Reviews

Jim listens! He took our long list of must haves and nice to haves, along with our room preferences for primary and secondary views from our view lot, added his unique modern sensibilities, and delivered a stunning contemporary design that felt like “us” from our very first look at his drawings. After a couple of small tweaks, it was perfect. Now that we’ve moved in, we’re even more convinced that Jim got it just right. This is our dream home, with beautiful spaces that work wonderfully for us. We found Jim to be a gifted designer, an excellent listener, and a creative individual to work with. We highly recommend Jim Sykora.

I have used Sykora Design twice in the last six months, as we did a complete design change when the first plan came in too expensive to build (not Jim’s fault at all). We found Jim easy to work with, a great sounding board for some of our crazier ideas. He also generates really good 3D views and final blueprints. Each of our designs required significant structural engineering input, and even the engineer said good things about Jim’s work. We were an effective team, and it was a pleasant design process. Jim’s very good with the software and design process. He knows how houses are built. He was responsive, his prices are fair (none of the professionals we interviewed are “cheap”), and Jim was always fair with his charges. I have no regrets using Sykora Home Design.

Jim did an outstanding job of interpreting our needs into a beautiful coastal contemporary home. The design process was enjoyable and efficient, and the finished product is a wonderfully livable home with very good bones. We will enjoy this home for many years.

I’ve worked with Sykora Design over the past couple of years and have found them to be excellent to work with. From helping clients with small projects in need of rendering and visualization to designing new custom homes, Jim Sykora works with both the homeowner and builder to produce drawings and specifications that meet the criteria of cost and quality on projects. I would highly recommend Sykora Design to anyone planning to build or renovate their home.

My wife and I purchased a lot with a spectacular, 180-degree view, with the goal to build a custom retirement home. We contracted with Jim Sykora to design a home that maximized the view while incorporating many special features and elements that we wanted to be included. Jim was able to capture all of the specific details on our wish-list. He created a design for our new home that was exciting to us both. We enjoyed working with him and really valued his expertise and the ideas he offered during the process.Jim provided us with an easy to understand outline of steps we would take from design to permitting. He quickly earned our trust and confidence as he worked with us, the builder, the engineer, and the city. He made the process very easy for us. I highly recommend his services for anyone building a custom home.

Jim Sykora is a gem! I loved his responsiveness, his willingness to participate in all aspects of our project; his listening ability and common sense, and his artistic approach—all of these made us come back to his services again and again! He provides quality, cost-effective, thorough, and timely work! He returns phone calls, texts, and emails immediately, and he personally did legwork far beyond the scope of what others would offer! His “local” knowledge was of great value! I would highly recommend Jim for any design work large or small! We met him as a colleague; we keep him as a friend!

Mr. Sykora designed our custom home from the ground up. I cannot speak highly enough of our experience working with Jim. We found him to be patient, thorough, professional, and highly competent. He bent over backwards to walk us through every step of the process and answered all our questions and concerns without making us feel inadequate. Jim is a man of real integrity. Time and time again he came through for us when he just as easily could have looked the other way. He was committed to making sure we got exactly what we wanted and needed at a price that was more than fair—on several occasions he went way beyond what was expected and charged us nothing. Jim not only designed a beautiful home that my wife and I both love, but he made two new friends for life. He is definitely a class act!

Jim worked tirelessly to bring our custom home plans to life and was highly recommended to us by our chosen builder, Yonkman Construction, which carried a lot of weight in itself given Yonkman’s strong reputation. Jim went above and beyond drawing up the initial plans, and he worked to incorporate our scattered ideas into a workable format through multiple revisions that would not only satisfy our needs but also please the historical review board in Coupeville—no easy feat. He then shepherded the plans through every stage of additional revisions, engineering and permit approval—an even less easy feat given the red tape and frustrations inherent in securing permits here! Jim is knowledgeable, patient, and has the hard-won experience and local contacts to get the job done. The house design turned out better than we could have imagined, and it was a genuine pleasure to work with Jim during the entire process.

Jim Sykora is one of the most clear-thinking and organized professionals I’ve ever met. He knows houses inside and out and is a gifted designer craftsman. I recommend him to anyone.

Jim took my ideas and planned a wonderful beach house. I had few changes to his original plan. He listened well to what I wanted, and the house is amazing. I don’t think I would change one thing. Jim was very accessible, always returning my phone calls promptly and meeting on site as the house was being built. I have since hired him to design a cabin on another property I own.