Universal Designers Near Los Gatos

“Tim is such a great designer! His wisdom of the business is far past his age. Just happens to be a fantastic human also!!! We can't wait to get the house in Copperopolis finished. It is going to be such a Gem. Tim's dad would be proud of him for sure!!!! Keep up the great work!!”

“Eugene and team are amazing. I'd focus my feedback on 3 aspects, design, communication, and commitment to excellence. For design, not only did Eugene's team help us realize our vision, from initial sharing of ideas and our preferences using Houzz, the multiple iterations of refinement, to the final rendering of the design using Sketchup. but also the team did it in the most effective way by keeping the majority of the existing house in tact and allocating budget in a way that maximized the wow factor and met our need of expanding the living space. SSS' portfolio on Houzz speaks for themselves. For my design specifically we just love the clean, modern, and expansive look and the mixed use of different materials makes it stand out from other similar designs. I have countless neighbors and random people that drive by knocking on our doors asking who the architect is. The comment and feedback on the design have been overwhelmingly positive. For communication, the worst fear when taking on a home remodeling project is lack of clarity and detail, which eventually leads to overrun budget and schedule, and frustration and confusion on all parties. The use of Sketchup tool eliminates most of the ambiguities for all parties and became the means of communication on any changes to SSS and GC. The packet that was used to solicit GC bids and for permit submission is the most comprehensive and clear amongst the samples that I have seen from many architects. Finally throughout the project I was always kept informed of who is working on what and when the due dates are. Finally for commitment to excellence, Eugene and team hold themselves to a high standard which extends to engineering services firm the he outsourced elements of the projects to, including the GC that Eugene helped me qualified as well as the landscape designer. My feedback to Eugene and team on the design and various design-cost tradeoffs were carefully evaluated and discussed and I feel like I am in complete control in the decision-making process with his thorough analysis. Post completion of the project Eugene continued to seek feedback from his clients and look into areas where he could improve to meet his client's objectives. This effort included use of professional consultants to conduct surveys and sending his people onsite to QC the GC's work and how it's aligned to the design intent. Overall I'm very pleased with the result of SSS and the extended team and will not hesitate to work with them for my next project.”

“I've worked closely with Bret Walters at John Lum Architecture for the past 2+ years on what was effectively a new construction house in San Francisco, and while I'm thrilled for the client to have moved into his gorgeous new home, and couldn't be more proud of the finished product and the collaboration between me (I was the interior designer on the project) and Bret + the JLA team, I'm also honestly SO sad that I don't get to work with Bret all the time anymore. I have to admit that I was a big fan of John Lum Architecture for years before I had the opportunity to work with them; and the creative, clever, practical, and human-first design thinking they brought to every aspect of the project that I was involved in, was top-notch. They also are innovative not only in the design process but in the construction management aspects: for example, they introduced the entire project team (owner's rep, interior designer, contractor, client) to the software PlanGrid to keep track of drawings, construction issues, etc. in the cloud. To me this shows they're always exploring new technologies and ways to make their work more efficient, collaborative, and cutting-edge. And I can't say enough great things about Bret: he's extremely professional, a wealth of knowledge, a great listener / communicator, responsive, hard-working, and fun to collaborate with. He is also level-headed so that when something goes wrong in construction (which something always does), his approach is to stay focused on how to resolve and fix the issue. This project was NOT without its share of drama and sometimes-difficult personalities, and I was often impressed with Bret's ability to navigate those situations. I'd love to be able to work with Bret and the JLA team again on a future client's home. And unrelated to anything practical, John's pint-sized pitbull April is often at the office and she is my favorite office dog ever!”