MICHAEL KIM ASSOCIATES

The creative interactions with Michael were great. He has great ideas and good interaction and iteration on the design. However, Michael is not a detail person, something his normally excellent staff properly compensates for. However, he had three staffing turnovers over the course of our project. Not including Michael when he was filling in, we had five project leads, at least two of whom we never met. This led to inefficiencies and continuity problems that resulting in playing catch up once the build started. Which leads to the other issue. Micheal is not good at communication and does not easily admit when he is wrong or unprepared. He insisted that the staffing turnover wouldn't impact the schedule. He presented plans at the kickoff with the builder that, in hindsight, were clearly not ready. He presented changes to the plan shortly after kickoff that immediately ate 40% of our planned contingency budget as they were not the plans the builder based his bid on. Later, another 12% was chewed up because he didn't plan ductwork in a house with a flat roof. The results were livable, but until the end, he insisted he didn't make a mistake despite saying he's had trouble with ductwork in the 15 years he's done residential design "because every contractor wants to do it differently." Every one of his staff that we met and worked with was fantastic. They supplied the detail that Michael lacks. They executed better than I would expect for picking up where someone left off. Unfortunately, they don't have the autonomy you would hope, and Michael doesn't communicate with them well enough to let their judgments stand. On several occasions, he overrode their judgments in confusing and public ways, sometimes after a delay of days.

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Michael shares his opinions about what the best approach is to a given design problem, but he's also willing to present other options and acknowledge that at points you will choose to do something different. He was generally sensitive to our budget for the project, but none of the contractors he introduced us to would have been able to complete it for that number. We wound up hiring a contractor, Na Fianna Construction, that a friend had used recently, and Michael was happy to collaborate with them. When they encountered the inevitable snafus with building something Michael had designed, he was quick to show up on the site and help solve the problem.

There were times when we were a bit frustrated at Michael's bandwidth ? he is the main guy in the office, working with several assistants and interns, and at times he seemed extremely busy. And there were definitely times when we had to push him to offer some lower-cost options or materials, but after a while they started to present these routinely.

In the end, the quality of Michael's work made up for any drawbacks. He has great taste, is opinionated without being pushy, and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to solving design problems.

We had a very old addition off the back of our house and most of it was unusable space. Hiring Michael Kim was the best thing we could have done. After coming over to check our old addition, they drafted four drawings of different ideas for us to choose from. They came up with solutions to obstacles that we hadn?t been able to figure out (working around existing plumbing that couldn?t be moved) and design ideas we had never considered. Having the drawings helped a lot and our contractor didn?t run into any problems during construction. Michael Kim and Associates were punctual and worked with our contractor throughout the project. I would definitely recommend them to anyone planning a building project.

We were pretty happy. They were pretty professional and prompt at getting back to us. Our project was on a small scale so I don't think our project was a high priority on their list, but at least they were pretty prompt and they stayed within budget.

They did a good job. He proposed bigger projects than we wanted so we had to sort of cut them back.

Michael Kim was wonderful from start to finish. I knew immediately that he understood the look I was after and that I had found the right architect. His design is quite simply brilliant and the results are breathtaking. He brought much-needed light to a dark first floor, adding extra windows, skylights on the porch, and a fixed vertical window to the dining room. My downstairs is now bright and airy and there are beautiful views from various vantage points throughout the first floor. Michael Kim helped me find a good contractor and kitchen designer and saw me through a variance needed to install a bay window in the kitchen. His associate, Marylee Mutch, was a wonderful resource as well. Michael and Marylee were always available to answer questions and offer advice. I could not have had a better team and I could not be more pleased with the results.

He was friendly, professional and punctual.

Michael was very prompt in returning calls and in coming over to have a look at the proposed site. He was great at making lots of suggestions right from the beginning. He drew up two plans for the proposed site which was going to include a bedroom/bathroom and hallway. Since this was attic space there was a lot of odd ceiling angles and gabled areas that made the space more difficult. After consideration, I decided against the bathroom and Michael was able to make drawings with the changes. I used these for bids and permits. No problem. His ideas were great, things I never would of thought of. The space turned out better than I imagined. I have heard since that Michael isn't doing small jobs such as this anymore, but I would not hesitate to hire him again for a larger project.

MICHAEL KIM WAS VERY HONEST ASSESSING OUR NEEDS FOR HIS SERVICES. HE WAS PROMPT IN COMPLETING HIS WORK. HIS ASSOCIATES WERE VERY FRIENDLY AND THOROUGH IN TAKING COMPLETE MEASUREMENTS OF THE HOUSE. HE FOLLOWED UP WITH THE BUILDING CREW DURING CONSTRUCTION, AND PROVIDED UPDATED PLANS WHEN THE SITUATION REQUIRED THEM. HE VISITED ONCE MORE AFTER THE PROJECT WAS COMPLETED TO CHECK THAT THE WORK WAS DONE ACCORDING TO THE PLANS. WE WOULD NOT ONLY HIRE HIM AGAIN, BUT STRONGLY RECOMMEND HIS FIRM TO ANYBODY NEEDING ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES.

MICHAEL IS A RARE PROFESSIONAL WHO LISTENS VERY WELL TO HIS CLIENTS AND RESPONDS TO THEIR NEEDS. HE WAS PUNCTUAL FOR BOTH OUR APPOINTMENTS AND RESPONDED TO MY QUESTIONS BY PHONE AND BY E-MAIL WITHIN A REASONABLE TIMEFRAME. HE QUICKLY FOUND SOLUTIONS FOR THE VARIOUS PROBLEMS OF MY CONDOMINIUM AND HAD MANY SOLUTIONS FOR RANDOM PROBLEMS THAT I COULD TAKE CARE MYSELF. I APPRECIATED HIS SENSITIVITY TO A BUDGET AND HIS ANALYSIS OF WHICH RENOVATIONS PROVIDE THE BEST VALUE FOR BOTH LIVING AND FOR RE-SALE. HIS CANDOR WAS REFRESHING. I ASKED MANY QUESTIONS AND HE ALWAYS SEEMED TO HAVE THE RIGHT ANSWERS. I RECOMMEND HIM ESPECIALLY FOR THE NEXT STAGE OF A PROJECT WHERE YOU WOULD USE AN ARCHITECT TO WORK WITH A CONTRACTOR (HE TELLS ME HE HAS FOUR PREFERRED CONTRACTORS) AND TO CARRY A PROJECT TO THE VERY END INCLUDING THE FINISHING TOUCHES. I AM EXTREMELY PLEASED WITH HIS WORK AND I WOULD HIRE HIM AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT.

VERY PLEASED WITH MR.KIM'S SERVICE