John Lum Architecture

My wife and I have worked with JLA for four and half years to design our house. We’re done with the house now. The house is awesome. All the usual «architect-​y» superlatives for modern architecture apply to the finished product — great flow, sense of space, light filled etc etc. JLA received significant kudos from the San Francisco chapter of the AIA (Architectural Institute of America) for the work they did on our house. We, his clients, wake up every morning with a sense of wonderment …“do we really live here? Us? Is this a dream?“
That said, the reason why JLA is awesome is this — he listens, and he’s perfectly happy to let us drive all sorts of decisions in the project in conjunction with his input.
Not a lot of architects can work well w/​super-​type-​A personalities that have strong opinions. John can. He listens well. Anyone that can tolerate this is a saint in my book.
Oh yes — one more thing — our construction budget for the project we did was dirt. cheap. JLA’s design services aren’t exactly bargain-​basement, but all that homework up front with JLA allowed us to build a stunning house on a shoestring budget because everything was detailed out and specced out to the nth degree.

We used John Lum Architecture for an extensive home remodel project, including kitchen and bathroom. We purchased the Lum deisgn from the former homeowners, and we hired John Lum to finalize the design and generate construction documents. His ideas were basically good, but the communication was absolutely horrible! We received a firm bid for the first stage of the project, but were NOT told when his firm began doing «out of scope» work, and were shocked when the bill arrived! He pointed to the fine print on the contract that we had overlooked. Our fault, granted, but it would have been more professional to have alerted us that we were moving into a new «phase» that we had not intended them to handle, at their billing rates. On the reimbursable expenses, since one of us is an engineer, we told him in the beginning that we would print out the designs ourselves (knowing engineers/​architects charged huge fees for this) and deliver them to potential contractors, the City, etc. However, we were charged almost $ 1000 for printing and Fed Ex charges… he completely disregarded this request! In addition, he had an admin/​intern doing most of the work, and this person spent many more hours talking to contractors and getting the permits than was necessary. In fact, when our contractor became involved, we were able to save much more money in the permitting process. Overall, I’d say if you like very modern designs and have an unlimited budget, John Lum would be fine. But if you’re at all cost conscious, don’t use them!

We worked with John Lum Architecture for a whole house renovatyion and redesign — basically the house was torn down to the studs and completely rebuilt, from a one-​story 2BR-​1BA to a larger two-​story 4BR-​3BA. Granted we sacrificed parking garage space and garden space, but thanks to John’s amazing design and vision, it was well worth it. He turned a standard 1950s San Francisco track house into a showpiece of modern design. The use of space is highly efficient and considered, and includes countless design details throughout.
We started working with John a few years ago, and spent considerable time figuring out what we wanted and how to make everything work. We worked closely with John and his project manager Daren. They worked with both the neighborhood and city planning departments to get the required permits and variances. During this time they showed us a huge selection of samples for tiles, hardware, stone, and colors. They also referred us to specific showrooms so that we could see their ideas on a grander scale.
During construction, they visited the house to oversee our contractor’s progress. Both John and Daren worked closely with the contractor, to the point that everyone communicated frequently and efficiently; they cc’d us on all communiques so that we knew exactly what was happening.
As construction continued, we continued to visit John and Daren to discuss interior finishes. Their vision and suggestions were constantly amazing. Throughout the whole project, they answered our questions and concerns about every topic related to our renovation.
We love being in our beautiful house that John Lum Architecture designed and created.
I have worked with other architects in the past for different home and industrial projects. John Lum and his team have designed stores and restaurants, and are increasingly being recognized for their leadership in sustainable design. If I ever have another home for design, I will certainly work with John Lum Architecture. I highly recommend them!