Mark Brand Architecture

Mark did an amazing job on our home in Sonoma. What was a fairly tradition ranch house was transformed into a California/​Italian villa! It was a big project. We more than doubled our living space and created many, many outdoor places to entertain, relax and enjoy the views.
Mark worked with our initial concepts of what we needed: kitchen relocated and made into professional grade; new mechanicals and new three-​car garage; new guest wing, etc. Most importantly, the entire vernacular of the house and its relationship to the site had to change — it needed to be opened up and the colors and textures and general feeling of the outside needed to flow in and through the building. Custom molding was used throughout the house to unify what is a rambling, multi-​story home; floor tile throughout, but with different patterns that are not jarring but flow from room to room; windows and custom Napa Stone window sills (outside) and surroundings for the fireplaces — all are great touches that really make this place feel like it has been here like this for 100 years!
Of course there was a budget and constraints. (Not to mention the County Permitting process which Mark helped us through.) Through it all, Mark waded in, with good cheer to advise us of what our options could be given that we couldn’t have it all.
I would use Mark Brand Architecture again in a heartbeat. And not only was this a very pleasant process that was fun, Mark has become a friend as well. We hadn’t known each other before — he had been recommended to us by a designer friend we had when we lived in Chicago. Great reference — we are glad we found him!

After interviewing 3 different architects to design/​remodel the lower unit of my 2 unit flat, I selected Mark Brand Architecture. My unit had originally been designed by an architect who must have been on LSD when he designed it, as there was nothing about the unit, which was logically laid out or designed. The entire unit needed to be completely gutted and start over from scratch!
Mark Brand is the architect I selected, and I have never had any regret! Mark listened to what I wanted, and within a couple of weeks called to tell me he had 5 different floor plans for me to choose from. The first plan I viewed was better than I could have imagined for the space I had, yet as I looked through the plans each one was better than the one before it! I selected the last of the 5 plans, but choose a couple of features from the prior plans to be implemented with plan 5.
I wanted to walk the blueprints through the approval process at the SF DBI myself, and act as my own general contractor for my renovation. Mark and his assistant were extremely accommodating to whatever I wanted to do. They offered suggestions and prepared me for what to expect during the permitting process. I did have one little snafu at the SF DBI, but that was due to incomplete documentation of my structural engineer, and not due to anything Mark Brand or his assistant did or didn’t do.
Mark and his assistant were friendly to work with, creative in their design ideas, and timely in their work product. When it came to pricing, his fees were significantly cheaper than one of the other architects I interviewed, and only slightly higher than the other architects, but the architects who were slightly cheaper were also a new company, so I felt Marks pricing was very reasonable. The other thing I appreciated was that after Mark created the initial design, he turned most of the work over to his assistant to do the drawings, so it saved me a significant amount of money compared to paying Mark to do all the work himself.
I would not hesitate recommend Mark to others, and in fact already have!

Mark’s creative ideas, contemporary architectural expertise and amazing responsiveness saved our house. We had started with another architect and had we known about Mark upfront, we would have saved a year and a whole lot of money.
Mark easily designed a façade we loved after we wasted a year with others who painstakingly providing mediocre options.
Mark and his team are responsive and accessible. When I had «fires» which needed to be resolved the same day, Mark always came through. We have strangers come by all of the time saying they love our house and we give the Mark’s name. We have wonderful attributes throughout the house which we appreciate every day and we thank Mark for those as well.
In addition to everything else, Mark’s fee structure is very fair. Whenever we received an invoice I thought, they delivered a lot for that fee. (I rarely feel this way.)

One year and $ 18,000 later, we have nothing but the most basic of idea drawings to show for our money and have had to hire another architect. We were misled from the very beginning about the cost of the project which turned out to be more than double what we were initially told (every professional architect and contractor we have consulted with about this disaster has said we were given bad information). We asked for a refund of charges on work that was done counter to our instructions, but instead we received a snotty, threatening email reply saying not only no refund, but that he was keeping our entire $ 5,000 deposit and that we owed him money!!! This guy is bad news. Stay way clear. We are filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the state licensing board.

My family compared many, many architects and actually hired someone else due to price. They always admired Mark and his work, but didn’t think they could afford him. Mark has high integrity and was always honest about his fees. When things didn’t work out with the first architect, we re-​approached Mark. And we never regretted it. Mark’s designs are outstanding: modern, clean, innovative, liveable. He will give you what you want on budget, at a reasonable cost, on schedule, and it will be outstanding. Mark and his team are talented, reliable, and flexible. My parents’ house looks gorgeous. Highly recommended!