Woolbert Designs

We were incredibly impressed with Craig Woolbert. He did an outstanding job designing our home. Craig is very talented, honest, and dependable. He patiently listened to our needs and then offered a variety of very creative ideas. It was a pleasure to work with Craig, and we couldn't be happier.

Craig was very easy and professional to work with. Our project is a significant home remodel and through the different sets of plans and iterations Craig designed, he was able to get to us what we thought would be a great remodel. Craig was always available to answer any questions we had and in a timely manner, and we appreciated his involvement from design and through the permitting process.

I wavered a bit on whether to write this review, but I was sincerely disappointed by my experience with Craig, and I hope this new perspective may help others to make a more educated decision before hiring Woolbert Designs. While I will expound upon this below, I found Craig's ideas to be uninspired, his work to be sloppy, and his professionalism to be seriously lacking. On the latter point, after I sent Craig a critical email about his work during our two months together, instead of talking through my concerns, he broke contract and quit, forcing me to find another architect on short notice, which ended up costing me a month and over $5,000. Despite numerous apologies simply to get him to finish the work (it was nearly ready for engineering, which he would have outsourced), he refused. And then, when I asked for the CAD files so that my new architect would not have to recreate them, Craig extorted a waiver from me first, stating I would not sue him. Now, for those who appreciate additional detail: After our initial meeting, it took three weeks for Craig to produce three plans that were a mix of things we asked for, and slight alterations on our current house. In the bathroom, his big idea was to push out the exterior wall (providing two more feet of walking space), and switch the water closet and vanity. In the kitchen, he added a wall to increase cabinet space. While fine ideas, they are not terribly original for someone who purportedly specializes in bathroom and kitchen design. When we tried to come up with something more interesting given the cost of a gut renovation, Craig acted shocked that we liked an idea I posed of putting an entrance to the closet through the bathroom, as opposed to the bedroom where it is currently. And yet all he had to do in the three weeks ideating was reach out with an email and ask the question. In short, I found much of his initial work to be rote and thoughtless. But the real issues arose after this initial meeting, when the changes he made at our request were incredibly sloppy. He failed to center windows and doors, and haphazardly placed new windows and ceiling beams without consideration for the existing architecture. On multiple occasions, he forgot to incorporate the changes we discussed during in-person meetings. Ultimately, the burden fell on me to identify his errors. Of course, the biggest concern I have is with respect to Craig's professionalism and integrity. His refusal to continue work after receiving bad feedback, and his refusal to provide the completed files so that I could move on with my project unless he had a signed release waiver. The bottom line is that there are a number of highly qualified architects in Southern California. Unless your project is very small and you know exactly what you want to do, I encourage you to perform some additional research and find a significantly better value for your money.

Craig Woolbert of Woolbert Designs has been our designer and architect for a second story addition of a master bedroom, bathroom and deck over a garage. He has been easy to work with and is a good listener - accommodating everything on our wish list. He is always available via email, text or phone, or in person if needed. He is efficient in creating plans and timelines and has built good working relationships with essential government entities. We would highly recommend him to anyone interested in new home construction, an addition or a remodel. Cheryl and Phil McDowell

Craig Woolbert of Woolbert Designs was the architect on our addition/remodel project. His vision and knowledge turned our small beach house into our dream home. Craig spent a lot of time gathering our ideas and making excellent suggestions. He was a true professional. Due to the age and location of our property, our project was a design challenge; he met that challenge. He assisted us with the city and our homeowner's association. He was always on time and worked with us on the budget. Once the project began, he was on site when needed to advise the contractor, builders, inspectors, and other workmen. Craig is very personable and easy to work with. We feel very fortunate to have had him design our project. We give him 5 stars and would quickly recommend him to others.

Craig Woolbert was very professional. He helped us design and refine our thoughts on a kitchen remodel/addition over several weeks to start the project. He helped with City Planning coordination also. Clearly, he knew the processes required and met all guidelines and schedules. Craig willingly revised drawings many times to include or change our thoughts or requirements as we proceeded. He helped during the project also by meeting with us or our contractor as needed. When the project was completed, Craig provided a completely updated set of drawings incorporating contractor and our changes that happened along the way. He was easy and friendly to work with, and we would (and have) recommended him to other homeowners considering remodels.