VRABEL ARCHITECTS

Steve was efficient and communicated effectively. Steve's insight into the inner workings of the permit process for Seattle were greatly appreciated and we were able to move our initial intake date up significantly as well (our friends during this time did not have this experience as the architect they used was not familiar with Seattle procedures). During the remodel process, our contractor (who was a bit of a perfectionist!) commented that this was the only set of plans he had ever worked with that didn't require him to revise things in the field because the measurements weren't accurate. He was also a fan of Steve's work!

We had a fantastic experience working with Steve on plans for a two story extension of our home. He helped us navigate the permitting process quickly and efficiently. We look forward to working with him again on future projects.

Steve was great! He asked great questions to help us get to the heart of what we needed, he reviewed schematics and drawings of the house, he produced drawings that we detailed yet easy to read and fully functional. It made the process a lot more efficient. I would hire and work with him again.

Steve was amazing to work with. He was very responsive, quick to show up for an initial discussion, and did the work as requested and on time. His help dealing with permitting through the city was wonderful as we sailed through the review process. He was very conscientious of designing something that we would be happy with and that was within our budget. Would definitely work with him again.

Steve was a pleasure to work with - extremely knowledgeable, professional, and communicative. You can tell Steve really wants to provide you the best product he can, while also being very respectful of your budget. We would definitely recommend Steve!

Steve Vrabel did a wonderful job designing and drafting our house remodel plans. We came to him with a vision in mind and problem areas for him to solve. What I especially appreciated was his adaptability on the process and promptness in execution. I wanted to be more involved in the design process and also needed a quick turn around time. Steve was very responsiveness throughout the entire process, we always felt like he valued our time and prioritized our project like he said he would. We absolutely love the end results and Steve was essential to making it happen.

Steve is amazing!! The remodel I was doing was for a couple that wanted to remodel the main floor of their home so they could age in place. Steve was hired to consult with us, provide the drawings and acquire a permit for the work. Everything went very smooth. He listened to the homeowners and recommended a floor plan that really took into consideration how they live now and how they plan to live in the future. He was able to quickly acquire the permit for the work and the homeowners love their "new" home. Steve is incredibly punctual and responsive, I highly recommend him. SSR - General Contractor

Wonderful. Worked with Steve on several concept designs then moved forward with selected option. Steve met all committed to dates and design passed city review on first submittal.

Steve delivered everything on time that he estimated. His prices are reasonable and he understands that we had a certain budget to achieve. We were very happy to work with him.

Steve helped us design an addition to our house. We added a living room, bedroom and turned an office room to a bathroom and small office space. We love Steve’s brilliant idea making every single space useful! Steve is very upfront with the costs and time frame so you don’t have to worry about unpleasant surprises. We have been referred Steve to our friends and family!

We found Steve & loved his work so we hired him to design our house renovation. Steve is great to work with! He's a great listener, very responsive, professional and easy to work with. We love his ideas and designs--the house is going to look wonderful when completed! He has a great grasp of permitting, details & city requirements. His modern yet traditional style is elegant and crisp. I would highly recommend using Steve for your next home or business renovation.

It could not have been easier. Steve is very easy to work with and was creative figuring out a way forward with the one place where we got hung up. He was always readily available and he was completely open to either to us having him submit the permit application or our submitting the permit ourselves. As it is, we submitted ourselves and the City reviewer accepted the plan set so readily you'd they had drawn it up themselves.

We contacted Steve to extend our existing deck.  Steve was incredibly responsive and professional.  He came to our house, took a look at the deck and explained us the different options we had.  Then, he came out again to take measurements.

From the measurements, it turned out that we could not get a permit for an extension because of safety regulation.  Since we could not go ahead with the project, he gave us a HUGE discount on the work he already preformed.

We were extremely impressed.  We are new-owners, and this is our first project.  He made us really comfortable with the whole process.  Definitively, we highly recommend Steve, and we won?t hesitate to hire him again for future projects.

Things went really great with Steve. He was very flexible in terms of his schedule and very punctual and responsive via email and in person. Professionalism aside, he is also just a really great guy. We enjoyed a couple nice chats as well.







Our home currently has 3 bedrooms upstairs and 3 bedrooms downstairs. Steve was able to design the upstairs remodel to a 2 bedroom area with a very large master suite, with a huge walk-in closet, and a very large master bathroom as we requested. He included a lighting and electrical plan as well.







Steve took into consideration our current and future desires in his plans, including designing in a way to simplify adding French doors to the future patio. He walked us through the existing space to help us understand where things would be placed and how things with flow. He was also able to talk to us about why/how to place furniture to accommodate the design.







We were very comfortable with Steve and able to allow him access to our home when we weren't hometo take the measurements. He was kind enough to ask how many pets we had so he could do a head count before leaving.







He was extremely fast in getting plans, details and updated plans to us. His plans were presented in PDF and hard copy in our meeting with him. The PDF's are a great lifesaver in sharing with other contactors.







Thank you Steve! We will see you as soon as we are ready to tackle the downstairs!

We have been planning on an addition to our house for awhile now and when it came time to plan it out we immediately thought of Steve whom we had met doing a job for him. He was awesome! He came to our home, took a look at the house, took measurements and was very clear about his process. He came to our house a second time to take additional measurements and to discuss our ideas. When he came back the third time, with the drawings, we were super impressed! We love what he came up with for us! We will definitely be continuing to work with him, he is outstanding!

I am very pleased with the work Steve did for us.
First, the design is visually beautiful and better than we hoped for when we started. We have had several neighbors comment that it is clear we hired a professional architect to handle the design.
Second, we wanted the porch rebuilt EXACTLY as it was when originally built 85 years ago. To the inch is it a perfect replica. This is particularly important on some of the wonder historic homes in the Seattle area. 
Third, the permitting process in Seattle can be challenging, particularly in Environmentally Critical Areas. While I spent a great deal of time on this myself Steve produced an excellent plan set that required very few revisions. Further, the plan set required contributions from an Engineer, Geotechnical Engineer, Surveyor and a Landscape Architect. Steve combined all of this work into a comprehensive document that the city could approve and the builder could use. 
Finally, professionally Steve and was easy to work with, detailed oriented, prompt and knowledgable. I would not hesitate to recommend Steve or hire him again.

In 2006, Steve did such a great job on the remodel of my own home that we decided to have him help out on our new rental property. Steve was both timely and cost-efficient. We had no trouble permitting the project, and it went smoothly through
construction to inspection. The project came out great - tremendously bright and spacious.

He gives the same full professional attention to a relatively small job as he would a large one.  We came to him with an unusual idea for a bathroom floor plan. Rather than dismissing it, he embraced it and added design features that really made the remodel look custom.  He is very responsive to our requests. For our LR/DR/Kitchen remodel, he took design cues from the exterior of the house and brought them inside to tie it all together.  
  
He was adept and amenable to working with us on our small projects and small budgets. We would not hesitate to recommend Steve.

We have a tri-level ranch style home that was built in the 1960's.  We added an addition for a new kitchen and dining room about 10 years ago to the back of the house but the front was so outdated and frankly not very inviting.  I wanted to add a more formal entrance and also a front porch so I could enjoy coffee there on a warm summer morning.  Because of the angle of the roof line adding a covered porch was going to be extremely difficult because we did not want it to look like an "addition".   When Steve came to our home he gave us several options.  But because of the roof it looked like I would not be able to have a covered porch.  While doing his measurements of the house he noticed the roof line from the 10 year old addition.  He came up with the idea of extending the addition roof through the house and continuing it to create my much wanted covered front porch.  Brilliant!!  He said he let the house tell him what it wanted him to do.  This is the sign of a true artist.  He let the house take the credit but it was he who had the vision.  The designs are wonderful and so clear that even my husband understood them.  We will be starting this project in the spring when the rains stop and I am sure that I will be adding additional raving reviews when I actually have the finished product and am enjoying that cup of coffee of my new front porch.

He is really easy to work with.  We have kind of a puzzling house, and he was able to come up with a creative, yet practical solution that was still within our price range.  He has a very broad knowledge base so he can provide you with several options regarding what the final outcome may look like.

Steve was right on time for our initial estimate appointment. He listened to our ideas, offered suggestions only when solicited, and had emailed me an estimate for his work later that same day. After we were done interviewing a few other candidates, we went with Steve because of how thorough and attentive he was, and quite honestly, you could see the passion he has for his work. He gets excited about projects, and that enthusiasm is great to see. After we settled on Steve, he came by the house twice to do all of his measurements, and once the drawings were done, we sat down and looked them over, made a few changes, and had the final drawings later that day. We're not ready to go ahead with the work yet, but when we do, we'll be sure to keep Steve on as an integral part of the process. He's a straight shooter, and managed to come in below his estimate, which was a pleasant surprise. I would, and will, happily work with Steve again!

We wanted help with ideas for updating the exterior of our 70's split foyer home without getting into structural changes.  Steve promptly responded to our initial contact through Angie's List and spent time with us to learn more about what we were interested in.  He bounced ideas off us and there was good give and take in our initial discussion.  In fact, it was that initial contact that led us to choose him for the work.  We were comfortable with him and his ideas.  Once those ideas were distilled, he promptly gave us an initial draft plan.  He was also open to having us do some of the legwork on the project, such as taking measurements, since we had some experience with doing home improvements, and that saved some time and money.  We discussed the pros and cons of a couple of issues and again promptly received revised drawings based on our feedback.  Steve is pleasant and professional to work with and I don't hesitate to recommend him.

He has been great to work with.  He is very professional and I would be happy to work with him again.

This was the architecture/design phase only (construction forthcoming), but I was pleased with the design, and how well the design works in a limited space. Having someone like Steve who listens carefully, was always prompt, explained the design (and any limitations) quite well, and who put the customer first was a very good experience. His handling of the building permit and quick turnaround and response was most helpful to us, and I would definitely recommend him to anyone, large jobs or small.

Unfortunately, the structural engineer required far more sheer walls and support posts than anticipated, requiring us to gut the main floor bathroom. Because we were living in our garage, this required us to build a bathroom in our basement for our use during construction. The good news is that we now have a four bedroom, 3 bathroom house. The bad news is that we went over budget, but that's to be expected in a remodel.

The finished result is absolutely beautiful.