonderful green/sedum roof over the garage which I can walk onto and view from my office every day. Prentiss asked us to write up our dream home at the beginning of the project - when we reviewed it upon completion, it was exactly what we asked for. When you hire an architect, you better like them because they will become part of the family - Geoff is now considered very much part of our family. We had a wonderful experience. Geoff has a keen eye for colors and making the inside go out and the outside come into a room. He helped us with our landscaping plans as well as all of the interior planning....we used milestone on the floors and countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms which we absolutely love. Once construction started, we were done in the 12 months promised within budget - Dovetail, our contractor and Prentiss worked really well together to tie up loose ends as they were discovered over the course of the project. These two companies had never worked together before so I give them both lots of credit to get the job done on time and in budget.... I would include some pictures but I don't know how .......

Prentiss Architects remodeled our home five years ago. The square footage only increased about 300 feet yet it feels it increased by 1000 feet. Most of the work was done on the top floor where the living room, kitchen and dining area are located. But, by making small changes on the other two floors Geoff unified them with the top floor giving the entire house a new and more contemporary look and feel. He made recommendations on innovative yet reasonably priced materials . For example we covered the exterior of the house in cymbonet, a rain screen and we have end cut bamboo cabinets. We love the work Geoff Prentiss did on our remodel and would used him again.