Energy-Efficient Home Builders in Beacon

“Michael Bird is a very talented and knowledgeable Architect specializing in Adirondack style homes. He designed our home and garage, obtained all permits, hired top contractors and supervised the entire construction and landscape project. The finished product is amazing. His attention to detail is impeccable. He and his staff are a pleasure to work with. They kept us up to date with progress reports and photos and met all deadlines. We are so very happy with the way our home turned out and would highly recommend Michael Bird and Adirondack Design. We will be working with Michael in the Spring of 2014 on a boathouse.”

“LEAP designed our modern and green home addition. They handled much of the creative work on the project, as well as detailed renderings, bid consultations, and construction supervision. LEAP's work was very creative and responded directly to our needs. They found ways to get energy efficiency and modern design details into a "buildable" and cost-conscious project. They are humble, hardworking, and consistent. I would choose to work with LEAP Architecture again without hesitation.”

“I live in Manhattan and have a country house in the Catskills upstate. The house is a contemporary design built in the mid 1970's. The "bones" were great but the aesthetic was completely wrong. We had Kimberly redesign the interior of the entire house - from moving electrical work, plumbing, windows and walls to choosing finishes and fixtures. She is amazing and I have referred her to many friends and clients. Next.... the apartment.”

“My husband and I were interested in a house, but saw some things that needed to be changed that were a deal breaker for us. I reached out to Stephanie and she fit it in her busy schedule to meet with us. Stephanie came to the house we were interested in and took a great amount of time walking through taking measurements and discussing all our options. She was very helpful , knowledgeable and full of insight.”

“We had a complete renovation done of our bedroom wing with 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms and a hallway under Heike's guidance. This was the 2nd project we have done with her, and we are once more thrilled with the result! What we like about Heike is that, she is a nice person to work with, she listens well, does extra research, has a lot of knowledge of materials and where to get them, and last but not least the fact that she comes from Europe and understands our modern European taste well. She introduced a number of nice touches in the overall design and paid attention to the overall energy efficiency of the renovation. She also worked with our contractor and the building department of our town. We can full-heartedly recommend her.”

“Boaz Golani, principal of BMG Design/Build designed and project managed an extensive renovation of our 1920s Tudor-revival house, focussing on kitchen and bathroom. The work required fully demolishing the spaces, to the studs, replacing wiring and plumbing, and executing a redesign which was true to the period details of the house, but kicked the whole place up a couple of levels in convenience and elegance. Golani was brilliant in his aesthetic and practical creative problem solving. He sourced and managed fine craftsmen, and was onsite everyday, keeping the job on time and budget. Few clients are as fortunate as we were in achieving all and more than we expected without any pains except the inevitable one of writing checks.”

“Lanny Lerner is an outstanding architect who listens carefully and observes astutely to produce design that is beautiful and functional. He recently worked with us on our Manhattan apartment--we are delighted. I highly recommend Lanny Lerner.”

“We worked with J_spy Architecture on a complete gut renovation and combination of our 2 bedroom apartment with the neighboring 1 bedroom unit in Battery Park City Manhattan. Jason and Paola were amazing to work with, and guided us every step of the way. From our initial meetings on reimaging what the space could be, to delivery of the final product, J_spy ensured that no item (no matter how small) was overlooked. They created a clean, modern and most importantly functional apartment which perfectly met the needs of our growing family. While construction can be a stressful undertaking, Jason and Paola made the process smooth and enjoyable with their ongoing construction management and quality control. I would highly recommend J_spy architecture to anyone looking to work with award winning, trustworthy architects who also have great design sense which emphasizes their clients needs every step of the way,”

“Hudson Design designed and provided construction management for our 3,500 sq. ft. house in Cold Spring, NY. The design process was an iterative one with many revisions resulting in a modern, loft-like weekend getaway that we use almost every week. We have become friends with the principal of Hudson Design.”

“I can count on several fingers the times I have found a local business partner that I'd describe as a rockstar, and Brian Hopkins is on that short list. On Christmas Eve, my wife and I were out doing errands. We got a call from our teenage son, telling us that water was raining down from the upstairs bathroom, through our microwave and stove, into the basement, onto the furnace and water heater. There was some once-in-a-century rapid drop in temperature, we had some poorly insulated pipes, and one of those pipes ruptured in the floor of that second floor bathroom resulting in that disaster. Total nightmare. Thankfully, one of the other rockstars on our short list of local business partners is our general contractor. We already had a plan on the shelf to renovate that bathroom, our contractor was available, we were able to get all our tile and bathroom fixtures picked out and procured in record time, and shortly after New Year's our GC started the repairs and creating the bathroom of our dreams. Salvation! Everything was going awesome, until the building department showed up. In a rush, we neglected to get a building permit. We weren't being shady or playing games. We were just hasty and ignorant and didn't do the things we needed to do. We got an immediate stop-work order. And the only way to get back on track was to find an architect to do proper code-compliant architectal drawings for our already-in-progress bathroom renovation. I quickly learned that there are not a lot of residential architects hurting for business, certainly not at that time of year. I literally called at least 15 different places. Either people were too busy, or weren't interested in the project. I finally found one who couldn't take the job, but said "hey, we know this other guy in the area who is super good, that we refer people to when we're busy. His name is Brian Hopkins." Somebody directing business to a competitor?? I now understand why they referred me. Brian is only the second architect I've ever worked with, but as far as I can tell, he's as good as it gets. I was able to get in touch with him immediately, and he agreed to take on the work. He was incredibly transparent and clear about what he was going to do, when he was going to do it, and what it would cost. Throughout the process he was super responsive, empathetic, organized, patient, professional, and enjoyable to work with. He didn't nickel and dime us or play games; he was clearly focused on good customer service and outcomes. And from what I can tell, both the building department and my GC were very happy with the quality of his work. The entire ordeal we went through, particularly involving the building department and fines and delays was horrible. Had we not found Brian, had he not been so excellent, the situation might have been unbearable. He literally was our savior. It's absurd not to want to work with someone like this.”