Custom Home Designs

When choosing a company that will design your home you have many to choose from. Thank God I didn't have to search too hard. It feels that Custom Home Designs just fell into our lap. After talking with Mr. John Guillory about the design process and then meeting with him to go over our ideas. We knew that he was just the perfect fit for us. I told him that we had never done this before and we were already frustrated because we didn't know how to explain everything we had bouncing around in our heads. He gave us a little homework and detailed instructions so that he could have a clear picture of what we wanted. He also gave great feedback on design selections and the benefits of choosing one feature over another. The attention to detail shows that he has been doing this for a very long time. His plans are so detailed that if you wanted to build the home yourself you really could. The average person may go online and purchase house plans online through a website but I guarantee they can't get the personal hands-on touch that we have gotten with Mr. Guillory. I decided to build our home myself because of how detailed the plans were along with the specification sheets he created. He wouldn't advise anyone to build their own home but rather the builder deals with that headache. Currently, we are going through our framing inspection and things are going pretty well. I had to call Mr. Guillory many times with questions and for input on what to do after a contractor deviated from the plans or the city wanted to see this instead of that. He has been there every step and held our hands through this whole process. He may not be the cheapest but he is worth his weight in gold. Choosing Custom Home Designs was one of the best decisions I've ever made. The proof in that statement comes from me being my general contractor saving us over $160k and the smile on my wife's face. Another bonus for me was at the time I was seeking bids in all the different trades, so many people knew Mr. Guillory and because his plans were so unique it set him apart from everyone. Even though his work is exceptional it can't beat his personality and his spirit. When talking with Mr. Guillory (A.K.A) John and being in the same space I feel like we are more than just friends and acquaintances but more like family. For that reason, he will forever be welcomed in my home and will always have a seat at my table. Thanks, Custom Home Designs. I pray that others are blessed by the work you do just as my family has been.

John spent a tremendous amount of time with us...and it shows in the little details of our new build house! He is extremely thorough and knowledgeable. I give his name to any and everyone who will listen, he took a pencil drawing of a house and fashioned our dream forever home!

John is the best! He listens to what you want your home to be and he makes it come true, down to every little detail! John drew the plans to our home and worked with our builder until completion. Such a pleasure to work with him on our final home. We absolutely love it!

Wow! Couldn’t be happier working with John. He helped with a porch design and now a full construction set of plans. Knowledgeable and patient for sure! The project is finally moving along and we couldn’t be more excited! Thanks again!

We had no idea where to start with our project and we were very intimidated and uninformed. We discovered John and Custom Home Design in our search on Houzz. After a couple hour consultation with John, he managed to ground us and give us solid suggestions to develop our vision. John’s process to partner with his clients is personal and the right mix of listening and talking. John will settle you like he did us with his down-to-earth manner and wealth of experience. We look forward to seeing all our project phases come to fruition with John’s assistance.

We were very intimidated by the entire project that was ahead of us having never gone through the design-build process. John was very knowledgeable and took our ideas (and concerns) seriously and made it all look seamless. We are now very excited for the next phase of our project and owe a huge part of that to John. We highly recommend him to help with your project.

We have worked with Custom Home designs for several of our house projects and have nothing but great things to say! The work is very detailed and well thought out. John always has lots of ideas on how to make the most out of a design! We would highly recommend them!

I can highly recommend Custom Home Designs. The team was very responsive to our requests and they offered clear processes to help us realize our vision. We were very satisfied with their efforts on our behalf.

We contact Mr. Guillory when we decided to remodel our front and back balconies as he did our original new home designs as we trusted he would determine the best approach for us. We met with him at our house and we worked with him to get what worked for us and within our budget. He was professional and was receptive to our questions and when applicable he would come out and go over the prints with us for the changes to ensure we were all on the same page before we started working on the remodel. He was with us to the end of the project and everything we discussed or changed was done with our satisfaction. We would strongly recommend Mr. Guillory to anyone doing new building, or remodeling as we were very happy with his work and working with him.

After a very impressive first meeting with Mr. Guillory, we hired him to draft house plans for us. He was enthusiastic at first, but after a couple of months his interest waned. We soon learned that he didn't listen well, which meant the next draft of the plans we had waited weeks and weeks for was wrong. We found out from a friend he had taken a full time job with a contractor. He stopped returning our phone calls and emails, and we ended up sorry we hired him.

John is amazing! My wife and I spent a tremendous amount of time selecting a home designer and visited with at least 4-6 others. John stood out with his practical, straight forward and caring approach that was truly customized to us as a client. In the ensuing 1 1/2 years, we designed our 'forever' home that was not only mindful of the aesthetic goals that we had but with solid and value based construction methods. I spent another two years building my home (self contracted) and John was accessible and kept current with our needs and the project. I cannot imagine building our home if it was drawn by the other designers we met with. If you are truly interested in a 'custom' home design and build experience, then John Guillory will not disappoint! Thank you John and sorry we lost touch. We will talk soon!

We've worked with John Guillory (Custom Home Designs) for two projects - a major home renovation and, later, a small bathroom renovation. We would not only use him again for any future projects, but would highly recommend him and his company to anyone seeking a custom, well-thought-out, unique design tailored to fit the client's needs and wants. Despite the fact that he is not an architect, I found that John's design ideas are as good as those of any architect with whom I've worked (I was a licensed landscape architect for many years). By using CHD, those seeking the services of a professional home designer, can save a lot of money (which can be put towards the project itself) and get just as high quality a result. John is knowledgeable about building codes, realistic costs, and is a great source of knowledge about where and how to obtain certain items which enhance and make the project truly one-of-a-kind. I have already recommended Custom Home Designs to several people (and CHD was recommended to me by two others). Everyone I know who has used CHD's design services has been extremely pleased.

This was our 2nd renovation working with Custom Home Designs and John Guillory. When embarking on a project, it pays to get a professional on your side and John fits the bill! His expertise really helped us in many ways: gave us options we hadn't considered, pointed out areas we could save $$ on and areas we shouldn't skimp on, etc. etc. A reno of any size can be overwhelming, so it was great to have John along for the journey to guide us!

We here at Expand Inc. work very close with Mr. John Guillory, He is a very respectful, helpful & understanding man. He is very knowledgeable in his work & does it beautifully.

John designed our home, which was completed in December 2014. All of the other reviews are right on the mark in regard to his professionalism, attention to detail, work ethic, knowledge. John is one of those guys who knows a lot about a lot of things as they relate to houses. He was a great source of information when we had questions during the construction of our home. When John designs a house, he designs the "perfect" house. He will design it so that when your builder cuts corners on construction to cut costs, you'll still have a sturdier house than all your neighbors. John's design will cost a little more to build, but your house will be stronger, tighter and more energy efficient and better insulated than others. Our 2,800 square foot home had an average electric bill of $135 a month during the hottest period when we were running the air conditioning constantly. Oh, we also have an electric water heater since we don't have natural gas available. John helped us make our dream home a reality. We would recommend him to anyone. His rates are reasonable. We wouldn't have the quality of house we have if we hired someone else. After the initial consultation, John recommended we talk to another home designer before making our decision. We found out about John through some friends who had him design their home. We checked out another place in Baton Rouge, and an architect looked at the same floor plan drawing we showed John. Long story short: During our first visit with John, he pulled out a roll of tracing paper, layed it over our initial floor plan and started drawing some possibilities that we hadn't thought about and moving things around. We wanted to know what worked and didn't work as well as what would be better. Only John showed he had that ability to make our plans better. Believe me when I say we tried to get the other guy to show some imagination to improve our plans. John is a guy who is always trying to improve his house designs, learn new things about houses (design methods and concepts, materials, appliances, just about everything in a home). John was truly the "Go-to Guy" whenever we needed an answer immediately.

Our company worked in a joint venture with John Guillory, Custom Home Designs, on the space planning of this client's home. We recommend John to anyone who is building a new home or adding an addition as he is very knowledgeable on foundation and roofing systems.

John Guillory has a tremendous amount of knowledge of home design. Every inch of my home was thought about on paper before anything was ever built. He was insistent able me knowing what was happening and getting the home to flow from room to room. He has the most pleasant way of informing the client on what works and what doesn't from his experience as a custom home designer. John stays on time, helped me stay within budget, and made sure contractors did there part so that it was built to specifications. Working with John Guillory was the best part of building my home, everything done to spec, everything within budget and right on time. I felt John knew more about construction, and products used in&on a home than all the people in the field. I would definitely use John Guillory again and would highly recommend him , if you want a awesome home, done the way it is supposed to be done. Great experience, great honest man ,all the knowledge you will ever need for any size home.

John helped us design an outdoor kitchen at our home. He was great to work with; very thorough. He was very patient with us for we were undecided on several matters along the way. We changed a few details of his design after beginning construction but for the most part he was right on target!

We hired John to do the plans for our house. He was great to work with and was very understanding. It took us 8 months to finalize the plans but that's because each time he provided us plans we came back to him with tweaks to them. John was more than happy to make the adjustments we requested because each one made the house more efficient. We still contact John every now and then for questions on both our house and his professional expertise in dealing with home contractors. I would highly recommend John Guillory for drawing your next home plans, it's money well spent.

John Guillory spent several months working on and perfecting our house plans. He took all of our suggestions and needs based on our age and family members into account. We gave him ideas and he improved upon them. John was professional yet easy to work with. We feel that we made a great choice when we selected him as our custom home designer. Someone asked me recently if, after moving into our new home, we saw things we should have changed on the house plans, I emphatically stated, "No, it is our dream home and it's perfect!"

We were very pleased with the architectural genius of John Guillory; he listened to our descriptive imaginative ideas and produced plans of beauty and usefulness that surpassed all of our dreams on our octagan glass office/library!

My husband and I had the pleasure of working with John Guillory to create our dream home. We had dreamed of the perfect house for years, so I had been gathering ideas, pictures, samples, etc., for years. John was able to take my very long list of likes and dislikes and must haves and create the PERFECT floor plan for us. He also had countless great ideas that I would have never dreamed of but now cannot live without. Throughout the process, John was very professional, courteous, and patient. No question or change was too small. He was also a wealth of information regarding the entire process of home building and all the building products and applications. He really has a gift. Everyone comments on our great floor plan and amazing use of space in our house. We would not consider building or remodeling another home without Custom Home Designs!

We hired John Guillory with Custom Home Designs to draw up the plans for our new home in 2010. He was very professional, and we were very pleased with his ideas and layout. He was also quick to get our ideas to paper. We have been in our home for almost three years now and feel that we have a very beautiful and well-designed home. We would highly recommend Custom Home Designs.

John had the ability to identify our needs as a couple with an idea of a dream home then to use his a professional experience to transform these wants and needs into a workable, efficient and cost effective home design. We deeply appreciate his calm manner and personal attention to our individual needs. We have continued to call him for small project advice and recommendations, which he is very happy to assist with. It is rare when one starts working with a professional then gladly calls them a friend - John is that professional.

My wife and I had a wonderful working relationship with John during the design process for our addtion. John provided the expertise we needed to help create our vision for the addtion and incorporated all of our needs and desires while holding to firm to our budget. John is very easy to work with and i would recommend him highly.

We have known John Guillory for several years and have always been amazed at his tireless drive, enthusiasm, and personal love for the field of design. His attention to detail is matched by the way he stays connected to the client in an extremely respectful manner. John's ideas and experience will give you a finished product that you will be completely pleased with....both practical and beautiful. He is a likable, honest, reliable and reasonable man, and we would use his services again. The Hughes Family

I am a Registered Professional Engineer and have worked with many engineers, architects and other design professionals over the years. None exceed, and few match, the competence, expertise, and professionalism of Custom Home Designs, which is the reason I trusted this firm with designing the interior and exterior remodel of the home we recently purchased. Custom Home Designs did an excellent job of helping us figure out the best approach to accomplish what we wanted in the house in ways we would not have thought of. The design and construction plans were produced timely and precisely, and left no detail undone for the contractor to follow.