Universal Designers in Seacliff

“I have worked with Todd from Bayless Architecture on 2 ADU projects and would highly recommend him. He is fast with his work, very attentive, and does the research about city regulations. Working with him made getting my plans approved through the City a breeze with minimal corrections. A++”

“Mehran is extremely knowledgeable from a design, cost, and feasibility perspective. I worked with Mehran on a complete teardown/rebuild of an existing single family home to a 90% new home. The main factors I needed addressed were cost concerns while keeping the best design and functionality for resale. Mehran gave insightful opinion and pointed out issues I had not and was not able to spot due to my relative unfamiliarity. His years of experience allows him insight on issues from both a building and cost perspective that would otherwise go unnoticed. Highly recommended.”

“During the 13 month construction our neighbors would comment, "Your contractors are doing a good job on your house and we're impressed that they are respectful of the neighbors. I like it that they don't play loud music and clean up every day." We were happy to hear that. We are even happier with the results. As the first house in Santa Cruz County to be built (technically remodeled) to the Passive House standards, we enjoy a very comfortable temperature throughout the house AND use much less energy than similar houses in the neighborhood. The biggest challenge was the air tightness requirement for Passive House certification. This was tested with a blower door to verify that the house achieve 0.6ACH50 (131 CFM in our case) which is VERY tight. Achieving this level of airtightness in the house that was originally built in 1922, where we kept the original foundation and framing, has not been done before. Santa Cruz Green Builders also installed the first Heat Recovery Ventilator in this area. The professional who came to commission the HRV commented that our installation was one of the better ones he's observed. So, the point of this paragraph is Santa Cruz Green Builders is not afraid to take on new challenges and achieve amazing results. When you hear the words "green building" it may bring the image of a certain contemporary aesthetic to mind. But our house has the curve appeal of a nice old house -- a 1922 bungalow that has the arts and crafts styling with details in the window trims and flared skirt look on the siding. On the interior we are very happy that Santa Cruz Green Builders talked us into keeping the original floors and refinishing them. The tight grains of old fir is appealing and the polished distressed wood brings out the period style. They carefully deconstructed the house so that original base boards, doors, etc. were re-used. We also selected finishes that reflects the old arts and crafts style. When people come to our house they can't tell what's original and what's new. We like that. True to their name, Santa Cruz Green Builders walk their talk. I can continue with other elements like structured plumbing, gray water, insulation, recycling, etc. If you're curious about that please visit my blog http://http://midorihaus.blogspot.com/”

“We chose Shaull of Essence Design because he listened to what we wanted instead trying to steer us to what is popular/trendy. He also had a great selection of styles for cabinets, tiles, etc. to choose from. When it came time to install his construction team was easy to work with, informative about what they were doing and when, and flexible when the unexpected came up. Highly recommend. Our project was a complete redo of the kitchen including damaged walls and hardwood floor (due to mold problem), as well as three bathrooms.”

“10/10 recommend Kelsey for your home projects ! As new home owners, we can’t thank Kelsey enough for taking us on as clients and customizing our property to become our forever home. We took advantage of the low interest rates but found it near impossible to decide what to do with a blank slate of high ceilings and open concept rooms that were empty and without character. Kelsey promptly responded and analyzed our space beyond our expectations to correct these issues of a new build. It’s truly amazing what a professional eye can create where we struggled. She was thorough with our consultation and vetted us on color schemes and our overall vibe that we would enjoy with each season. It was important to me that the colors were earth-toned without being overwhelming or bland and she balanced it out beautifully. There is nothing more frustrating (that we came across) than getting stuck on figuring out what our growing family would require but with Kelsey, she listened and gave us a phenomenal kitchen with storage space utilization we desperately needed. Our kitchen is now an optimal hosting feature . I had so many ideas to throw at her and she directed them in ways that made the space cohesive and surpassed all of my visions. Thank you Kelsey brown!”

“Joey was an awesome contractor. Always on time and very communicative! He and his sub-contractors were professional and very respective. They did an incredible job!!! Joey was always there making sure things were done correctly. I will definitely use him again.”

“Start to finish, Bill, Courtney and team were exceptional. They guided us through every step of the design and build process, made the experience smooth and enjoyable and made our dream come to life. This firm was highly recommended to us and I’m so happy we found them. Our house turned out better than our wildest dreams and I very much credit it to these architects. I would recommend them to anyone looking to build.”

“Sal and his team did a fantastic job on our kitchen! Our kitchen need a full upgrade - new cabinets, floors, countertops, applicances, lighting, etc. QA Builders were always professional and kept the job moving along so that it could be finished in a timely manner. Sal was very responsive and a great communicator when we had questions. Also, the team always showed up on time and left our place clean before they left each day, which we really appreciated. We are thrilled with how beautiful it came out, and definitely would use them again.”

“This was a residential renovation of and addition to an older house with good bones that had not been well maintained and had been subjected to several DIY projects that appeared to be beyond the capabilities of those who did them. Kurt's design solutions both suited our taste and were consistent with the original style and design of the house. In particular, he suggested a limited number of minor touches (pass throughs, moving a dividing wall) that quite cost effectively opened up the house and made it much more livable, but also was true to its original design and incorporated its positive features. His design of the new and expand master suite used existing elements to create a vastly improved layout. Kurt offered solutions that enabled us to obtain quick permitting. He supervised construction which was significantly closer to budget and on schedule than other neighborhood projects. He was very responsive when field conditions required adaptations to original plans, and devised solutions that kept costs increases of the project reasonable. He was a pleasure to work with and made what is often a very stressful process a very positive experience.”

“May Construction managed an extensive remodel and addition of our home. We doubled the size of our kitchen and added a 2nd story with a new master bedroom suite. The team from May was very professional. We had regular site meeting during construction in which all the subs active on the project attended. Greg May made sure that everything was getting done properly, showed me any issues or challenges they were running into and made it easy for me to make decisions on all the little details that really make the house feel like our home! I also very much appreciated it, when Greg would let me know that if they didn't get a decision from us on a particular finish or tile product or some such thing by a certain date, that it'd cause the project to delay. This was very helpful for prioritizing the decisions that needed to be made quickly or alternatively weighing the "cost" of a delay if we were really struggling with a particular choice of tile or faucet etc. We lived in the front half of the house with three small children while the construction was going on in the kitchen and back half of the house. At first, the workers (May employees and subcontractors) kept knocking on the front door and needing to get in to the area where the kids were. I let Greg know that this wouldn't work for us, because the little ones needed to nap and I needed to plan when any work or access was required in our living area. He let all the subs know right away and we never had a problem after that. They always gave me at least 1 to 2 days notice and worked with me to find a time that would minimize the disruption on the children. It was great. Most of them have families themselves and were very understanding and supportive. All around, a great team to work with.”