Nick Mehl Architecture

Hiring Nick Mehl and his partners at Element 5 was the single best decision we made with our custom built home in Austin TX. Most of the reviews are now at Element 5 Architecture, including ours. But highly, highly recommended for architectural, design and building skills. So much value here, it's hard to express.

Although we haven't begun construction of the project yet, Nick Mehl exceeded my expectations during the design phase. I gave him a 400 square foot c1911 bungalow on a tiny lot in Clarksville to work with and he designed a three bedroom, two-story home for me that preserves the front room of the original structure as a semi-detached office space. I never once felt railroaded by his ideas and from the beginning he was eager to incorporate my own into a singular architectural vision. The grace with which he navigated the bureaucracy of the city to obtain not only a building permit for the project but the approval of BOTH the neighborhood association and the historical commission is impressive and I look forward to working with him again in the future.

Nick's office did a tremendous job of first listening to our wants and needs and then responding to them with multiple options, helping us to refine the project to meet the wants and needs we weren't even aware of originally. Their design is aesthetically pleasing, modern, tasteful, and unique---exactly what we were looking for. They did a great job of fitting the structure into the natural landscape and making use of green features and orientation on the lot, taking advantage of natural lighting, and avoiding direct summertime heat.

After looking for an Architect to build our dream home in Austin we came across Nick while searching for green home design. We couldn't have been happier with our selection. Nick always listened to our ideas, and was always concious of our budget and steered us towards the things that would meet our design goals and deliver the best "bang for the buck". We have just recently moved into the finished product and he really was able to deliver everything that we asked for. We would absolutely hire him again in a heartbeat, but since he did such a good job it would be hard to imagine ever having the need.

We enjoyed working with Nick Mehl Architecture and we would make the same choices over again. The process was pretty easy and we actually had a ton of fun. There were a few details related to city code that came up during our inspections, but they were minor enough. Overall, the best part is that our design really came to life as building started and our plans were even better than we thought.

I am a small custom builder in Austin TX and have worked with a few architects over the years on my projects. Nick Mehl was the first architect I used and after some trial and error, have continued to come back to him. Nick is prompt, professional, and knowledgeable of all the City of Austin building codes. He is an excellent designer and and the flow and functionality of his floor plans, never disappoint.

We hired Nick to design a green and Modern (with a capital M) house for us. To a certain degree, we were somewhat damaged goods after having had a less than stellar can-you-please-design-a-house-we-can-afford-to-build? experience with another architect. But Nick took us in... We cannot say enough good things about Nick; he’s really been perfect for us. He’s a great listener, he's attentive to aesthetic and programmatic needs, he’s super easy to work with, and perhaps most importantly (especially after earlier nightmares...) right as rain on costs. And equally arguably most importantly, we absolutely love the house he designed for us, its more hidden treasures slowly revealing themselves to us as it gets built. We're currently about 10 weeks from completion on the project, and it's gorgeous. We highly recommend Nick.

Nick is not only a brilliant architect, but he truly is a nice and honest person. I am a photographer and have worked with many talented architects, but its refreshing to meet one whose ego hasn't gotten in the way. He is extremely pleasant to work with and knowledgable. I also personally love that he puts so much emphasis on building homes that are sustainable and kind to the environment. If your looking for someone to design a gorgeous space with great lines while incorporates green building materials, Nick is your guy!

My husband and I started working with Nick last spring to come up with plans for a house to replace our existing 1930's bungalow. The design process was very smooth and pretty fast since we were actually hoping to begin the project before the end of 2011 (other issues caused the delay). Nick was always very responsive to our questions and requests and he really listened to what we wanted and needed out of the house. My husband and I never felt like we couldn't ask a question, no matter how trivial or obvious, Nick was always helpful. I have to say one of the things I love about Nick is that when we initially sat down to come up with our wishlist he asked if there was anything in our then current house that we liked, that we wanted to save. We both said the arch, there was a lovely arching doorway from our living room into our dining room and then we forgot about it. But once we finalized the plans and Nick produced the elevations for us we both saw that he had put in an arch for us to mimic the old one. We were both so happy and surprised, and it looks fantastic. I would definitely recommend Nick to anyone who is looking for a green savvy architect who also works wonders with space. He has a real knack for laying out a house smartly so you can have a normal size home but still get what you need in terms of number of rooms, etc. I cannot recommend Nick highly enough, and I can't wait for our house to be finished (Sept. 2012) so we can show off his work!