Becker Architects, LTD.

I didn't end up using them because they didn't do the kind of work I needed done. I had a small architectural job and they only do larger jobs.

Becker Architects worked with us to provide a final design for the exterior of our house that we absolutely love. A simple but elegant design that met our budget. We never would have though of such a design by ourselves or from the other architects we interviewed. They provided detailed before-and-after construction design that left little guessing for our contractor. He is responsive to phone calls and email and helped us address issues with city ordinances. All this plus their rates were very reasonable. In short, I would recommend Becker Architect to anyone doing extensive remodeling (inside or out).

We are still in the process of deciding whether or not to go forward with the renovation, and are considering the possibility of moving or building elsewhere. But Richard has not only been invaluable as an architect (we went to some of the homes he architected and they are beautiful), he has been invaluable as an advisor in general on topics ranging from architectural ideas to ROI on homes to neighborhood considerations. He's easy to talk to and acts as a professional sounding board. Richard (and Bert who we also worked with) have great ideas and can scale them up or down. His network of resources has also been a big boon to us as a source of high quality home buying/renovating professional. It's not so much a matter of if, but when we will use Becker Architects.

He was on time and professional.

They were very good and I was very pleased with them. They did what they said they were going to do. They came on time and at the time we had agreed on. They did the job pretty fast. They did the job faster than we agreed because they brought extra people to help them. Their price was very good. The quality of service was excellent. They were very responsive and very punctual.

He was very good. He probably told us things we didn't want to hear, but he was candid about it. We were very impressed with him. We are not sure if we are going to go through with it, but we liked him a lot. The estimate was a lot more than what we thought, but part of that was because he knew a lot more about the problems with the house than we knew. It is a very old house and he didn?t mislead us at all. I don't think he was off the mark. We are trying to decide what we are going to do. I think if we do any design work, we will probably go back to him. The estimate was in six figures and the house is in bad shape. My wife is into the green movement and he has a history in that movement and orientation which we liked. He called us about ten minutes before he was supposed to be here and said that he would be delayed because of the snow and he showed up with 30 minutes. He was very professional.

Richard Becker responded immediately and set up an appointment at my home in Park Ridge a few days later. Although I'm fairly sure he knew it wouldn't turn into a sale (it was a small/med. size project and I told him I was on a very tight budget), he spent over an hour with me discussing the project, reviewing the existing space, suggesting design options and showing me samples of his work. He was extremely understanding about the budget constraints and even made suggestions about how he could streamline his services to reduce the cost. Although though he was probably the most experienced of the 3 architects I met with, his estimate was very competitive (about the same as one other and much lower than the third). I eventually decided to go with someone else who provided a complete package of services (architecture/planning/construction), but I was very impressed with Richard Becker's attitude and professionalism. If I had had the budget to hire a separate architect I definitely would have chosen his company.

Richard answered the phone himself when I called to discuss our project. He was extremely pleasant and helpful over the phone and agreed to come to our house that night to talk more about it, view the space we were talking about and to share his portfolio. We had a great discussion, after which Richard put together a detailed proposal for our project. While we ultimately chose to go with a different firm, I was very impressed with the quality of Richard's portfolio as well as his professionalism and creativity. I have no doubt his firm would have done a fantastic job for us, and I would definitely recommend him based on my experience through the proposal phase.

I can't say enough good things about this company and would highly recommend them to anyone. I'll continue to use them for any need that comes up. I've paid more than $200,000 for all of the work I've had done but that's including contractors work, new appliances, and other things.

MR. BECKER WAS KIND ENOUGH TO TAKE THE TIME TO RETURN A CALL FOR A JOB HIS FIRM WAS NOT ABLE TO HELP US WITH. HE GAVE US HELPFUL INFORMATION TO ASSIST OUR SEARCH FOR AN ARCHITECT. HE WAS PROFESSIONAL AND COURTEOUS.

VERY EASY TO WORK WITH, CREATIVE, AND INNOVATIVE.