We wanted to build an 1,100 sf addition to our existing home so that our parents could live with us to help raise our children. Our goal was to build a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment that included all of the amenities that you’d expect in a house, such as a living room with a fireplace, full kitchen, laundry room, deck and so on. What made this project incredibly complex was the fact that all of this had to be built underneath our existing 2,400 sf house. This came with many constraints because the existing home had to maintain its integrity, we were living there during the construction, yet we had to change the support structure to accommodate the new addition.

My wife and I had ideas about what we wanted but knew that this project needed a professional to get it done right. This project was something that could have easily gone wrong in so many ways, especially in the layout. We had the good fortune of coming across Bruce’s website online and reached out to him to discuss the project. Bruce immediately stood out from the rest of the architects we had spoken to because of his ideas and vision. He considered what we wanted, analyzed the space, and created a vision for the new home that we absolutely fell in love with! Bruce understood how to use small spaces better than any other architect we met. Bruce used the space in ways that I simply could not have imagined. Because the addition was going to be in the crawl space, his designs took great care to ensure as much light entered the house as possible and that overall, it felt like an open space. Our new addition is so much better designed than our existing home that my wife wants us to move into it, rather than live up above. :)

Bruce’s value didn’t just end at the architecture and design. During construction, we ran into a number of challenges and unforeseen issues that contractors call, “found conditions”. Sometimes the issues were because of things that we could not have anticipated and other times, the contractor didn’t follow the plan. In these cases, I often looked to Bruce for advice and this is where his decades of experience helped us over and over throughout the project. Bruce was able to come up with creative solutions on the spot while at the same time, he carefully managed the different relationships such that all parties involved were motivated to continue working together. This is a delicate people skill that kept the project on track.

All-in-all, Bruce is incredibly skilled with a tremendous amount of experience under his belt. He’s very responsive. He’s creative. And he’s intimately familiar with construction techniques and processes. He was present at the construction site often, to monitor progress and make corrections or changes as necessary, and took opportunities to improve the original design as things unfolded.

Simply put, this project would not have been possible with such a phenomenal outcome without Bruce’s expertise, ideas, and care. We’re so grateful to have met Bruce. Bruce is a cut above the rest. He gave our family a gift that we truly enjoy every day. This new addition to our home has had such a tremendous impact on our quality of life. When construction was complete, our friends and family were absolutely stunned to see how a crawl space full of dirt was completely transformed into a beautiful, modern, light, and full featured home.

If you’re considering hiring Bruce, I’m more than happy to invite you to visit my home and see what he designed and helped to build. I’m also happy to share all of the drawings and photos of the work Bruce did. Bruce is absolutely top notch and I would hire him again without hesitation.