Riverside Designs and Drafting Services

Wonderful! That single word best describes our experience with Riverside Home Designs. Jim Kenalty and his team were amazing, keeping us continuously in the loop as they designed our house. Every single request we had was addressed and incorporated seamlessly. Our interactions were a mix of electronic communication and in-person meetings, both of which were smooth and productive. The design for our new home was particularly complex—it had to be built on concrete piers due to being in a flood zone (our prior house was demolished due to flood damage). We are extremely thankful for Jim’s and his team’s skill, professionalism, and thoughtfulness during this critical project. We can’t say enough great things about this company! Highly recommend.

Jim is an outstanding architect, but he is also a great advisor. If you just want him to draw you an outstanding set of plans with minimal input he is very capable but if you want an advisor who can give you guidance and insight, Jim is your guy. Jim creates through a collaborative approach. My wife and I came to Jim with our vision and he was able to turn that into our plans. What makes Jim a great architect is his ability to listen and advise. He gives his expert opinion, with no pressure either way. He helps you focus in on what is really important to you. Jim makes sure that you understand how to balance form style and function. We did the initial plans and then delayed our build a couple years due to covid, during that time we decided to make a few changes, even 2+ years later it was no problem for Jim. In the end he exceeded our expectations. When you are ready to make your dream home a reality Jim should be your first step.

We contracted Jim and Riverside Designs to develop a set of plans for our home renovation. Throughout the process, Jim was extremely professional and attentive. He listened to us, guided us and provided us with a first-rate set of plans for our "new" home. Great experience working with Jim and the team at Riverside Designs!

My builder introduced me to Jim at Riverside Home Designs. We had purchased a lot and were looking for a quality designer. I am so happy to have worked with Jim through the design process! His work can be characterized by the phrase “above and beyond”. He always went the extra mile and made sure we were completely happy with any edits to the drawings. The online meetings with TeamViewer are a great way to collaborate. He has a great background with both commercial and residential construction, and – consequently – is able to use that experience to develop comprehensive, well-engineered designs. We were also very happy to find out that he is a national home design award winner.

We enjoyed working with Jim on the designing of our future home. He is definitely smart, dedicated and extremely talented. And has an amazing work ethic, always returning our calls and meeting us on time. He made so many wonderful suggestions for our home and was so patient with the many ideas we had...even the not so good ones!! He really listened to what we desired and delivered!! We couldn't be happier with the finished design. If you want to work with a top notch company, we highly recommend Riverside. Jim really went the extra mile for us. We will definitely want his help with future projects. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Thank you Jim so much for making a rather stressful process (building in general) such a great experience.

Jim did a great job on my clients plans. He was patient and responsive to their needs. I would recommend his design skills to future clients.

I looked for awhile to find just the right firm to design my addition at my River Retreat. Jim came up with the name of my slice of heaven. He is very professional, knowlegible, creative and talented! My vision of my retirement home turned into my dream from his recommendations and design. I highly recommend. Thank you Jim!

Jim is a professional both in standards and ethics. I really enjoyed working with him on our project. He was always willing to make changes to the designs (and we had many...) and forthcoming with relevant information about the effect of those changes on usability and resale value. We did a lot of our communications over email and Shared screen sessions and several in office sessions. This was a real plus since we were located out of town and not always available for a face to face meetings, but in the technology age Jim has met the challenges and makes it easy for clients to communicate and express there ideas without actually being there. Jim is also very straight forward with rate quotes and timelines for the completion of the work, Never a need to keep asking what the status is on our project, he always told us where we were and what was left and when expected completion date was. I was also impressed with his knowledge of building requirements and dimensioning , its easy to think a particular size room will be adequate but with Jims input he can explain what issues you might encounter and things to consider to help you choosing the final design. Great experience through and through.

Jim was totally professional and very easy to work with. His plans for our project breezed through the city's approval process. I recommend him and Riverside Design 100%.

Jim has brought to the table his many years of experience which has greatly expedited the development of the plans for our project. It has several unique aspects that have to be addressed. His attention to detail and accuracy is a real asset.

I have worked with Jim Kenalty for over 20 years. He is well qualified, professional, timely, and knowledgable of many types of building. He has built or assisted me in designing and building gyms, school buildings, conventional structures, SIP Panel homes, camp cabins, water systems, and more. Ethically sound, and committed to making the customer happy. (And an all around good guy) It wants me to give a month and year but there are so many I will just put in a starting date.

My experience with Riverside Design over the past ten years has been very good. They have proven over and over again to be professional, knowledgeable, and affordable. They work very closely with me to achieve my goals to be on budget and within my design parameters. Thad Chambers Chambers Design Build, LLC