True North Designs

I hired Paul North after meeting with seven Angie's List top rated contractors to discuss the job, and I am really glad I did. I was impressed with his calm professional attitude and knowledge and experience. I was careful choosing a contractor since I knew this job could be a little tricky, as you never know what you'll find when you start demolishing walls and ceilings in an old house. He submitted a bid promptly and it covered all the necessary information in a clear format, at a price that was very reasonable. During the demolition we found some ceiling framing that was different than was shown on the plans, requiring some on the spot decision making. I was really glad I hired Paul when he immediately came up with a few different options of how to proceed without losing time and at a reasonable price. Time was of the essence in this job since the family was living out of a microwave and refrigerator in the living room, and Paul excels at scheduling his workers to keep the job moving. All of his workers were great people and a pleasure to work with. They know how to do the job right the first time, and you can tell they have been working together a long time. Even the granite contractor found us an exceptional piece on a granite that really made the kitchen beautiful. We used IKEA cabinets and my only regret was not hiring Paul to install them. I tried to save a few dollars and I went with the IKEA contractor who turned out to be a nightmare. The contrast between the IKEA contractor and a great contractor like True North Designs could not have been greater. I look forward to hiring Paul for my next project.

We could not be happier with Paul and the True North crew. This is the company you want to use in a situation where things are guaranteed to go wrong. Paul and his crew were totally committed to the quality of their work. I know that underneath the surfaces, everything is done correctly, and their work looks beautiful. Working with them was a dream. We had previously had a nightmare renovation with a different company, and this was night-and-day different. The most important thing you're looking for in a contractor is excellent work. We're completely happy. Paul has been doing this for quite a while, and a lot of the guys who work for him have been on his crew for years, they're not subs he picked up last week. Our home is an old home with uneven walls, a difficult situation when you're adding new wall to old, but the work all looks perfect. Jeff, the carpenter, is especially great. Apparently there's not much he can't do. He's fast, his work is excellent, and he's a problem-solver on the fly, which is a big help when your house is 66 years old. Communication is very important in remodeling. When we called with a question, Paul always got back to us fast with a complete and comprehensible answer. And he stayed in touch daily about the job. Our house has plaster walls, so when you knock one down it gets unspeakably filthy from plaster dust and chunks. They sealed our house to protect all the areas they weren't working on. Every evening they swept and vacuumed and cleaned our floors. They were great at keeping the dust down to a bare minimum. When they finished the job, they left the house cleaner than I would have believed possible. Paul North is not only completely expert in his field, he's also calm and unflappable, exactly the guy you want to be working with in this kind of high-stress situation. We changed our mind on the doorway placement after they had moved it, and Paul took that completely in stride. And as a bonus, although we've learned the hard way not to bottom-feed on pricing, his prices are very reasonable. We've got a Master Suite addition coming up, and i'm much less worried about that now, because I know I'll be using him and his guys. He's skilled, experienced, honest, fast, committed to his work, and extremely even tempered. He's the guy. i couldn't recommend him more highly.

This is the second time I hired True North designs for a home repair project and again I am extremely satisfied with their work. Paul and his team undertook a major exterior rennovation and repair project at my home and it once again looks brand new. They were prompt, professional and delivered quality workmanship and results. Paul's bid came in at half the other bids -- not only does he have integrity, his work is impeccable. He is responsive, fair, and delivers on his word and I absolutely plan on working with him again. I give him the highest recommendation.

In order for it to fit, they had to build out the wall which required several trips to complete. Jeff was the primary workman on this job and he was excellent. Great workmanship, reliable, trustworthy, nice, and at the end of each day my place was left completely clean. Very fair price for what they did. Outstanding company and I would use them again in a second.

My wife and I feel very lucky to have had Paul North as our contractor. Both of us have done several kitchen remodels in the past and we know the complexity of the work. Paul not only brought his considerable skills to the job but he also brought his artist eye and great professionalism. Anyone who has done a major remodel knows that there will be surprises. For us one of these was finding a partial concrete slab foundation under a floor we had assumed was on a perimeter foundation. We thought that this would kill our plan to put a wood floor in this area (because of the moisture that comes through concrete) but Paul worked with his floor installer and found a product that sealed and leveled the concrete allowing the wooden floor to be placed directly over it. Another unexpected problem was with the new Bosch oven we had purchased which was three-quarters of an inch deeper than any other wall oven. Since Paul made the kitchen cabinets he was able to install end panels that were slightly deeper and shim-out the wall of cabinets so that oven fit and it looked like it was meant to be. There were probably a dozen or more other surprises we encountered plus six or seven changes we asked for during construction work and Paul took each one in stride. The total job, from gut to installing the last cabinet handle installed took only three-months (the fastest kitchen remodel we had ever experienced). As I said before Paul is an artist. More than once if he was unhappy with the way something looked he had it re-done. We can say the same of his main crew as well (Jeff, Jose, and Ian) who are all artists and were also a pleasure to have around. Most comforting to us were Paul?s calls, e-mails, and in person talks that kept us up to date on what was happening. With our kitchen done we are now making a list of other work we want Paul to do. I?ve told Paul he is welcome to have potential clients talk with us about our experience. We hope that you will since we look forward to bragging about the quality of work done.

+We hired True North to do a very complex job. Our house is built on a steep hillside and had two levels of decks. The lower level is 30 feet above grade. We wanted to extend the footprint for the old decks and use Ipe to replace the redwood. Before Paul North could start his work, we needed to create a new foundation and erect 5 30 foot steel columns that were installed in 5 casings. Paul did not do this work, but, in order for Paul to do his part of the job, he needed to coordinate with the foundation and steel contractors. He did an excellent job of making sure that the work that the other contractors did was correct so that Paul could do his work. Next, Paul took the plans that our designer and structural engineer had prepared and determined that some very important parts of the plans needed to be re-worked. He worked with the structural engineer to revise the plans. I wish that I had hired Paul to do the design work in the first place. It would have saved a lot of time and expense. Paul's job was to build 2 levels of decks using Ipe. In order to complete his job, Paul had the brilliant idea of building a temporary deck below the lower level of our old deck in order to complete his work. He then constructed the lower level and, from the lower level, constructed the upper level. The decks are made of Ipe, which is a beautiful Brazilian wood. This wood is extremely hard and requires great skill in installing. There is a glass railing at the outer edge of the decks. Our decks are magnificent and that is due to Paul's work and vision. I would gladly send pictures to anyone who wanted to see what Paul did. His workers were great. Paul was here everyday that his people were working. I cannot say enough good things about Paul. He is professional, dedicated, honest and conscientious. He could not have done a better jobs if he was doing the work at his own home.

I have used them through my general contractor. They seemed reasonably priced and decent quality.

Paul significantly underbid the other contractors I received quotes from, listened to my specifications, made great suggestions and delivered exactly what I wanted. The work was fast and professional and I absolutely plan on calling Paul next time I need a contractor. I give him a high recommendation.

Paul North and his crew were fantastic. the job took 3 days , which was the original estimate , and came out great. they were on time every day and cleaned the job site every night. they were fast and very fairly priced. Paul himself showed up every dayand made sure the the job was going well. i would definitely recommend True North to anyone looking for home remodeling work. i have a background in this type of business so i knew what the job would require and a good idea of the cost. i was very satisfied on both fronts.

I hired True North Designs for my interior renovation project after reading several positive reviews on Angie's List. After contacting other contractors and getting slow responses to my calls and requests for estimates, I was happily surprised that Paul North, the owner of True North Designs, met with me promptly to review the scope of work at my residence. During the walkthrough, Paul listened carefully to my ideas and offered good suggestions to control costs and to achieve the results I desired. Even more to my surprise, Paul had an estimate to me in just a day, and after a few quick reviews, we had settled on the scope and cost. His prices were competitive, reasonable, and honest. Paul helped secure the necessary permits and work commenced shortly thereafter. Paul is an excellent and pro-active communicator. He would email or call to review what work would be accomplished each day. He and his crew arrived promptly on-time, and performed their work in a professional and respectful manner in my home. This was especially important to me since my wife and child were at home during much of the construction. Paul took care to protect existing finishes and kept the jobsite as clean as possible. The work was done in a logical and sequential manner, and quality of work was high. As an architect, I work with builders on a daily basis and have high expectations for clear communication and the finish product. Paul is a real professional. He never tried to upsell additional work and respected my budget. He genuinely cares about the work, his reputation, and his relationships with his clients. I highly recommend True North Designs and will call Paul for all future work at my residence.

Once Ewald saw the deck, he assessed the potential issues very quickly. Apparently, water was leaking through the tile work and causing damage. He couldn't assess for how long that had been happening, but his hope was that it hadn't been for too long. The only way to be certain would be to demo the deck and take a look. Costs at this point were impossible to guarantee (and I wouldn't have trusted a contractor who threw a figure out this early in the game, of course), but Ewald did his best to give me the low and high end, depending on how small or big of a disaster we really had. Obviously, at the very least, the tile would have to be redone. Whatever was above that was a big question mark. Once the demo phase was completed, Ewald immediately contacted me with the bad news, that water had indeed penetrated into the beams that extended over the garage. He took detailed photos so that I would have record of the extent of the damage. Apparently, we were extremely lucky that no one had ever fallen through the deck, as the beams were seriously damaged with dry rot. Ewald estimated that someone had rebuilt the original deck (and judging on the date the house was purchased, it was at least 7 or 8 years back), and they had not constructed the appropriate flashing around the opening where the cantilevered beams extended from the house. Although the news was devastating, and resulted in the worst-case scenario and high-end cost, Ewald was very skilled at explaining in layman's terms what went wrong and how the damage was sustained. He laid out in clear phases what would be done. I was kept in the loop of what phases were finished at what points, and I never felt that I had to be present to ensure the work was being executed and managed by the principal. The finished product looks 10 times better than the original deck. Most importantly, it is a safe structure that was done the right way, and will last the decades it was meant to last. I feel that Paul assessed the situation very accurately with a simple conversation and referred someone who had expertise in several specific and pertinent areas, so that the job, as its scope fluctuated with discovery, could be completed quickly and competently. Very happy with these results!!

All I can say is BE AWARE. Just like the review from March 15, 2012 states, Paul is a very good talker and salesman, but that's it. I'm not going to write a long review here because no matter what I say Paul will make up a different story. Long story short, I hired Paul for a remodel of my condo. When I hired him, he seemed very professional and competent, but once the work started it was a whole different story. He kept trying to cut corners and got to a point where every morning I would either have to go over items that Paul had ?forgotten? to do or items that needed to be redone because they had not been done properly. Once it became clear that he was unable to do the work properly, Paul abandoned the project leaving things either half done or needing to be redone. Eventually it cost me tens of thousands of dollars extra to have the work redone properly and I sued Paul for the damages. The suit was working its way through the courts until recently when at the prospect of losing Paul DECLARED BANKRUPTCY. I understand why Paul seems to be getting good reviews because I was one of the ones who fell for his pitch. He knows how to talk to prospective clients and which button to push to make them feel good. As a matter of fact, he once told me he had a degree in psychology and he seems to be putting it to good work. Ultimately, what he counts on is a homeowner?s lack of knowledge about construction. Based on my experience, he is incompetent and completely lacks integrity. He will probably write up a long explanation as to why you should dismiss this review but all I can say is don't be fooled. If there was a good explanation, he had his chance to tell it. Know that when you have an issue with Paul, he will give you all sorts of explanations but in the end he will just declare bankruptcy.

We had a somewhat strange project for Paul and Jeff. We asked them to build us a small structure in which to put our cat box. Many contractors might have turned us down because of all of the unknowns involved, but Paul and Jeff weren't afraid to think "out of the box" ; ) and they ended up buiding us the most beautiful "cat house" ; ) anyone could hope for. The project involved pouring a concrete pad, framing, drywalling, making doors, tilework, and many other tasks required to build a safe, watertight, and attractive small structure. Paul and Jeff were always on time, cheerful throughout, and paid meticulous attention to detail. The other parts of the work -- repairing stucco and seucring our ramada -- were completed with the same professionalism. We will definitely call True North Designs again for our next project. p.s. Our cats love their new outhouse!

We are very happy with the results. It was a little wait for the special doors. They had to be returned a couple of times. We had a separate painter and both the painter and the crew had to wait for each other to complete their work. The most frustrating part was all of the decisions that had to be made. The only problem for me was protecting my existing floors. I already had hardwood floors and they already had a few dings, but they now have a few more. My Kitchen still looks good. The workers were all very professional and did their jobs well. They were all very pleasant and enjoyed them being there. We had a few questions and they would always have helpful answers. Paul himself was very nice and accommodating. He went out of his way to give us what we wanted and answer any questions we might have. Came back to fix anything we changed our mind on. Yes , I would like to have them back again. I need my bathroom done in the future.

The project was a dream compared to the h***-on-earth that some contractors provide as a side benefit to any project they undertake. Paul, his foreman & I designed the project before he went out of town. The foreman & his two carpenters arrived right on time (8am) on a Tuesday morning and worked diligently for 8+ hours each day. They took a short on-site lunch break each day - And NO b******* cellphone conversations while they were "on the clock." They worked Tuesday through Friday and then returned for a half day on the following Tuesday to put the finishing touches on the project and clean up the site. Couldn't be more pleased how professionally Paul's team of three jumped into the project and finished it up beautifully with no need for an overseer. These gentlemen took pride in their work whether "The Boss" was there or not (He was out of town the whole time!).

In April and May of 2011 we met with six different general contractors, all of whom were selected based on their excellent reviews on Angie's List. We chose Paul North because he most impressed us as being both experienced and holding himself to high standards of quality, in terms of remodeling design and attention to detail in construction. Although his bid was above the median price of the other contractors, we expected that we would benefit from his experience once our remodeling project got underway, not to mention the design project to plan for our future expansion. POSITIVES: Over the four months that True North Designs worked for us, we remained extremely pleased with Paul North's knowledge of construction best-practices, and his depth of experience as a remodeling contractor. He also really excelled in terms of communication. As a co-owner/client, I was monitoring closely the progress of remodeling work and would communicate with Paul North via e-mail on a frequent (almost daily) basis, and I was repeatedly impressed with the time and effort he would invest (usually in the evenings) to carefully read through my messages and provide well-thought-out and clear responses to each of questions or issues raised on my e-mails. This was truly a reflection of his commitment to *listening* to his clients and his willingness to work with the clients -- essentially as partners -- on the project. (Obviously as the clients we were not building professionals --- and so all of our inputs were simply ideas or suggestions offered up consideration and discussion with Paul ... when describing here our interaction as being like "partners" on the project, we certainly were not trying to tell Paul North how to perform the actual remodeling construction work -- we left that entirely to Paul's discretion, as the general contractor with vast knowledge honed by many years of experience). A case in point was during the course of the design effort for our future expansion -- after six weeks of working about 1-day per week, the freelance architect had spent all of his hours in the initial budget and the set of drawings he produced had not met Paul North's expectations in terms of the amount of construction details required for the Los Angeles Dept of Building & Safety (LADBS) to be able to approve the plans (... for insight into why this may have happened, see "negatives" below...). To make matters worse, the architect then had to withdraw from the project since he was about to be married and take off on a long honeymoon. Paul North was able to remedy this situation by assigning much of the yet-remaining-unfinished construction design details to his freelance structural engineer, along with Paul North providing his own red-line corrections to the drawings to supply missing construction details and/or highlight areas were more clarity (or a different construction approach) was required. As the client, I was able to minimize the budget over-run by pinch-hitting as the CAD draftsman to update the permit set of drawings wherever Paul indicated revisions were needed. So although the schedule for submitting the construction plans to LADBS suffered, the quality of the completed designs certainly benefitted from Paul North's involvement (which once again came entirely out of his "personal time" after business hours in the evenings and on weekends), his experience, and his commitment to his clients and to interacting with clients as partners. (Several of the contractors we interviewed before selecting Paul North came across as not listening to clients, arrogantly assuming they knew better than we did what we wanted the remodel to look like -- like urging us to open up more kitchen walls [at the expense of eliminating wall cabinet storage we wished to retain], or like making sweeping changes elsewhere in the house where we had neither the desire nor the budget to revise the existing floorplan as part of our remodel. To his credit, Paul North isn't like that at all, and in our experience he will welcome and give full consideration to clients ideas and inputs as a partner in defining the end-result of the remodel or new construction. But again, it would have been a mistake for us to interfere in the "how-to" part of the project related to the contractor's execution of the remodel / new construction, or interfere with him obtaining the required LADBS plan-check approvals and permits, etc. ...). NEGATIVES: On the down-side, our experience mirrors that of the November 19, 2011 Angie's List reviewer whom True North Designs also had as a client during the summer of 2011 --- namely, in spite of the down economy Paul North and his crew were in very high demand, and in our view (as well as by Paul North's own admission) he made the mistake of taking on too many projects simultaneously. Thus he was seldom on-site supervising or participating in the work on our project himself, but would dispatch his workers and/or subcontractors. Unfortunately some of the subs did not work so well unsupervised, and consequently mistakes were made along the way that, if Paul North wasn't spread so thin, certainly would have been avoided through closer supervision and/or having his go-to "A"-team crews on-the-job rather than others he only enlisted occasionally for second-string support when the first-string was engaged in another project elsewhere. To his credit, Paul North always accepted full responsibility for the errors and would bring the crew back to fix their mistakes, but clearly this was not ideal from a project-schedule perspective nor from True North Design's business-perspective (i.e., having to pay his workers to perform their tasks a second time because the work wasn't done correcly the first time) ... and so neither Paul North nor his clients came out ahead as a result of taking on "too many" projects (at least 4 and possibly more) simultaneously. Lastly, it was also clear to us that adding to the stressful summer was a client of Paul's in Beverly Hills who was constantly pressuring Paul to cut corners and do the work the way the client wanted it done, rather than in the professional manner Paul knew from experience was the proper way the work should be done. So until Paul North and that client parted company, it was even more difficult for Paul to devote the level of attention he would have preferred to his other clients in the spring/summer of 2011. OVERALL: As previously mentioned, his tile specialists (Matt, Timo, and Octavio) were all top-notch and did excellent work without any need for Paul to be on-site looking over their shoulders ... so for bathroom and/or kitchen remodeling (or if you wish to do like we did, and reface a fireplace in natural stone) where the design and planing and quality of the Tile Work are paramount, we would defintely recommend True North Designs enthusiastically. Similarly his subcontractor specialists who fabricated and installed the granite countertops were also experts who knew what they were doing. We also benefitted greatly from the dedicated and skilled work done by Jose, the lead carpenter on our project who has worked together with Paul North for many (15+ ?) years, and so when Jose was around doing his work, he was simultaneously acting as the "foreman" on-site to give directions to the other subcontractors/workers, which really helped to avoid mistakes. Most importantly, the final quality of the remodeling work in the kitchen, fireplace, and second bathroom was very good, and not only are we very pleased with how it all turned out, we are also very confident it will stand the test of time and hold up well for many years to come. Quality materials were used throughout, and there were no "short-cuts" taken during the construction work -- it was very clear to us that Paul North has too much integrity and experience to do anything other than a quality job for his clients.

Since we moved into our 1923 Spanish style house, we knew we needed to remodel our awful bathroom, but it wasn't until my three young daughters started pushing each other while crowded around one sink that we decided to take the plunge. I interviewed two contractors on Angie's List and went with Paul partly because his bid was the lowest, but also because of his design sense and professional demeanor. To accomodate both a deep soaking tub and a shower, Paul gave me several designs and the one we chose ultimately "stole" space from an adjacent bedroom closet. We now have a long shower that can accomodate mom an kiddies at the same time that one of my other daughters takes a bath. During the construction, Paul also noticed that when we broke through the BR closet, light streamed into what would be the back wall of the shower--he recommended putting glass block there (which we did) and it is one of the key features that guests continually comment upon (it looks great in the shower--streams ribbons of light-- and on the BR side it looks fantastic as well). I also appreciate that when I went to a tile store and picked out a scheme that looked nice in the design room, Paul and his tile guy, Timo, both strongly suggested going with something else (Paul drew out what it would look like with the original selection). In the end, I went for a less busy design which now looks absolutely stunning. If there is one qualification I have of what was an overall EXCELLENT experience, it would be that Paul had taken on too many jobs during the summer, and so he had trouble with some of his subcontractors and couldn't get them to show. Our price tag ballooned during the job, but this was a function of many unforseen complications and additions we had originally nixed due to budget (e.g., the window replacement, stucco repair).

Since we moved into our 1923 Spanish style house, we knew we needed to remodel our awful bathroom, but it wasn't until my three young daughters started pushing each other while crowded around one sink that we decided to take the plunge. I interviewed two contractors on Angie's List and went with Paul partly because his bid was the lowest, but also because of his design sense and professional demeanor. To accommodate both a deep soaking tub and a shower, Paul gave me several designs and the one we chose ultimately "stole" space from an adjacent bedroom closet. We now have a long shower that can accommodate mom an kiddies at the same time that one of my other daughters takes a bath. During the construction, Paul also noticed that when we broke through the BR closet, light streamed into what would be the back wall of the shower--he recommended putting glass block there (which we did) and it is one of the key features that guests continually comment upon (it looks great in the shower--streams ribbons of light-- and on the BR side it looks fantastic as well). I also appreciate that when I went to a tile store and picked out a scheme that looked nice in the design room, Paul and his tile guy, Timo, both strongly suggested going with something else (Paul drew out what it would look like with the original selection). In the end, I went for a less busy design which now looks absolutely stunning. If there is one qualification I have of what was an overall EXCELLENT experience, it would be that Paul had taken on too many jobs during the summer, and so he had trouble with some of his subcontractors and couldn't get them to show. Our price tag ballooned during the job, but this was a function of many unforseen complications and additions we had originally nixed due to budget (e.g., the window replacement, stucco repair). I will post pictures but need to find them on my computer first.

The project involved removing an exterior wall which was made of brick and replacing it with a stucco wall with a door and window in ti. The new wall had to be moved one foot from where the brick wall had been so foundation work had to be done. The new wall also had to be ties into the other existing walls, one of which was brick. Paul came up with good solutions to all the issues that arose during planning and construction and the work was of high quality and at a fair price.

When it came time to remodel my Los Angeles house, to rent out in the near term and to live in later, I took at face value the great referral to a contractor from my trusted money manager. The basis of his great recommendation was that the contractor had been his best friend for many years and he had successfully completed work on his house. What could be better, I thought, than a glowing reference from a man whose judgment I implicitly trusted? I felt lucky and confident. I hired the contractor he recommended with surprisingly little thought or concern. This was the beginning of what turned out to be the very long and treacherous odyssey of my house remodel. It was many, many, months and many, many, tens of thousands of dollars later, that I discovered that this much touted contractor was converting money from me through a rather complicated scheme of misrepresentations. Ultimately, it turned out that he was not only a thief, on the lamb from the law, but he was profoundly incompetent. The experience left me with a good chunk of my retirement gone and a very ugly, poorly constructed, strangely dysfunctional, half remodeled house. Suffice it to say, the situation took my breath away. I interviewed four new contractors. I hired one of them. This was my second big mistake. This contractor informed me on the seventh day on the job that he was $10,000 over his bid because of all the change orders and extra work he had done, all without notification to me and without my approval, either verbally or in writing. It also turned out that he had given me incompetent advice on a critical issue and the work he did had to be done over. I was becoming depressed over the whole thing. I never realized that integrity and competence were in such short supply. I had no idea how to fix my house dilemma, but I knew that I could not financially or emotionally sustain another misstep. One day, I heard an ad on my radio station that I probably had heard a million times before but had never actually listened to. It was an ad for Angie?s list. After overcoming my natural skepticism that had now been magnified by my negative experiences, I joined. To avoid getting conned again, I decided to shoot for the best of the best and have a large sample from which to compare and contrast. I reviewed all of the information provided about each contractor who had gotten ?A"s in his/her reports under the category ?Remodeling-General?. I determined who I thought were the top fourteen and called them. Three were eliminated through phone conversations and I scheduled eleven to meet, interview, do walk-through, and submit bids. It seems like overkill and the process was certainly time- consuming, however, as it turned out, the experience proved invaluable to achieving the desired outcome. Paul North, True North Designs, was head and shoulders above all the other 18 contractors I had interacted with over the past year, including the eleven I found on Angie?s List. There was no comparison, not even close. He had the understated, quiet confidence of a seasoned professional. He was intelligent, clever, detail oriented, knowledgeable, attentive, creative, and a great problem solver. He was at ease, not a bit defensive, and very thoughtful and thorough in his analysis and suggestions. He never tried to over sell me or take advantage of my naivety and bad circumstance. There were several major issues associated with this job as well as a slew of lesser, but still important, ones. The master bathroom was one of the major problems. It was an ugly quagmire of poor workmanship and dysfunction. The first contractor had actually failed to water proof the shower with the necessary ?paper? between the tile and wall board, the shower pan was constructed all wrong, the tile had been installed using irregular pieces and insufficient space was left to grout. I accepted that the whole bathroom had to be demolished and reconstructed correctly. The issue I struggled with was that two walls of the shower were made of glass block. I desperately wanted to keep them. Fourteen contractors had concluded there was no option but to destroy them in order to reconstruct the shower pan correctly. Yet, I was having a hard time accepting it. When Paul did his walk-through and saw the bathroom, he instinctively knew without me saying a word, that the issue was how to destroy the bathroom, but keep the glass block walls. He talked it through out loud, thoughtfully considering the problem. He was the only contractor who actively, and with obvious effort, sought a solution that would enable the outcome I wanted. He was the only one who said he thought he could save them, and that he would try his best to do so. I hired True North Designs to remodel my house for many reasons. Now that the job has been completed, I?m utterly relieved and truly thrilled to be able to report that my expectations have been far exceeded. The following are some reasons why I evaluate True North Designs so highly, why I regard Paul North with such great esteem, and why I wholeheartedly, without any reservation, recommend True North Designs for any of your home construction projects. Paul is reliable and dependable. He says what he means and means what he says. He never came late for one appointment and he never failed to make himself available to me when I needed contact. He is an honest man and operates with integrity. As it turned out, he never did try to over sell me or take advantage of me. In fact, I found him so responsible and trustworthy that I gave him the keys to my house, put the whole operation in his hands, explicitly made him my agent for all things related to my house, and went home to the San Francisco Bay Area where I live to resume my life. The craftsmanship is exceptional and the result absolutely beautiful. Paul and his crew are remarkably talented and competent. They care about the quality of their work and produce an impeccable work product. Paul listens, he?s articulate and responsive. He was steadfastly focused on understanding my intentions, needs and wishes and fulfilling them. There was no drama and there were no misunderstandings. All paperwork, including the proposal, change orders and extra work documentation, and all status reports were timely, well written, concise, thorough, and easy to understand. True North Designs? bid certainly was not the least expensive. However, I still gave an ?A? grade in the price category because, although not cheap, I definitely got more than I paid for. I got the best and most experienced person I could find to interact with, to help me fix my mess, to depend on, and who ultimately provided me with a beautiful and well- crafted finished product. Maybe most importantly, I got peace of mind. After I replenish my war chest, I intend to rehire Paul to completely remodel the other bathroom, add to the kitchen remodel, and who knows, I might put a second story on to catch the view before I move in. Paul not only gave me a beautiful house, he gave my story about crime, dishonesty, betrayal, and incompetence a perfect ending. I would like to thank Angie?s List for allowing me the opportunity to meet him. I would like to nominate True North Designs for a Pages of Happiness award. In my opinion, he?s the best you?ve got.

Paul & his crew did a fantastic job. Each aspect of the job was quoted upfront and came in on budget. We put Paul through from crazy gyrations as we changed our minds through the process, but he worked with us to get the results we wanted. He is very professional and so is his crew. We have another significant section of the house to rebuild and plan to use Paul as soon as the kitty has been replenished enough to get started. A note about our rating on price. Paul's price was very fair. I don't expect the best service and the cheapest price in the same job. It was excellent value for the investment.

I’m very happy with the work that Paul did and with the entire process. I found him on Angie’s List – thanks to all the people who left feedback. From the very first phone call, he was respectful, attentive, and professional. After I awarded the job to him, I made a change in the spec (instead of having a 90-degree corner for the two new walls to meet, I added a third wall at a 45-degree angle). Another contractor might have seen this as an opportunity to charge more, but instead he let the original bid stand. Also, after construction started, I decided that I wanted to add a light switch, which meant running electrical wire through the new wall. Paul accommodated this request as well, for an additional $200 (bringing the total bid to $3,200 from its original $3,000), which was very reasonable. His painters perfectly matched the new wall texture to the original orange peel texture of the surrounding walls. Now that the job is finished, it is impossible to tell that the new wall was not part of the existing floor plan – it looks that natural. Paul spent a lot of time on site throughout the job, making sure that his workers were doing the job to spec, and that I was happy. All of his guys did excellent work and were very courteous and accommodating. Paul will definitely be my first call on the next project.

He came out to give me an estimate in a very short time. He was very professional and punctual. It was just a little more than I wanted to pay, but I really like him. He was very thorough.

The employee from True North Designs was very professional. We cannot afford the deck now however we will use this company for other work and in the future plan to use them to build our deck.

Thank God for Angie's List otherwise I might never have found Paul North and his company, True North Designs! I started planning this house remodel the day I closed escrow in 1996. For a variety of reasons, the project didn't happen until 2010. I got a referral to a "great' contractor from a friend and I looked forward to getting his bid. When I got his one line description with a single price next to it, I realized I needed to find a different contractor! Within minutes I joined Angie's List and the search was on. I wanted someone local, (the other contractor was not). I wanted someone who had a good sense of architectural & interior design (I have a degree in Interior & Environmental Design) as well as construction methods, (the first contractor was a "Me build" kind of guy). I also wanted a collaborator, someone who got who I am and could work with me and my ideas. (I designed my own remodel). After several nerve-wracking hours on Angie's List, I narrowed it down to three possible construction companies. Something in the Angie's List reports about True North Designs caught my attention. They all talked about the quality of the work, etc., but the remark that impressed me said they had used True North Designs before successfully and would definitely use this contractor again. To me, that was high praise for a contractor when most people I know don't even like their contractor at the end of their project. Paul North is a gem. I can't recommend him highly enough. I found Paul to be very pleasant, ethical, honest, and professional. He is creative and contributes great ideas and solutions to problems. He showed up on time for all of our appointments, most importantly for the initial appointment. He was extremely patient, not to mention generous with his time, as I quizzed him thoroughly about the prospective remodel during our first meeting. I was immediately impressed with both his knowlegde and his willingness to address every problem I presented as if it were his own. It didn't take me long to decide I had found the right contractor for my project. I feel lucky to have been able to work with Paul and his skilled and talented crew of tradesmen. Jeff and Jose are framers and finish carpenters and can solve any problem thrown at them. Among the magic they worked on my job was the perfect installation of a skylight in the master bath (Paul's idea) where the framing had to be vaulted between two roof lines going in opposite directions. Ewald, Paul's tile setter, is a European master craftsman who installed a beautiful travertine bathroom that looks like it is right out of a magazine. These men excel at their profession and hold their work to a high standard of performance. I really didn't think this type of tradesman still existed. At the beginning of the project, I needed to make some changes to the plans. I was impressed by Paul's optimism and his willingness to take on the task of finding a new architect and structural engineer. Paul found discrepancies between the new plans and the original roof plans, made the corrections himself, and had the new architect re-draw the plans correctly. Despite having another remodel going, Paul coordinated it all - from revisions to the floor plans, to structural engineering, architectural drawings, and getting that final set of plans with which he pulled the permit. Once the job got started, I was amazed at how efficiently things got done. In a four month job that added a master bathroom, walk-in closet, formal dining room, re-designed front entry, and a complete gut and re-do of the kitchen, we only had one, maybe two days when no one was on the job. That is almost unheard of. I came home every evening to a project that looked totally different due to all the progress made. Even my very picky husband, who is retired and was on the site every day, remarked about how quickly the new space took shape and the high quality of the the work being done. In the four months we have known Paul, we have come to trust his judgment and his attention to detail. I was particularly relieved when he managed the painters in the last phases of the project without charging for his time. He said that since he was on the site anyway, he was happy to do it for me. When Paul realized (during the framing process) that an attic access panel would have to go in my beautiful new dining room ceiling, he and Jeff and Jose surprised me with a great solution - a removable exterior dormer vent made out of clear redwood! The dormer vent and the nearby redwood fence make a striking combination on what was once just a plain exterior wall facing the driveway. Paul's isn't the lowest price you'll find, but it is a bargain for the quality of work you get. I got everything I paid for and then some. I also got to enjoy this whole process, watching it transform and unfold, and seeing the new space take shape. Most enjoyable for me was collaborating with Paul on the new kitchen cabinet layout. As soon as the finish on the new hardwood floors was dry, Paul, Jeff, and Jose got to work installing cabinet shells. Then the granite was measured, fabricated, and installed along with plumbing fixtures, followed by Ewald and Eddie's backsplash. Paul insisted that I have the doors and drawer fronts sprayed instead of hand-painted, and now I am glad I took his advice. They are gorgeous and have a spectacularly smooth finish! The fact that the painters finished the kitchen and master bath cabinets, which required a lot of prep work, in just four days seemed to confirm the extraordinary way things seemed to fall nicely into place on this project. I am extremely pleased with the final result and I wouldn't hesitate to use True North Designs again.