Manion & Associates Architects

Tom and Melissa worked closely with us to capture our needs and desires regarding this dwelling for my then-92 year old father who was relocating here from the mid-west.  They guided us in our expectations regarding costs, helped us navigate some very specific neighborhood requirements and expectations, worked with us to secure quality contractors who kept the price point within budget, and oversaw the entire construction process, from architectural conceptualization to conservation tree trimming to final local government inspections.
Both Tom and Melissa were very easy to work with.  We had specific goals in mind regarding this dwelling, and Tom helped us see beyond the moment and into probable future needs.  Glad he did: through his guidance, the house continues to meet the expanding needs of my now-95 year old dad.

Overall it went very well.
We went over budget, but that was due to changes that we made, not any fault of the architect or builder.
Even after two years, each morning we are both surprised and delighted when we walk into our addition and we are grateful to Tom and to our builder.

The project went very well. We spent several months working out the design and ended up adding more space than we had originally planned. Tom was very skillled at working with us to get us to hone in on priorities and designed the space to fit our needs. He managed the bidding process, communicating with us on the pros and cons of different builders and helped us select a terrific builder. Tom and Gabby checked on the work frequently, helped us think through some changes and make decisions and were always responsive and helpful. They were a pleasure to work with.

We had 3 problems with the architect: over billing; poor supervision; and being too close to the builder at our cost. First, he engaged in excessive charging (over and above contract) without prior notification to the client as to cost of extra service. In addition, he authorized payments to the builder without any supervision (from plumbing,HVAC, electrical, fireplace, etc. - in most phases of the construction) even with the knowledge that sub-contractors had not been paid, leading to huge financial losses to us and massive delays in finishing the construction. To make matters worse, when the first builder (ACT builders, Chris Papadopoulos) abandoned our project, Tom Manion the architect then repeatedly recommended another builder who was unlicensed.
Had the architect fulfilled his supervisory role (which was part of the contract price) we could have avoided huge losses and liens on our property.
The main problem lies in his billing practices (how services are charged which are not part of the contract) and in his cosy relationship with builders. Would never recommend this architect to anyone!

Tom Manion and his team really came up with a great design. If you need to purchase drawings, and have no deadline, Manion and Associates can do good work for you.

But that's only a fraction of the problem that is architecture. The rest is dealing with contractors, negotiating good contracts, and getting people who can't stick to a schedule to stick to the schedule. On this, Tom and his team fell flat.

IF TOM MANION RECOMMENDS A CONTRACTOR, DO NOT HIRE THAT CONTRACTOR. He recommended three to me. One was his employee who had a contracting practice on the side. They were up-front about their close relationship, but I somehow hoped that Tom would still help me to keep the guy in line. However, his employee Nate was constantly late, and did a few seemingly duplicitous things which caused me to drop him. [Tom tells me that months later, Nate left Manion and Associates on acrimonious terms, so it wasn't just my case where things went wrong.] While waiting for Nate et al to do the drawings, I tried to make it clear to Tom that time was of the essence, but the drawings still took twice as long as the original estimate. At some point Tom apologized that his engineers had another project ahead of mine, delaying my drawings.

Let me interrupt the narrative to talk about billing. Manion and Associates' policy (which Tom occasionally stated to me in one way or another) is to not ask permission before doing work that leads to additional charges. All of the invoices I got from Manion and Associates included spurious charges, like unspecified Meetings and Consultations that I had to call Tom about and have struck. Between those and the charges thrown in because they were technically on the contract so I technically consented (never mind that their prices were to be negotiated or bid), the billing process was absolutely painful, every single month, until I just started throwing out the invoices and paying what the contract said I was supposed to pay (plus the rare additional work that I authorized).

Tom recommended a new contractor to replace Nate, Rick, who turned out to be even more of a flake (was late or rescheduled every appointment, and when he did show up, forgot the ladder or otherwise couldn't proceed). I never got past vague promises of future work from him. Tom seemed to recommend him out of pure loyalty; there was nothing about him that seemed appropriate for the job.

Delays kept piling up, but eventually bids were sent out. Tom strongly advocated for Rodas Builders, with whom Tom had a good relationship, so Tom promised that he could get more work out of him. It's true that they had a good relationship, and in person Erick Rodas was very compliant with Tom's requests, but in the end he was a disaster [you can look up my F-grade review of Rodas Builders].

By way of contract prep, Tom declined to include a significant lateness penalty when filling in the blanks on the contract, despite my requests that he do so, Erick's reputation for falling significantly off schedule (which Tom knew about), and repeated reminders that time and my money is wasting. After a few weeks into the contract, when the delays started happening, Tom sent me a note saying that there's not much we can do, given that there are no stipulations in the contract for on-schedule work. Being that Tom had advocated against including such a clause, I found that comment to be frustrating. Oh, and part of the delay was that Tom forgot to collect the contract from Rodas, so Rodas professed that he wasn't even aware of the deadline until several weeks in. Also, Tom was unaware that Rodas is not licensed to work in DC and was uninsured.

After a three month ordeal with Rodas, I finally went against Tom's reticence and fired Rodas. I hired another contractor, recommended from elsewhere, who completed more than half of the contract in three weeks. I can't prove the counterfactual, but I'm sure that the new contractor, Arnulfo Garcia, could easily have done the job in two months. I'm writing this review seven months after he completed the work and am still paying off the high-interest emergency loans I needed to finish the work; I'm completely convinced that this wouldn't be the case if I hadn't burned so much time and money with the contractors Tom recommended. [To be fair, it was a difficult job, and I would've been over budget no matter what, but the delays and the fights with Rodas were what pushed my debt into the red zone.]

If you're on Angie's list reading this, then you have a relatively small project (maybe under two hundred thousand), and if my experience is any indication, that puts you at the bottom of Manion and Co's priority list. Tom is loyal to his people, but you're not one of them.

The project went extremely well, and we cannot imagine having done it without Tom and his team. Our house is a cololonial built in 1940 in the Palisades neighborhood of Northwest DC. Everything was original except the kitchen which had been updated in the 1980's. We wanted to keep the colonial 1940's feel through as much of the house as possbile while expanding our living space and updating the kitchen and bathrooms. Tom Manion listened closely to our wishes and had my husband and I each complete detailed questionaires separately. These questionaires brought up many new aspects that we had not previously considered, and helped create a much clearer picture of what would be the best design for us specifically. Tom and his team created 4 different designs for us to review. We discussed what we liked most about each design, and Tom came up with a 5th design that incorporated the aspects we most preferred. Tom described how the project could be done in phases if we were not ready to do it all at once. But we decided this was the best time to do it all and have it finished. Tom worked closely with the contractor to create our new, beautiful space from the original 1940 structure. We did have some difficult periods with the contractor, which Tom helped mediate. Our total project cost approximately $325k and we have read that most architects charge approximately 10-12% of the cost of the project. Tom charged a fixed fee of only $18,500 which is half the amount of what the other architects we interviewed were quoting. The exterior and interior designs are absolutely beautiful! The design of the addition in the rear of the house is so beautiful it would be lovely as the front. Everyday we wake up and cannot believe this is the same house. Our everyday life is so much more comfortable with the expanded kitchen, bathrooms, etc. We are extremely happy with everything Tom and his team did. If we ever have the need for an architect again in the future we would not even consider using anyone else.

We were very pleased with how Tom listened and responded to our desires, namely that the addition integrate very smoothly with the existing architecture of the house. He did a really excellent job with this. And we are so glad to have had his help with contractor management. I'm sure we would not have gotten as good a price or as good a result from the contractors sans his involvement. Our only quibble is that we hired him on a set-fee contract basis, and he has billed us some beyond that contract amount. Other than that, no real complaints.