It’s been a pleasure to work with you and your team at Chaplin Crooks Architects over the past 18 months during the completion of the design and construction of Dave and Rosie’s house in Huntsbury. We’ve found you to be more than competent when providing the required level of detailed documentation and more than willing to help out when required on site. Our foreman has enjoyed working with an architect who’s as interested in producing as high level of finished product as we are.
In the early stages of the project you invited us to meet with the clients and become involved with the project. This enabled us to provide costing alternatives and offer comparisons where requested. In doing so we were, as a team, able to manage the client’s budget and achieve the level of finish desired.
Such an arrangement is not always possible. It only arises when all parties engage in an manner of good faith and a level of professional integrity not always seen across the industry.
Your technical knowledge, level of accuracy in documentation and attention to detail has significantly reduced the amount of time required at our end in chasing details and getting the information we often need to finish an element of the build.
In short, it’s been an enjoyable project from start to finish. We’ve been privileged enough to develop what we hope is a long standing relationship with not only an architect which we’ve grown to respect but also the client who’s now able to enjoy the fruits of this successful team effort.
A. Hinchey, Avon Dickie Construction Limited
It’s a pleasure to work with such a great set of detailed plans from the get go. For the QS in the office pricing the project it makes his job a lot easier as we have all the necessary documentation at pricing time. That means we can get a very accurate cost on the project and avoid budget blow outs. For the construction team on site it leaves little to interpretation, thus saving us time on site and avoiding delays.
J. Creighton, John Creighton Builders Limited
We chose Chaplin Crooks Architects for our house design as they showed a willingness to provide a solution for us that worked with our trickier hill site build, building preferences and budget. Stephen and Greg were a great team, providing a design flair and some wonderful ideas. They listened to us, incorporating our ideas with their own stylish ones. We were particularly delighted with the entranceway and roof designs which we still get many comments on.
On the Port Hills, being exposed to the winds can be a major factor to consider and Stephen and Greg's design took this into account and has allowed this to be less of an issue. We would highly recommend them as an architectural team.
A & J Marshall, Christchurch
It is with ease that I write a recommendation for Greg Miller of Chaplin Crooks. We required a full architectural scope, drawings and advice for our substantial earthquake repairs undertaken in 2015/6. The scope required full reclad, new windows, design of a completely new roofline and changing the look of the home from a 1990s build to a current and contemporary look.
From our first meeting it was very obvious that Greg was a good listener and was at all times very attentive to our ideas. He was open to discussion and debate around all alternatives and products that we had brought to the project, offering his advice and experience. This ease of relationship carried throughout the complete job which was over a 12 month planning period, and then a 9 month build.
Greg is extremely efficient, treats the customer with respect and most importantly communicates extremely promptly. He delivers on deadlines and was excellent in his ability to advise and creatively enhance our home with careful consideration of cost and build efficiency (reflected in the working drawings). He was very easy to converse with on both the large and smaller details and always came up with a couple of options for us to consider. He was very open to our requests and ideas which were sometimes unconventional and this did not faze him at all.
We can also attest to feedback from the council, who commended Greg on the detail and quality of the working drawings submitted, which were approved quickly. The builders were also very comfortable phoning Greg from the worksite and eliciting details for solutions for the unexpected issues that arose and typical of a rebuild of this size.
It has been a pleasure to deal with Greg and having had the experience of employing architects on two previous building projects, this renovation with Greg has been by far the easiest and most productive. We can highly recommend him for an outstanding completion which values customer focussed design, adaptability to renovation requirements and cost effectiveness of building technique.
S & B McCauley, Scarborough
We have had the privilege of working with the team at Chaplin Crooks Architects for numerous years on Architectural housing projects throughout the Canterbury area.
The team led by directors Stephen Crooks and Greg Miller have provided us with certainty on all the projects we have worked with them on for not only their project documentation but their ability to work collectively with the project team.
One of the keys to a successful project is relationships, something Chaplin Crooks fosters extremely well, working with us as a building contractor, the client and collectively working as a team to ensure the clients expectations are met and exceeded every time.
Their documentation is amongst the best out there, as a builder we are exposed to numerous designers’ documents across the Canterbury region. Chaplin Crooks drawings, specifications and support documentation is thorough, articulate and well laid out. This makes a considerable difference to us as a contractor ensuring the scope of work in all detail is captured and quantified at the pricing phase of the project enabling the client to have certainty in and around their budget and avoiding horrible surprises along the way.
We have engaged Chaplin Crooks Architects recently in two separate multi-unit residential projects as part of the rebuild, again working with them as their client as well as the contractor has only reinforced our opinion of their technical knowledge, high level documentation and ease of use regarding communications and maintaining great working relationships.
I would strongly recommend their services to anyone wanting a great design, backed up by great people and service to match.
J Woods, Image Construction Ltd
It doesn’t quite seem right to be finalising this by email after such an involved and long term project. It certainly hasn’t been easy, but we are aware that this is particularly the case for you more so than us. We have been very impressed with your service, manner and attention to detail. As you know, we are so incredibly grateful that you have been managing our project, and we are very happy with the end outcome. We are looking forward to being able to have a good look at what has been done this summer.
We will gladly recommend your services to anyone who will listen!
Z Pick and C Haslett, Christchurch
Our project was the extensive renovation of a typical Canterbury 1960’s era brick farmhouse. The brief was to create a timeless family home with all the features expected of a modern home but still retaining some of the nicer design aspects of the era. Stephen of Chaplin Crooks Architects listened well, provided good advice and very patiently dealt with a complete change of design direction part way through the assignment.
Stephen managed the tender process and building project with meticulous attention to detail and excellent communication throughout. As ‘first-timers’ to building and renovation we absolutely appreciated Stephen’s wise advice and ability to identify and address issues as needed. He certainly saved us a great deal of stress and prevented costly mistakes – without a doubt, value for money! We are delighted with the end result – our vision has become reality.
A & R Barnes, Christchurch
We own two early childhood centres in Redcliffs, and over the last ten years we have utilised Stephens’s architectural services to assist with designing extensions to our services, resource consent planning and more recently following the Canterbury earthquakes, management of detailed engineering evaluations, insurance review and building strengthening work. Stephen has been an invaluable resource to us over the last ten years. We are in no way property and building experts and have appreciated being able to make one phone call and know that every aspect of our work will be carried out with precision, professionalism and efficiency.
No stone has ever been left unturned and not once have we had to revisit any aspect of work submitted and most importantly for us no deadline has ever been missed. The sector we operate in is heavily centred around regulation and compliance while requiring solutions that work for children, parents and teachers. Stephen has played a huge part in our business success and we cannot thank him enough for that.
M & T Salt The James St Preschool and Nursery, Redcliffs