Architects, Architecture Firms, & Building Designers in Gardnertown

“One in a million! Dealing with Ellen has been a dream come true. I have recommended many professionals throughout my Real Estate career and never have they shown the vision, creativity and expertise in design. Concepts were executed perfectly, ideas were turned inro realities. My clientele has been extremely grateful and have referred countless other customers. She truly can exceed your expectations and work with your particular budget. Amazing!”

“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.”

“I wish I could invite you all in to see my spectacular brownstone in Brooklyn. I had owned it for 20 years when I hired Deborah Gans to save it (it was collapsing) and reinvent it (it was a warren of awkward rooms). She turned into an airy, light-filled, elegant but modern, completely comfortable but also gorgeous home. She knew when to spend money, and when to hold back. She was inventive without being scarily inventive. When there were problems, as there always are, she figured out how to solve them, and held my hand at the same time. There is not one thing I would change. I feel like the luckiest homeowner ever.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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,”

“My husband and I, after perusing about 500 house plans this winter, finally decided on one to build. We contacted Joel Davis, and we purchased the plan. Because we intended to make several changes, he forwarded the PDF file to the company which provides modification services for them. I asked Joel whether the house had ever been built, and he researched and found the information for me. The nearest family who had built the house that we had chosen was located only a 6-hour drive from us. I contacted them, spoke with the wife at length, and she invited us to come down and actually see "our house". This was really a great opportunity, as you can imagine. They were kind enough to host us for 4 hours; we got the opportunity to look at every cubby and closet, to ask them endless questions - and we got a slide show of the construction process as their home was being built. Well, a long story shortened... we knew this house was not for us! It was immensely larger than we had envisioned. We had simply liked the floor plan, but had really not had an accurate vision for how large the rooms would be. I contacted Joel and explained our dilemma. He really went to bat for us, contacting the architect and explaining the whole thing. Because we had never actually received anything - no plans or PDF files, he was able to refund our purchase. We were really pleased that he also sold our "second choice" plan - another architect's work. He really cared that we were happy with our choice and that we were building a house we would be thrilled to move into. I can't say enough good things about this company! I would guess that most businessmen in Joel Davis' position would simply tell us, "tough luck!" and be more concerned about keeping their architects happy. I would highly recommend using their service when choosing your house plan.”

“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.”

“I met J. Hodosh at the RCC Home Show in Feb 2002. I was amazed by his before/after pix and hired him to design a major home renovation. My project timing was complicated by having my mom living with me who ended up hiring him as well to do her home first so she could move out and enable me to do my home. 2002 was a crazy year for construction and there were some delays but even with delays Jonathan did call back and follow through which is much more than I can say for dozens of contractors I dealt at that time. The results were stellar for both me and my mom and I am constantly complimented."”