Laura Garcia Design, Architecture | Consulting

Laura Garcia is technically knowledgeable and fantastic. She brought her experience with commercial buildings to our challenging residential home project --- integrating an existing 1860's old farm house into an extensive home remodel and addition project. A typical residential architect would not have been aware of the details required, and ultimately would have ended up in expensive change orders --- of which over 1 - year complicated construction project resulted in zero, due to architectural ambiguities. Our new home has multiple levels, complicated structural tie-ins to existing conditions, and special arched features and details for character. Typical residential plans do not include window and door schedules, and details. These complete drawings saved us numerous change orders, as the builder would come to us to say we'd have to pay for certain feature, and I was able to point to detail or schedule on the plan, and say - it's already included in the plans and the price. It was a frequent relief. During the design process, we enjoyed her fresh ideas. I'm a professional harpist, and she is also a musician and understood what we were looking for, and created a music/ harp room that could be converted into a home recital stage - this feature and room gets so many compliments from guests, both from the outside and inside of the house. It was such a fresh idea and unique layout, that flows naturally with our living area. Laura was also fantastic at - as she called it - "reigning us in" when we were spinning our wheels and not making design progress. She clearly could simplify things so we could make logical and concise design decisions. I highly recommend Laura Garcia to anyone with architectural or design needs. She is so professional, experienced, and we enjoyed having her a part of our dream project. Claudine and Kevin

Working with Laura Garcia was great! She was organized and on top of things. At the same time, we really appreciated her laid back personality. She gave us really good design layout options based on our feedback and didn't push us to go in a certain direction. But when we asked for her opinion she gave it to us. It was important for us to prioritize our must have's and relay them to Laura. Then she explored different options based on cost, function, building code, etc. One thing for us was that we wanted a completely open layout on the first floor. She gave us a few different ideas on how to solve that problem according to Chicago city codes and gave us her thoughts on what would be the least expensive (because we were on a tight budget). We had options of using steel beam supports, having a post, or doubling up / sistering each of the support beams in the ceiling. It was important for us to also take some initiative and go out and get quotes while we were developing the floor plans (since we were the general contractors for our property) and do research so that we could find the solutions together. It was helpful to have someone that could understand the details we looking for but also able to see the big picture at the same time. Laura's biggest strengths were communication and trust. She did an excellent job at working with us to get us a plan we were happy with and that she was confident in. Even if it required a little extra effort on her end. She would come meet with us at our place in the evenings when we were off of work and would email us during the day when needed. She broke down the process in a way that it was not overwhelming, asking us to make only a few decisions at a time. In addition to providing design layouts, Laura did a solid job of educating us. She is knowledgable in the city codes and requirements and submitted our paperwork for building permits. To be completely honest, we didn't have any issues or challenges with Laura. Any time we were not feeling right about something, we would let her know and we would both step back and think about it for us. Then she would come up with a few solutions until we found the right answer for us. At the same time, my wife and I tried to be decisive and not abuse her time. I would definitely recommend Laura Garcia. Along with her professionalism, her price point was right where we needed it to be.

I hired Laura for a extensive home renovation project, and employing her services was an excellent decision. Laura is thoughtful and articulate, addressed our needs, and always communicated in a way that both educated us on her process and made us aware of our options. Laura identified potential issues and problems early enough so that they could get handled with ease and without stress. Her design work exceeded our expectations. Hire Laura Garcia. Do it now.

Laura prepared designs for a $160,000 renovation that involved expanding the second floor of our house. We increased the living space from two bedrooms at each end with a hallway between to three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a hallway and additional closets and storage. She is savvy when it comes to getting the most out of a small space while complying with building codes. We couldn't be happier with the results.

Combined two 1400+ sq. ft. apartments (3/4 gutted) and turned them into one seamless unit. Apart from her architectural skills, she has a couple of strengths that really contributed to the project's success. First, she listened well and was able to incorporate generalized ideas we had into something really amazing. Second, if we came up with ideas that were impractical, or detracted from the design, she wasn't afraid to tell us and explain why. This helped build a trust that was invaluable, especially during discussions with the contractor. Finally, she is a decisive thinker and artist that helped keep the project moving, especially during our (i.e. my) periods of indecisiveness, Without the trust built in my second observation, this part of the process could have caused painful delays. She was with us the entire way from design to material selection through construction. We are extremely happy with the result and would gladly hire her if we were to do this again.

We hired Laura Garcia Design as our architect for an extensive rehab of a 1890's brick cottage. The rehab included a redesign of the floor plan, including new structural elements, as well as all new plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. Laura was extremely easy to work with and always listened to our ideas while providing many of her own. She is very knowledgeable of the permit process and helped guide us through it. Laura consistently delivered her drawings on time and was available throughout the construction process when called upon. We would highly recommend Laura Garcia Design.

Laura Garcia is a true professional. We interviewed three architects for our project of combining 2 condominium units in a high rise in Chicago. Laura Garcia listened to what we were hoping to accomplish. She returned in a very timely fashion with plans and had roughly made plans that we were very pleased with as a starting point. Laura always listened, voiced her opinions and was available for discussion. She helped us vet a general contractor and worked well with him. She followed through during the construction. Laura came to pick out the materials we needed. She has impeccable taste and always explained why one material over another. She was very knowledgeable. We never found her overpowering. We highly recommend Laura. She was always professional in her dealings with us, the general contractor and the many workmen in our home.

Laura Garcia Design was my architect for the remodel of a Chicago Greystone constructed in 1893. The remodel included a complete renovation of the interior and all the mechanical systems. Laura did all of the architectural drawings and permit facilitation as well as collaborated on the interior layout, structural changes and mechanical system design. Laura was terrific to work with. She was very professional and consistently delivered her product on time and within budget. She is knowledgeable about not only the design process, but she was instrumental in facilitating my building permits through the notoriously difficult Chicago bureaucracy. Overall, Laura was an invaluable asset for the project and I will definitely turn to her first the next time I need an architect.

We engaged Laura to help us figure out how to maximize the living space on the second floor of a 100-year old frame house. We wanted to rearrange the space to add a third bedroom and two bathrooms (the second floor did not have a bathroom) while maintaining the character of the building. We found her professional, pleasant and easy to work with. Her price was fair, and I was especially impressed with Laura's creativity in coming up with a design that worked for us in spite of challenging space limitations and code requirements. We are very pleased with the result, which exceeded our expectations, and would highly recommend her.