Richard Taylor Architects

Richard Taylor was the comsumate profesional. He designed the home of our dreams. It was as if he could read our minds. We told him what we wanted and he drew up plans that were exactly what we wanted.

They were great to work with. Jamie Parish was outstanding and came up with lots of creative designs.

They offered good support. I worked with one of his architects, Jamie. They had some intuitive ideas. It was fairly seamless. The price was average, though it wasn't a bargain.

My husband and I decided to bite the bullet and embark on a renovation of the first floor of our house when I was entering my second trimester of pregnancy. We initially thought that, due to our budget, we'd just want to revamp our kitchen and leave the rest of the area untouched. We contacted a few highly rated construction companies we saw on Angie's List, and we also contacted Richard Taylor Architects. The project proposal that Rich submitted to us blew out of the water the other proposal we received. For the same proposed budget that we'd set for a kitchen remodel, Rich came up with multiple ways to make our living space more open, more logical, and more effective (storage we hadn't imagined!); we hadn't even conceived of such a major project on our budget, so we were impressed with Rich right away. Knowing that we were on a tight timeline, Rich was fantastic about working with us on our plans efficiently but conscientiously, meeting with us at times that were convenient for us, and staying in close contact throughout the planning process. We paid for his middle level of service, so when it came time for the construction phase, he was instrumental in guiding us through the development of a project manual of expectations, suggesting contractors to interview, reviewing those contractors' bids, helping us select our contractor (this was critical - the contractor we selected was awesome, and we would not have found him without Rich), checking in with and advising us during construction, and staying in contact with our contractor to troubleshoot the unexpected. Whenever we had a question, we knew that Rich was just an email or a phone call away, and his expertise was priceless during what could have been an incredibly stressful process, but what turned out to be a very well-managed, satisfying project. Our construction concluded last week, about a week before my due date. Our friends and family cannot believe how smooth our construction was and how stunning the renovation is, and for this, we give Rich a huge amount of credit. We could not be happier with our experience with him, and we cannot imagine having selected another professional to lead this project.

It went well. They are a professional office.

We were going to be doing a major remolding project and Richard came up with a preliminary design for us. Richard ended up referring us to a builder and he was wonderful. He was easy to work with and was always very responsive.

Heidi was extremely efficient and detail oriented. Upon our initial meeting, she was aware of my style and the things that I would like. Always very professional. I supplied my original ideas for my remodel done in a home computer design program and she improved upon them--offering suggestions which really make it look great. So far we are only in the design phase, but I am impressed with her responsiveness to what I want to accomplish.

We were extremely pleased with Rich and his staff. Jamee was the architect assigned to our project and we enjoyed working with her. She was both helpful and patient and we struggled through all of the decisions that had to be made during the design of a custom home. We felt that we had the support of the entire staff throughout our design and construction process. They were always available when our builder needed a fast answer. The entire working relationship was extremely positive.

RICH IMPRESSED US IN OUR INTERVIEW. PHILOSOPHICALLY HE IS A DOWN TO EARTH, TALENTED GUY WHO LISTENS CLOSELY TO CLIENTS. HE BELIEVES PROGRAMMING THE SPACE TO FIT INDIVIDUAL NEEDS, NOT PUSHING WHAT'S HOT. WE CHOSE HIM OVER A LOCAL GUY DESPITE OUR WORRY THAT HIS COMPANY MIGHT NOT HAVE A KNOWLEDGE OF NEWARK CONTRACTORS/PRICES, AND THE EXTRA EXPENSE OF TRAVEL FROM DUBLIN. THE FINAL BLUEPRINTS WERE GREAT, BUT WE WAS DISAPPOINTED THAT RICH ASSIGNED HIS ASSISTANT, HEIDI, TO OUR CONTRACT WITHOUT TELLING US HE WAS GOING TO. OUR PROJECT AFFORDED HEIDI SOME VALUABLE EXPERIENCE, BUT WE STRUGGLED WITH HER LACK OF ASSERTIVENESS AND ''LOW ENERGY''. ONE CALAMITY THAT RESULTED FROM PUTTING AN INEXPERIENCED ARCHITECT WITH A FIRST TIME RENOVATOR WAS HAVING ONLY TWO BIDS TO CHOOSE FROM. WE CHOSE THE WRONG CONTRACTOR. HEIDI SHOULD HAVE ADVISED US TO SEEK A THIRD BID (THE TWO WERE WILDLY DIFFERENT PRICE-WISE). LASTLY BE ADVISED THAT ARCHITECTS BILL YOU BY THE MINUTE AND IT ADDS UP QUICKLY!