William J Chester Architecture LLC

We contacted Bill after seeing a house he designed in Pacific Magazine. We were intrigued by his ability to maximize the contemporary aesthetics of the house and still stay within a somewhat limited budget. As a family with small children, we were definitely on a budget but wanted our children to watch the building process and enjoy living in our dream home. Bill listened to us - I mean REALLY listened. He offered excellent ideas and advice and asked great questions so he could fully understand what we were after. And he respected our ideas, which were often way out of our price range, and worked hard to find alternatives that satisfied those ideas while also satisfying our budget. He was with us every step of the way, from concept to move-in and beyond. 9 1/2 years after our move-in date, we still consult with him on potential improvements and just to check in with our friend. Great guy, great architect. And our children, now 19 and 16, have loved living in this amazing space. (Bill has photos of our home "Sweeney Residence" on this site)

Bill first guided us in the development of a total property concept piece for three structures on 1/2 acre: two new structures and a remodel of one structure. He listened carefully to our evolving vision and came up with many ideas that we are enjoying today. We worked with Bill on this piece for about one year. The length of time was our choosing; Bill accommodated our desire to sip instead of gulp. We greatly enjoyed this creative process. After the concept piece, we hired Bill to fully develop and create architectural plans that would get us through Seattle permitting. This was successfully completed in July 2014. Construction began the following Spring. Bill was available to answer questions as needed. We have been told by our contractor that the level of detail in the design elements and the clarity of the drawings are exceptional. We think so too. This project has 3 construction phases. We have just completed Phase 1 (the building of two new structures). We are very happy that we were lucky enough to have been pointed in Bill's direction. His love of his work shows in the creativity and enthusiasm he brings to each task. We are looking forward to Phase 2!

Bill helped us renovate our back patio/deck and front entrance. He always listened carefully to us and addressed our requests in the plans he provided. His designs were both imaginative and practical and completely blended with our existing structure, as if they were built that way in the first place. Bill was regularly available to answer my questions. His recommended contractor and landscape designer provided the highest quality work and were easy to work with. Thanks to Bill, we now have a very attractive front entrance and outdoor living spaces that work for us!

I was extremely pleased with Chester’s innovative approach to my bathroom remodel. As with any remodeling project, there are often certain restrictions in space and layout that seem impossible to overcome however he came up with a plan that not only opened the space, but made it a happy place to be. In addition, he took care of the permits which was a blessing for us (luckily he knew the process). We since asked for his input and designs for a deck remodel project that we plan to kick-off in the Spring of 2016. I’m proud to recommend Bill’s services to anyone who wants a professional, thought-out and functional design for their living spaces.

On a ferry ride in Seattle, I was thumbing through a magazine when some photos of a landscape design caught my eye. After a few minutes my attention shifted to the amazing house behind it. We were looking for an architect for a Summer/Retirement home we wanted to build on three rural acres we owned on Vashon Island, WA. When I read the credits, I discovered that Bill Chester was based on nearby Bainbridge Island. I called Bill and we arranged for a brief Sunday morning, get acquainted conference call with my wife and I. Well, a twenty minute call turned into three hours of brainstorming with ideas flying! We hired Bill on the spot and never interviewed anyone else. Throughout the entire process, Bill listened to our ideas and looked at the scrap we had collected and came back with improvements on all of it. He is a seasoned professional that we were grateful to have, especially since we were trying some unusual ideas that needed to be thought out, planned and engineered properly. As absentee owners (our primary home is in Los Angeles) we felt very secure knowing Bill was on site to supervise the construction crew. To this day, we're still friends with the job supervisor, who treated the house he was building as if were his own. We could not be happier with our finished home. We've had zero problems of any kind in the four years since we moved in. The design draws lots of attention and was recently chosen for the cover of a new coffee table book on green architecture, "Leeding the Way" by E. Ashley Rooney. Very exciting! Bill was accurate and honest with the budget and always let us know in advance what some idea we had would cost to execute, so we could make an informed decision if we wanted to move forward. I would recommend Bill in a New York minute to anyone and we have. Construction went 3 months longer than we had hoped, primarily due to staff cut backs in the King County permit office and our out of the way location for inspectors to get to. Other than that, the nightmares that we were told would happen when we decided to build a house from scratch never came to pass. We attribute that to Bill and the care and planning he put in to our project.