MC Design Build

We imagined a portico over our front door almost as soon as we first moved into our house in 1997, but higher priority changes had to come first. More than a quarter-century later, with the kids launched and various additions and renovations complete, we were finally ready to add the final piece. We found Mike through our contractor who had done some of those other projects and knew he was the right guy from the start. He listened, took notes, and asked good questions about us and what we liked. He spent some time taking our home in and honing his sense for our sensibilities. We wanted something simple and elegant -- not ta-da! -- that seamlessly rhymed with the rest of the house, both from the outside and the inside. We appreciated that Mike was willing to go through several drafts, each incorporating slight changes in design and dimensions, until we settled on the perfect addition. I think the proof of Mike's light and thoughtful touch is in the reaction of one of our friends who has known our house for years. When he headed out the door after a visit and was asked, “What do you think of our new portico?!” he answered, a little embarrassed, “What? Wow, I thought it was always there!” High praise in my book.

I added a main floor living area /sun room to the back of my house. Michael/ MC Design Build was a pleasure to work with. The final results exceeded my expectations. Michael worked through some tricky transition issues between the existing and new space and elevated the design with some beautiful architectural details. MC Design was consistently responsive and timely and a good value for the design work provided.

We are very pleased with MC Design Build and love our mostly new home. We interviewed several other firms to add a 2nd level to our rambler and redesign the main level and felt most comfortable with Mike and his team. Even though we were adding a level, the existing space was still not huge and we did have a budget. But Mike and Ivanka were able to come up with the most efficient use of the space while still adding beautiful touches to the home, sticking fairly close to our budget. We are getting a lot of compliments about the home. Communication was great every step of the process and they are committed to ensuring a quality end product. My friend who is a retired architect and was at most of our meetings also highly recommended MC Design Build to her neighbor.

We LOVED working with MC Design Build. Our renovation was a big one, lasting almost a year. We bought a lovely 100+ year-old home with an extremely small and antiquated kitchen which didn't "fit" with the rest of the house. We wanted a large modern kitchen with maybe a deck tying the house to the backyard. How hard could that be? The answer is pretty structurally challenging, including extending our walkout basement (to build on top of) and knocking out adjacent exterior terracotta walls on the first floor while still supporting the two extremely heavy floors above! Fortunately, MC Design Build was more than up to the task. We now have a large, bright, beautiful kitchen with incredible architectural charm. Our deck idea became a magnificent screened-in three-season porch (with awesome heaters in the ceiling). We ultimately decided halfway through the project that, "while we were at it," we would redo our previously unusable basement. Mike and team worked with us to turn it into highly valued space which includes a movie room, a ping pong room with bar, a spare bedroom/bathroom/gym, and a walkout to a great patio. My husband and I loved MC Design for different reasons. Hubby is an engineer, and he and Mike could talk at great length about supports, structure, function, etc. I am all about making sure it is ultimately visually appealing. Mike and MC Design can talk at both levels. We spent a substantial amount of time working with Mike drawing up the plans - not knowing for sure whether we would actually move forward with the project. We appreciated his vision, his patience, and his efforts to help me "see" what the proposed changes would look like - including his use of 3D modeling. The coffered ceiling he suggested to hide our support beams, which I was leery of, is a work of art and totally makes the room. He made lots of great suggestions - which improved the final product exponentially - but most importantly he did so without ever pushing his ideas over ours. When we did jump in feet first, MC Design worked closely with the town and the County to get our project quickly approved. He pulled in structural engineers and others as needed, worked closely with our contractor when issues arose, and even recommended the landscaper we used when the project was completed. It has been roughly a year since our project wrapped up. On an almost daily basis, Chuck and I mention how much we love the house now and how grateful we are to have found such terrific people to help make our dream a reality.

We’ve worked with MC Design Build on numerous projects and it went so well we called them again to take on a MAJOR renovation of our house. We tore down the back third of the house, including the kitchen, and built a two story addition in its place. It’s now a year after major completion and we couldn’t be happier! Our house is a 1920s bungalow and we wanted to preserve the character of the original house while providing modern amenities. The design integrated beautifully and strikes the balance we were looking for. Mike and team are incredibly collaborative, understanding our goals and taking feedback into thoughtful consideration. He is detail oriented and worked closely with the builder to ensure everything was according to plan. With a project like this there will always be surprises, but Mike helped us understand the trade offs to get to our desired outcome. Not planning other whole-house renovations any time soon but if we were it’d be with MC Design Build.

I worked with Mike Cavanaugh on a project involving our long family room wall which included a large brick fireplace. The brick around this fireplace was off center and gave the room a heavy and dark feeling. Mike did an excellent job listening to our objectives for the project. We did not want the TV over the fireplace, we wanted to get away from sharp edges and we wanted the room to be more light and airy. Mike took those thoughts and incorporated them in his proposed designs. For part of the project we collaborated using 3D computer designs. His final design was just what we wanted - simplicity, open and airy. Mike's skill at listening to and working with people while being flexible made this a fun project.

We had an in-law extension and screened-in porch built onto our house. Working with Mike and his office has been great! Mike is professional and asks the right questions - which speaks to his years of experience. He helps you navigate the bureaucratic system (county & septic codes, etc) with his deep network of professionals. Mike is super creative and works with you to achieve what you are looking to design/build. He has the latest and greatest equipment to do his job, with exacting results. You can tell he is passionate about his work. He is also kind and personable, which in my book is incredibly important, especially if you are going to work with this person over an extended period of time. Lastly, Mike works well with the construction manager that worked on our extension. It's great to see them in action and see the mutual respect. I highly recommend MC Design Build to help you on your next big (or small ) project!

Flowe Master Bath / Accessible Renovation Michael (aka: Mike) Cavanaugh, Principal and Owner of MC Design Build in Gaithersburg, MD, planned a complete, accessible renovation of our master bath and water closet. He planned it knowing one of the owners has ALS (aka: Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and is confined to a Permobil M3 power chair. Mike spent a lot of time developing our needs for this renovation. We asked him to plan everything with the power chair in mind. All doors needed to be 42” w, the chair needed to be able to pass between the shower and the bath with plenty of room (42” W), the shower had to be a glassed in, roll-in shower, a bath needed to be free-standing, and it had to have a lift installed above it. The sinks had to be side-by-, ToTo accessible sinks and the water closet had to be much larger than the previous space, with a big window, a sink, countertop, and storage cabinets. To say Mike created an outstanding design for us is an understatement! The original plan had a large sink/bath/shower area, but it was on two levels. The water closet was too small for a power chair to get through it; the door was only 30” wide. In these two areas, there had been too many falls. Mike’s plan took the entire space down to the studs. Everything was planned on one level with no thresholds and a heated floor in the main bath area and in the water closet. The shower is amazing, and it is huge! It is bathed in sunlight from a huge, Palladian window which now has tempered glass to meet building code standards and an 8’ high glass wall embedded in a knee-high tile wall. The bath is cradled within a sweeping, 20’ high, curved tile wall and it is a bath with lots of bubbles and jets. It is gorgeous in a blue chicklet tile. The water closet has a 10’ ceiling and it has ample room for the power chair to maneuver within. A terrific Toto toilet/ bidet with a heated seat was installed next to the larger replacement window and it is surrounded on three sides by grab bars and a drop down grab bar. It is high enough off the floor for a person to look out the window, yet still maintain personal privacy. You can see the Potomac River from this perch and that is pretty cool! The workstation in the water closet makes daily chores easy. The window is large enough to flood the room with sun and light all day long. We highly recommend Mike Cavanaugh for any accessible renovations. He listens well and he provides schematic drawings for review and modification. He worked with us as we made fixture and finish selections. For our project, he handled all the design and construction documents and he obtained all permits to start the project. He is thoughtful, sensitive to the client’s needs and he made great suggestions to us throughout the project. His wife, Sydell, kept all paperwork and communication top priorities and always responded back to us with a day. They are a great team to work with and they are cost effective. Peg and Ben Flowe Potomac, MD

Mike and his staff from MC Design Build worked diligently and efficiently on a large project for my house. It entailed a 1500sf 2-story addition along with a major renovation of the existing house, both inside and out. In addition, he designed a beautiful free standing Three Season Room overlooking our pool, which was 480sf. He produced renderings of different ideas to assist with my decision making. He made the process painless throughout the duration of the project. When the job was finished, it was a stunning transformation of our dated home. Several years after the project was complete, I needed assistance from him regarding some drawings of the project for the potential sale of the home. Without hesitation, he helped me out and offered support any way he could. I would HIGHLY recommend MC Design Build no matter how large or small the project. Not only will you get the best design and service, you will get a person who stands behind their work long after the project is complete.

MC Design Build were recommended by another contractor who had to turn down my project, Mark IV Builders, because the owner was retiring. When I asked if he knew anyone taking work in Prince George's County, he highly recommended Mike Cavanaugh and MC Design Build. Mike took my call, explained the services he offers, and treated my little townhouse project as seriously as any larger home renovation. MC Design Build worked with me on my budget, offering services within my price range. They also had a connection to a structural engineering firm and were able to get me an appointment with them in order to get the information we needed to have a safe, stable design. As for the design itself! I've spent years doodling in sketch books and building a Pinterest board of what I would like to do to my home. And then I drew up plans for what I thought I could AFFORD to do to my home. Mike looked at those sad plans and said he had a couple of ideas. He came back with a design almost identical to my dream layout. He really thought about what would work best in the space, and even though he only saw it in person once to measure it out, he could picture it like I did after living there several years. I'm happy with my plans and the service I received from both Mike and Sydel at MC Design Build. I've recommended them to other people in person.

Mike and his team's work on our project has been exceptional. We hired him to design an addition to our house. The project was extremely complicated from both a feasibility and structural standpoint. Mike worked through multiple design iterations, landing on a design that addressed all of our issues and desires, and resulted in a beautiful addition. He always kept our budget and schedule constraints in mind and quickly worked to make our project a reality. I would highly recommend Mike and his firm for any project and will definitely be using him in the future.

We wanted to expand our space while maintaining its character. MC Design Build designed the most amazing home for our family! The MC Design Build team is creative and attentive. Their design concepts not only included all of our must-haves and desires, but also reflected their high level of architectural insight that we couldn’t have conceived before working with them. MC Design Build seamlessly expanded and modernized our home while staying true to the 1950s character that we love. Highly recommended, especially if you are looking to rejuvenate an older home.