engrave
Relationship: Client
Project Date: September 2014
Project Price Range: more than $100,000
We originally hired Marty to help reimagine our 1950's ranch which was in a state of disrepair when we purchased it. Marty was quick to understand our goals of opening up the living space and increasing the amount of southern light coming into our house. He created a plan to remove two walls which divided the kitchen from the living room which involved re-enforcing with in-ceiling beams. He also devised a way to fit an 8' slider on our kitchen wall by moving the basement stairway which also also created a day bed in our bedroom.
His drawing and communication skills were key in translating our vague ideas into reality. As a product designer, I looked forward to everytime he rolled out his tracing paper over the plans and started ideating. Aside from technical skills, he has a solid grasp of local code and the permitting process. He's a very competent architect and just a great guy to work with all around.
Marty loves cooking and had an incredible knowledge of how to layout a kitchen efficiently. We're thrilled with how the kitchen turned out and love cooking for small groups of friends. He helped us choose materials that would be cohesive and walk the line between modern and the original character of our house. We can't imagine the kitchen turning out any better.
The bidding and invoicing process was very straightforward and Marty stuck to his promised timelines. The construction drawings he created were very clear for contractors to follow and he was available to answer any questions they had.
More recently we hired Marty again to design an attached Accessory Dwelling Unit. This was a much more creative process as we were starting from scratch. We had several meetings where Marty and his colleage, Scott, developed a creative solution to fitting a 430 sqft ADU in our backyard. They had the insight to use the structure to create two separate outdoor spaces; one for us and and one for the rental. The rooftop of the ADU has a deck which extends from our kitchen slider all the way our house to the front door.
With such a small space, all of the tiny details make a huge difference. They came up with a great scheme for maximizing the small space by locating the core functions of the ADU inbetween the living room and bedroom. They proposed changing the ceiling height depending on room function which will help visually divide the space.
We're currently in the bid phase and are hoping to begin construction on the ADU this summer.
We'd highly recommend hiring Marty for your home design project.