Carl Gramentz Architect

Carl was professional, reliable, reasonably priced, fair, honest, and the services were performed in a very timely manner.

Definitely an A. He's reasonable. I'll absolutely use him again. He is very thorough. He has a great team behind him. He is willing to work with the customer to get what they want and offer suggestions as needed. He listens to the customer and does as best as he can what the customer asks. Of course, there are things the customers asks that are unrealistic, and he is very gracious in pointing that out, when you ask for something that is not gonna happen.

Carl was always punctual and on time for the our appointments He at times was difficult to communicate with despite taking several different approaches. We were often times confronted with the thought of wanting to switch and go with someone else, but our sunk cost was too extreme to turn back. At times we felt like it was groundhogs day, having several similar conversation and ending back at drawings that had already been created. Or process involved a city variance, which was pain stacking and involved some extra work. Carl was somewhat familiar with the process and worked with a variety of people at city hall. We too were involved in this process and did find ourselves making copies and gathering additional requested information. Part of this was to keep cost down while the other part was a trust factor and taking the approach of "if you want something done......" While interviewing builders, Carl was most familiar with the builder we settled on, Fred Nordahl construction. Carl's opinion of Fred had no bearing on us going with him. Our opinion of them is forth coming :( During the construction process, there was some MAJOR oversight on Carl's part. These mistakes were almost elementary. A support beam supporting the second story had to be added to the plans. Yes, added!! The beam that was placed in our house ended up going through the guest bedroom and into a basement office, causing thousands of dollars in extra work. The framing in our kitchen was off tremendously, adding again thousands of dollars of extra work. If we knew what this added cost was going to be when the project started, we would not have done the project at all. These mistakes were situations were the builders was well into the project, and had to reconstruct elements that were already complete to address the situation that they came across. Perhaps it was the scale of the project that we were doing or a matter of Carl being distracted by something? We most likely will never know the cause for the oversight. Since the issues were discovered, we have not heard from Carl nor did we get a simple apology for the oversight. Please feel free to contact us with additional questions regarding the undertaking that we did. We want to make sure mistakes such as this one don't happen to others. -Tom & Carolyn Sullivan

Carl and his assistant (Will) were right on time and quickly got to work. Once I explained what we wanted to do (remove a 6' section of wall) they inspected the existing structure, reviewed the load, how it was being distributed, and what, if any, concerns needed to be addressed. They then went into detail with me about what needed to be done, and explained everything in straight-forward terms that was easy to follow. When they left, I knew that what we wanted to do was possible, what I needed to do, and exactly how to do it. When it came time to pay, I was expecting to pay more. They had quoted me a price that included both their time at our house as well as travel time to the house. Carl explained they were on their way to another meeting, and he would only charge me for the time spent reviewing our remodel plans. If I ever need an architect again, I won't bother searching for other quotes -- I'll just work with Carl and Will. It was a pleasure working with them and I would happily recommend their services.

Keeps appointments and iw always well prepwred.

Carl was responsive and implemented our ideas into a well thought out design.

Carl did a great job. He listened to our wishes in an initial meeting, drew up a proposal with his suggestions for ways to improve the function and appearance, revised it based on our feedback, and delivered the plans that we needed. The plans allowed us to attempt to get contractors' bids, asking them to bid on the exact same job, as drawn. It took a little longer than I had expected for Carl to finish, but Carl always kept us informed of the progress. He gave us an estimate for his work beforehand, and he kept his charges within his estimate.

Everything went great, he delivered exactly what we wanted he to give us.

I thought the quality was very good. Carl was professional. He stuck to the time line and had the designs to me in 4-6 weeks.

We ended up going with a different provider for the work because the original plans we consulted Carl for were for a different part of the house. We decided to focus on a smaller remodel and went with a contractor we already knew. Carl was very professional, organized and timely. He was easy to work with and friendly. I had no complaints about working with Carl.

He did a great job. I was impressed with how thorough he was and how he not only did what we asked but that went above and beyond by coming up with other ideas which were very helpful. Carl was very timely. I would highly recommend his services.

His work is very good. I was impressed with his knowledge and the efficiency of his work. He provided us with a quality design. We are currently in the process of the remodel. Carl was very professional, he asked us what we wanted which drove his plans. He provided us with a rough plan and we were able to discuss different suggestions. He then came up with final plans that satisfied what we wanted.

Carl was on time, clear in explaining his service & pricing, and met is commitments when we moved forward.

Carl was on time, easy to work with ad very professional.

We wanted an architect to draw the plans up so that Phase 1 would have all the necessary infrastructure in place for when we decide to proceed with Phase 2. We picked Carl from Angie's list based on the reviews and also the sense that he focused more on these type of mid-sized projects than extravagant remodels or teardowns (which he also does). We appreciated his focus on the day-to-day "live-ability" of the design. He was really open to incorporating our ideas and suggesgtions but giving them a critical professional eye. He was particularly good about breaking the design process down into several steps -- giving us a chance to really think about the practical aspects of the design before committing to anything. Of course, we continued to request small changes even after we had thought we had "final plans" (e.g., could we move this wall back another six inches, could we flip the vanity and toilet, etc.). Carl was very patient about accommodating this additional changes. He also recommended several contractors to bid out the work for us. All of them have been equally responsive and professional.

Mr. Gramentz came to the house to take measurements for adding a new bathroom to our house. He was on-time, extremely personable and very professional. He was thorough and efficient with his measurements and provided blueprints in a timely manner. I would recommend him to anyone interested who needed an architect.

I called Carl after reviewing Angie's List to find someone who would be willing to do a small job. Carl came to my house, exactly at the time specified (each time he came), and met with me to determine what I wanted to achieve. He advised me that my exact plan wasn't permitted by city building codes but came up with alternatives to achieve the same effect. He prepared a couple of drafts, made changes as we met a couple more times to discuss details and ultimately delivered completed drawings. He charged by the hour, came in price-wise exactly where he'd estimated he would (actually slightly under), and was just generally a very professional and polite man. He also recommended a contractor who did small jobs such as this one. Since we finished the planning stage pretty late in the fall, I am just starting now to get bids and complete the project - and this is when I realized I had forgotten to do an Angie's List review for Carl. I highly recommend him!

The overall experience was great! Carl responded quickly and an appointment to meet at our house was scheduled quick. Carl was very professional and honest and we really enjoyed meeting with him. He was even able to give us an estimate of what he thought the entire project would cost, both the design and remodel. His price seemed reasonable as well. We decided to postpone the project, which is why we didn't work with Carl. If we do decide to continue with the project, we will definitely call Carl again.

It was great. We were happy with him. He was on time and everything was good.

My wife and I tore down our house in SW Minneapolis and built a new house on the same lot. We interviewed several architects and chose Carl - partly because he has so many favorable reviews on Angie's List. Carl's design was terrific and he was very involved during the construction process. He also referred us to multiple reputable general contractors and a reputable interior decorator. In addition, Carl put together the bid package and managed the bidding process for us from start to finish. Carl went above and beyond and we are very pleased with the final result. We spent the better part of the last 12 months with Carl and strongly recommend him for any job - large or small. We also recommend purchasing his full service since there are many questions / issues that arise during construction and it helps greatly to have an architect at your side when there are questions / issues.

A project to design a 2nd story master bedroom closet over an existing attached garage addition. Provide construction drawings.

He has drawn up the plans for that. We have a new garage and how it will attach to the home. He has gone through a number or options, good plans, and ideas. Our feedback has all been incorporated into the plans we have received.

Having found him on Angies List I contacted Carl to help me work up a remodling plan for my 1985 custom designed home which was damaged by fire last winter and currently undergoing restoration. Carl responded promptly and we arranged to meet at the house to talk about what I wanted. For our meeting he arrived exactly on time, he listened very carefully, asked clarifying questions, took some notes and snapped some pictures, and asked if he could see the original house plans. I did not have the plans with me, so I arranged a second meeting with him to pass those on. Within a couple of days thereafter he e-mailed me several remodeling options to consider, and after a little back and forth, we decided on a plan that met all of my needs. All of this was before I signed his contract agreeing to pay him for his work. Needless to say, I gladly signed his contract agreeing to pay him, and Carl delivered the final plan promptly. In all the total cost for the plans and revisions he drew up came in a little under $800. Carl is a pleasure to deal with. He's very responsive and trustworthy. He's an old-school, down-to-earth architect who still uses hand drawn plans rather than CAD, yet he's very experienced and knowledgable at residential remodeling, and offers great suggestions and input. I would recommend Carl to anyone looking for a reasonably priced no-frills architect.

He was recommended by a re-modeler and has been very good to deal with. He has been very helpful.

Carl was highly recommended by one of the contractors that we had worked with in the past. He was contacted and drove from Minnetonka to White Bear Lake to discuss our project. The initial consult was free. His hourly fee is $60.00. After hearing our thoughts, he drew up tentative plans and returned to our home to disuss them. He later made the revisions necessary based upon that discussion and mailed the completed plans to us. His experience showed. The porch has many "nice touches" that we would not have considered. I also liked having plans when we talked to the various contractors because it made communication much easier and I was more comfortable that the estimates were complete and comparable. After having remodeled our basement without an architect's plans and having done the porch with architect's plans, I plan to ask Carl to help us with any additional remodeling projects. The money was well spent.