Architects in East Norwalk, CT

“When my husband and I took on the project of completely renovating an 1846 Greek Revival house in the back country of Greenwich, we ran into difficulties with the architect we had hired. Doug VanderHorn came to our rescue! Many architects might have been unwilling to take on a project that had already started, but Doug, to my everlasting gratitude, not only agreed to work with us, but brought fresh, new, creative and improved ideas to the table. His taste is impeccable and he ended up helping me with all kinds of related issue like bathroom tiles, special effects in moldings and fireplaces and placement of furniture in a difficult room. He is easy to work with and very realistic in his suggestions. I could not recommend him more highly! -Mrs. Russell S. Reynolds, Jr.”

“I had a great experience working with Emilia. Her ideas were always very practical and smart but with a bit of the unexpected thrown in. The originality and expertise she showed in relation to design was a wonderful asset to have, and she incorporated them all so seamlessly into the overall project. And her attention to detail ensured all areas of the project were covered and taken into account so nothing was left out. I look forward to our next project together.”

“We hired Dan and his company to do a renovation on our 1836 era home. They designed an open kitchen floorplan, added a stone fireplace, a butler's pantry, and office, and reconfigured our back entry and laundry room. They also added another bathroom upstairs and extended our patio outside. I loved that he reused original materials and also sourced beams, etc. that matched the home. (They found an original floor beam that was not in good enough shape to continue support, so they replaced this and he suggested using the good part of this beam as our new mantle. It looks great and I love using an original beam in a prominent place in the new room.) The design gave us an updated and more efficient way to use our old house, while keeping with the traditional look and feel. We also really liked the way Dan charged for his services. Instead of a percentage of the total job - which creates the incentive for the architect to increase the size of the job, Dan charged by the hour of his time. We could call him at any point in the job to come oversee the contractor or consult. And were always happy with his involvement. We felt that he and his firm were a great value.”

“We had a complete renovation done of our bedroom wing with 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms and a hallway under Heike's guidance. This was the 2nd project we have done with her, and we are once more thrilled with the result! What we like about Heike is that, she is a nice person to work with, she listens well, does extra research, has a lot of knowledge of materials and where to get them, and last but not least the fact that she comes from Europe and understands our modern European taste well. She introduced a number of nice touches in the overall design and paid attention to the overall energy efficiency of the renovation. She also worked with our contractor and the building department of our town. We can full-heartedly recommend her.”

“Complete remodel of mid-century home interior. Chris Arelt is a grad of Yale School of Architecture, and his knowledge and creativity show in the results of this project. Ask him for photos of our award-winning kitchen. The details and custom cabinetry are superb - he listened to our needs and wants, and got it right!”

“I can count on several fingers the times I have found a local business partner that I'd describe as a rockstar, and Brian Hopkins is on that short list. On Christmas Eve, my wife and I were out doing errands. We got a call from our teenage son, telling us that water was raining down from the upstairs bathroom, through our microwave and stove, into the basement, onto the furnace and water heater. There was some once-in-a-century rapid drop in temperature, we had some poorly insulated pipes, and one of those pipes ruptured in the floor of that second floor bathroom resulting in that disaster. Total nightmare. Thankfully, one of the other rockstars on our short list of local business partners is our general contractor. We already had a plan on the shelf to renovate that bathroom, our contractor was available, we were able to get all our tile and bathroom fixtures picked out and procured in record time, and shortly after New Year's our GC started the repairs and creating the bathroom of our dreams. Salvation! Everything was going awesome, until the building department showed up. In a rush, we neglected to get a building permit. We weren't being shady or playing games. We were just hasty and ignorant and didn't do the things we needed to do. We got an immediate stop-work order. And the only way to get back on track was to find an architect to do proper code-compliant architectal drawings for our already-in-progress bathroom renovation. I quickly learned that there are not a lot of residential architects hurting for business, certainly not at that time of year. I literally called at least 15 different places. Either people were too busy, or weren't interested in the project. I finally found one who couldn't take the job, but said "hey, we know this other guy in the area who is super good, that we refer people to when we're busy. His name is Brian Hopkins." Somebody directing business to a competitor?? I now understand why they referred me. Brian is only the second architect I've ever worked with, but as far as I can tell, he's as good as it gets. I was able to get in touch with him immediately, and he agreed to take on the work. He was incredibly transparent and clear about what he was going to do, when he was going to do it, and what it would cost. Throughout the process he was super responsive, empathetic, organized, patient, professional, and enjoyable to work with. He didn't nickel and dime us or play games; he was clearly focused on good customer service and outcomes. And from what I can tell, both the building department and my GC were very happy with the quality of his work. The entire ordeal we went through, particularly involving the building department and fines and delays was horrible. Had we not found Brian, had he not been so excellent, the situation might have been unbearable. He literally was our savior. It's absurd not to want to work with someone like this.”

“We have done several projects with Neil over the years. He listens to his clients in order to develop wonderful structures that exceed their expectations. He pays attention to the details and helps to ensure a great result through his friendly and collaborative personal style. I would highly recommend Neil's office for any project!”

“My husband and I were interested in a house, but saw some things that needed to be changed that were a deal breaker for us. I reached out to Stephanie and she fit it in her busy schedule to meet with us. Stephanie came to the house we were interested in and took a great amount of time walking through taking measurements and discussing all our options. She was very helpful , knowledgeable and full of insight.”

“My husband and I, after perusing about 500 house plans this winter, finally decided on one to build. We contacted Joel Davis, and we purchased the plan. Because we intended to make several changes, he forwarded the PDF file to the company which provides modification services for them. I asked Joel whether the house had ever been built, and he researched and found the information for me. The nearest family who had built the house that we had chosen was located only a 6-hour drive from us. I contacted them, spoke with the wife at length, and she invited us to come down and actually see "our house". This was really a great opportunity, as you can imagine. They were kind enough to host us for 4 hours; we got the opportunity to look at every cubby and closet, to ask them endless questions - and we got a slide show of the construction process as their home was being built. Well, a long story shortened... we knew this house was not for us! It was immensely larger than we had envisioned. We had simply liked the floor plan, but had really not had an accurate vision for how large the rooms would be. I contacted Joel and explained our dilemma. He really went to bat for us, contacting the architect and explaining the whole thing. Because we had never actually received anything - no plans or PDF files, he was able to refund our purchase. We were really pleased that he also sold our "second choice" plan - another architect's work. He really cared that we were happy with our choice and that we were building a house we would be thrilled to move into. I can't say enough good things about this company! I would guess that most businessmen in Joel Davis' position would simply tell us, "tough luck!" and be more concerned about keeping their architects happy. I would highly recommend using their service when choosing your house plan.”

“Beyond our commendation for their successful, creative (especially budgetary) and timely completion of our home and a second project, a planned addition to an income-producing property, we appreciate Contadino Architects, led by Louis Contadino, for their practicality, sincerity, professionalism and spirit. Through every step of each project, their talented, practical application of designing principles to achieve consistent scale, pleasing proportions and balance, complemented by their attention to details and enhancements, underpin the many reasons why we intend to continue our relationship with Contadino and to turn to them as our new needs develop”