Gulch Design Group

Matt Marten, Gulch Design, designed a home for us in 2022-23 for a lot we owned at Kayenta, in St. George, UT. We paid Matt a total of $56,390 for his services, which only got us to the initial ACC approval meeting in June 2023. In our January 2022 initial interview meeting with Matt, he promised that, if engaged, he would complete our design within 4-6 months of starting our project. We trusted Matt's commitment to start our project on July 11, 2022 with a completed design package being delivered to a builder for pricing by January 1, 2023. Matt also professed extensive knowledge and experience getting his designs approved by Kayenta's ACC Committee. Throughout the design process, Matt was ill-prepared for all of the in-person design sessions that were held between him and us. Prior to each in-person meeting, we sent detailed memos to him with our design thoughts and desires. Since we were travelling from Kentucky to his office in Utah for each meeting, we asked him to prepare for the meetings in advance and to allow adequate time while together to discuss and process our input at each session. Unfortunately, Matt proved to be ill-prepared for every meeting and cut us off only 2-hours after each of them began, indicating that he was otherwise already committed. We should have learned from the first couple meetings that he was not good to his word and cancelled the engagement. Leading up to the submission of our home design to the Kayenta ACC in June 2023 (7-months later than promised), Matt made many mistakes which set our submission up for problems. Story poles were located on our lot incorrectly, some of them in the wrong place, many of them set at too high of an elevation, which exceeded the ACC's regulations. These story pole inaccuracies remained, even though they were placed 2-months before the June 2023 ACC submission, plenty of time for Matt to have checked and corrected their placement. These inaccuracies caused abutting neighbors to complain to the ACC prior to the submission of the design; even at that, Matt ignored the complaints and allowed the inaccuracies to exist up to the point of ACC submission. At the June 2023 ACC Committee meeting, Preliminary Approval was granted to us for a flawed plan. At this submission, Matt made several misrepresentations to the Committee, including submitting a plan for a home which exceeded the ACC building envelop restriction by approximately 1,000 SF, with the intent to deceive the Committee. We did not wish to proceed with a knowingly deceptive plan, besides the fact that at this pace, allowing time for Matt to fix his "screw-ups" with the ACC, put us on track to complete the submission of the design to builders at least a year later than the January 1, 2023 promise when enticing us to sign his design contract. We feel that Matt Marten failed us in many significant ways. Matt's design services for us was a failure, causing us to abort our building plans for the Kayenta community.

Matt has done a fabulous job for us! I can't say enough good things about the quality of his work and professionalism. He's amazing!

Matt and his entire staff hit the mark on all levels... patience, professionalism and perfection! Matt, David and Taylor were always reachable, took the time to answer all of my questions and helped me design my perfect home. No reservations at all... best decision was to hire Gulch Design Group! Thanks guys!!!!

This is the first time I've built a home for myself and I can honestly say I couldn't be in better hands with Matt and his team of professionals. This is the house I plan to be in for a long time and couldn't be happier.

Matt is a custom home designer who is extremely knowledgeable as we have learned from working with him on our own custom home and speaking with previous clients. His creative process is invaluable when it comes to building in a unique community. Our plans had to be precise so that our home would comply with the regulations that the community required while still maintaining function and appeal. We had a lengthy list of specific wants and desires without any real knowledge of how to make our dream come to life. Matt fully comprehended our vision which now shows in our completed home. His attention to detail and ability to explain the entire process up front made the process from design to completion much easier for us. He grasped right away what we were trying to achieve and made great suggestions and kept us moving in the right direction. Matt’s skills took full advantage of the land we built upon providing an awesome north view and picturesque south view. We always felt confident in calling Matt for support, knowing that he has a good nature and is dedicated to excellence. It has been a pleasure working with Matt and the Gulch Design Group for our custom home build and we highly recommend them. Tim & Donna McCauley

Gulch Design Group designed a beautiful home for us. They were very attuned to our suggestions and desires. They were prompt and businesslike but also not inexpensive. . We have just barely begin to build so cannot comment now on the finished house that they designed. I would certainly recommend them at this point in our building project.

Living in the Kayenta community has been a dream of ours for years. In 2016 we purchased a lot and contracted Matt to design the home. Matt with the entire Gulch Design Team created what we know will be a great home. Throughout the design process Matt listened to our wants, needs and desires then incorporated what was reasonable into the design of the home. The result of these collaborative efforts is an open design with great amenities and flow throughout the home. Not forgotten was the outdoor space to be enjoyed throughout the year. Working with the design team was enjoyable, stressful, frustrating and satisfying. Creating something as personal as your home with someone you just met is difficult. Matt recognizes the challenge and works hard to make you feel comfortable throughout the entire process. Even when he is telling you what you want is not practical he does it politely. We are glad we chose Matt. We look forward to living in the community for many years to come in a very livable home created by a great team.

Matt is obviously committed to this beautiful area and hence the quality and style of homes constructed in Kayenta. You have the feeling both are well served by The Gulch Design Group.

Matt listened to the ideas that we had for our house in Kayenta and produced several initial designs which allowed us to iterate to the final design that we built. His strong artistic skills provided us with great ideas that we had not considered but which we utilized and are glad that we did. Matt was able to take best advantage of the views from our lot while making the interior fit our personal life style preferences. He followed the construction through occupancy and gave us great advice on colors and styles for floors, walls, and lighting. He is very pleasant to work with and listens well. I highly recommend him.

It was a real pleasure to work with Matt and his team. It is stressful trying to figure out what the client wants when they really don't know but they did a nice job of offering different ideas. As our construction is underway, we have an even greater appreciation for their ability to integrate the home into the surrounding environment which in Kayenta is everythings Thanks The Bermans

I have worked with Matt Marten and Gulch Design for over ten years in the Kayenta Community. Matt knows how to design luxury homes that maximize views and have open indoor and outdoor living areas. I like working with Matt Marten because his building and interior design ideas are cutting edge and very creative. Matt is always easy to work with and is knowledgeable about the building and budgeting process.