ROGER O HOIT

Mr. Hoit and his gracious wife designed an addition for our house which had grown too small for our growing family (we had just had triplets). The addition looks beautiful-it is in keeping with the historic character of the house. More importantly, the addition is just so SMART. His designs make everyday life so much easier-very clever laundry situation, mudroom and playroom. We were strongly advised just to buy a bigger house by our friends who had suffered through an addition. Mr. Hoit and his wife made it a really painless project.

Overall, our experience went very well; we're extremely pleased with our beautiful home. We selected Roger because, as compared to the other architects we interviewed, he and his wife Nancy listened carefully to what our lifestyle was like, incorporated so many of the things we liked from magazines and books into our drawings, and helped us get the transformation made from beginning to end. Their role was more than just drawing plans and passing them off to us - they stayed engaged in the project from the very beginning until the very end. Our home's redesign went like this: We met with Roger and Nancy, and based on our wish lists, family lifestyle and budget, they created a group of drawings. After a little back and forth, we settled on our plan, and Roger started the bidding process. He had a number of contractors that he had worked with before bid on the job, and we added three builders of our own to bid as well- it was helpful to see the pricing presented the way that it was. In the end, we interviewed our top contractor choices and selected one of Roger's candidates. As the work on our home progressed, Roger interacted with our contractor regularly, checked out the work in progress and helped resolve issues or questions that surfaced along the way. Roger and Nancy helped source and suggest materials to get the look we wanted (fireplace, floors, siding, hardware, trim, etc.), it was helpful to have the guidance as there were so many selections to be made. Our project took about seven months to complete (within planned timeframe), and pretty much stayed on budget except where we chose a different floor finish or added more trim work, etc. The project was not without little bumps - things did happen (town departments requiring specific changes, septic system requirements, potential zoning changes just before our project started, incorporating some little detail we wanted at the last moment ...) but they were all worked through ok, and in the end we are very happy with our home.

Went very smoothly. The Hoits were very conscious of our budget. I wish that we had pressed more about the feasibility of adding features (such as outdoor shower and moldings).