Energy-Efficient Homes Professionals in Ridgewood.

“We started working with Marvin and the team in 2022 to rebuild our house on a challenging site. With Marvin's help, we were able to assemble a team of seasoned professionals, including an engineer and a landscape architect (given the challenges of the steep slope, we needed to factor in all types of variance issues and grading challenges before trying to design the house). Through the entire design process, the Clawson team did a great job of working with our family to come up with a design that met our family's needs and articulated our vision. The house design factored in how we used various spaces and is in harmony with our landscape. Marvin and his team were with us all the way from design, town approval, builder selection, and build inspection as required. We couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome and could not have done it without the Clawson team”

“Xiomara and the team at Paredes-Grube were a pleasure to work with during the renovation of our turn-of-the-century home. We were specifically looking for an architect with experience preserving the charm of older houses, and several neighborhood recommendations pointed us directly to Xiomara. We felt we were in good hands from the initial consultation through the design process and the completion of the construction documents. Their recommended network of contractors and kitchen designers was excellent; the professionals we chose did such a beautiful job that we could not be happier with the result. At our initial consultation, Xiomara listened closely to our vision and asked insightful questions about our lifestyle and how we planned to use the renovated spaces. We truly appreciated the thoughtfulness of her approach and her focus on functional design. We iterated on concept drawings until we were happy with the proposed layout. At each step, Xiomara explained in detail why she designed things a certain way or why certain requests were not feasible or recommended. The flow of the house now makes perfect sense; the rooms were planned to maximize every square foot, even accounting for future furniture placement during the earliest design phases. The detailed design documents followed, including all side elevations, which we refined further. Xiomara and her team were always responsive to our revisions. They were knowledgeable about projected costs and town regulations, and they were incredibly patient as we explored every possible design option. As a result, we are confident that we ended up with the best possible design for our needs. One area for improvement—which may already be addressed for more recent clients—would be the inclusion of 3D renderings. While we worked primarily from 2D elevations, we believe 3D models would have helped us grasp the geometry of the additions more easily and allowed for even faster decision-making. Finally, the construction documents were completed without any major issues. When a few revisions became necessary due to unforeseen structural conditions and town official requests, the team delivered them with a very quick turnaround.”

“Eric Baker is a fantastic architect and furniture designer. He has done work for me in two homes - both times creating a much better use of space and adding beauty as well as function. He is a great listener and offers multiple options for consideration. Eric is incredibly creative and involved me in his thinking. Exceptional work and a terrific person to work with.”