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In an e-mail to Ken Niemerski:
Explanation: Due to recent layoffs at Los Angeles County, plan-check times have dramatically increased and impacted Pardee Homes operations. Pardee needed us to complete plan-check corrections within three days and then personally meet with the building official to review each item. This was needed to receive approval without the plans coming back for another round of corrections, which is very common. Not only was the team of Jeff Ganyo, Ian Sparks and John Wilmert able to pull it off; they did it twice and are being asked to do it again for a third project next week.
Ken,
Just writing to say a big THANK YOU!
to your team’s hard work and for their professionalism, as we worked together to obtain final approval for Hearthstone under the new code. Their support is greatly appreciated as we met every challenge from LA County and did it 11 days ahead of schedule!
Again, a big thanks from all of us in the LA/Ventura Team!
– Alex Cruz
Architectural Manager
Pardee Homes
Dear Kevin,
Thank you very much for your e-mail and for your and BLA efforts to meet the challenging deadline we gave. The quality of work we received was to our expectations (as usual). Please extend my thanks and regards to the team and hope to see you soon on another project.
Kind regards,
– Mohamed A. El Moshneb
Emaar
Dear Mr. Aram,
I heard from Ray [Hart] that you and the senior management of your firm put a lot of attention into this project. With the progress and the result of the design work delivered to us, we can see that it has been carefully filtered and reviewed and hardly any glitches occurred in the process.
We are very happy with Ray as the person in charge of the design work. He has been very knowledgeable, understanding our needs and requirements and very capable of delivering a good design that is in line with what we require. We can imagine that the design of this project will be very interesting for the market, especially after the changes that we have made this time. I’m sure the market will react very positively to this project. We have put in a lot of improvements into this phase of the Emerald. Hopefully, as we are progressing into the Design Development phase and further to Construction, we would continue to have a consistent relationship and attention from your side and hence we can make this great project into a reality.
I hope one day we can meet with you, Mr. Aram. Should you have any arrangement to come to Shanghai or Indonesia, please do let us know so we can meet with you personally. I have heard a lot of great things about you from Ray and Mr. Adrianto, my colleague who introduced me to you. Thank you.
Sincerely,
– Herman Nagaria
Bassenian/Lagoni Architects:
We write this letter in appreciation of your design team that worked on our Qingpu Project. They perfectly completed our design elevation work in a very short time. We especially appreciate your senior architects, Mr. Ray Hart and Mr. Wenfei Feng. During their stay in Shanghai, they worked very efficiently and significantly, which fully represented your professional expertise and attitude. We are very pleased and proud to have such an excellent partner as you. Looking forward to more harmony and happy cooperation with you in the future.
Yours sincerely,
– Research and Development Department
Shanghai Longhu Real Estate Co., Ltd
2008/3/24
In an e-mail to Jeff Ganyo:
Pine Valley Estates Team:
It is my pleasure to announce that we were unanimously approved last night by the City of Chino Hills’ Planning Commissioners, regarding our latest design review submittal. I would like to thank your efforts in meeting the stringent deadlines to achieve this important milestone, delivering a successful community to the City of Chino Hills. This would never have happened without your professionalism, guidance, and commitment.
Sincerely,
– Vlad Burce
Project Manager
Meritage Homes of California
“I just want to let you all know that I am very pleased with how responsive and professional your organization is. Although I have only been in this business a short while, your group at Bassenian/Lagoni have impressed me with how quickly you are able to turn around assignments dealing with land planning and architecture.
“Of all the firms I have dealt with, you have always been the first to respond and produce top-notch results, and for that I am very appreciative. Keep up the great work. Your product will result in an aesthetically beautiful community.”
– Josh Gates
Corky McMillin Companies
“It has been a joy to work together with you on countless projects for over the past 20 years…I have had the pleasure to work with many on your staff. I would like to thank you for all their hard work, but today, I would like to thank you for one outstanding individual: Mr. Jeff Ganyo.
“Jeff is a consummate professional, creative, detail-oriented and a pleasure to work with. This past week Jeff was on vacation. He knew that our model changes and re-submittal to the County of San Diego were critical. In spite of being on vacation, Jeff volunteered, on his own, to spend two days in the office working with me to guarantee a successful effort.
“Thank goodness for Jeff. I look forward to many more years of success with your firm and wish you the very best.
– Robert C. Liewer
VP/Operations
MasterCraft Homes Group
“Thank you very much for helping pull the resources together for last night. Dave Pockett and Steven Dewan are the greatest! They are great ambassadors of your organization and they were nothing short of excellent last night. I appreciate all that you and your team do, and it’s an absolute pleasure having the opportunity to work with such a wonderful group of people.”
– Stephen Tindle
Shea Homes
“It is all too rare in this business that things get done expeditiously and professionally without constant baby-sitting. This is one reason I really enjoy working with you guys. BLA sets the standard for service and you make the rest of my architects at Central Park look like amateurs. You guys are awesome!”
– Lester Tucker
Lennar, Orange Coast
“Kevin [Karami], I had to call because I was out at Villa Rosa today for our interior design walk. I was just wowed by the designs. I am anxious to hear what you think of them. I think the homes came out beautifully. We are just tickled pink. I want to thank you very much for all your efforts and details. They are just gorgeous.”
– Val Copen
Lennar, Orange Coast
“Jeff [LaFetra], thanks for your participation in the Design Institute last week. I believe the attendees were able to take home a lot of useful ideas from your plan review sessions, so much so that I am thinking of taking the floor plans from your handouts and enlarging them so that I can meet with our office staff and review them over a seldomly-used format, an office lunch meeting. Since most of the attendees were not designers, I believe they related much better to being shown than being told — your presentation was right on the mark. I suggest a little more time be devoted to the plan review activity next year than last week.
“By the way, my wife and I have enjoyed looking at your coffee table book; I have been advised that it may find a new home on our coffee table and not be allowed to go to my office.”
– Kenneth W. Jones, AIA, NCARB, GMB
“Ernie baby! These elevations look great. I think the staff planner will like them.”
“Thanks.”
– Scott Frick, Lennar
Note: Ernie Gorrill received this e-mail regarding Lennar’s Danbury project in Temecula. The project is a reuse of Emery Place in the same community in Temecula. BLA was required to do some additional embellishments to the sides and rear elevations. In addition, the street facing garages now turn to face the side drive leading into the courtyard. These changes did not allow BLA to reuse the existing colored elevations without some rework on every sheet.
Eric Kelenc and Christina Nagel were able to use PhotoShop to make changes to the existing documents, rather than having to hand color the entire project. This saved significant time and money for Lennar and resulted in the “way to go” client e-mail.
Way to go indeed!
“A short time ago I needed some information for reciprocity licensure in Florida, so I clicked on the Bassenian Lagoni web page. It brought back some memories of my short tenure there as Manager, Multi-Family Production Department back in the early 1990s. What also amazed me was how many senior members of Bassenian Lagoni Architects’ have been there over 20 years.
“The purpose of this letter is to show that individuals that pass through your firm do use their experiences to further their goals in the profession of architecture…
“Congratulations on the longevity of Bassenian Lagoni and its upper management.”
– Steven G. Hall, AIA
Associate, Pfeiffer Partners, Inc.
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“Your new company web site is unbelievable! I’m totally blown away. Great job!”
– Bill Lee, Sabal Homes
Gerry Encarnacion received the following communication:
Gerry,
“Just a quick note to personally thank each of you for your hard work and commitment to Chelsea this week. You were instrumental in getting the City of Irvine plan-check requirements met for the re-submittal, and I appreciate your efforts. Gerry, that was the fastest plan-check turnaround in history. Smoke was coming off those sets!!!
“We are almost there and all the pushing, dragging, carrying and kicking this project toward the goal line will soon pay off.”
– Lester Tucker
Project Manager
Lennar – Orange Coast
The following note was sent to Marty Lopez and Jeff Ganyo:
Team,
“I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your incredible effort and commitment to meet our schedule demands. We were able to successfully pull our model permits this week, and we have remained on schedule.
“I greatly appreciate your help and look forward to working with you in the future. Thanks!”
– Melissa Krause
Project Manager
Lennar Homes of California
Luis Chavez received the following communication:
Luis,
“We’re in plan check at the City of San Diego. I reviewed the final drawings, and I just wanted to thank you for the tremendous job you and your team did. I’ve got a new appreciation for complete, detailed plans. Having been involved almost exclusively with production housing and plans during my career, I was in no way prepared or expecting to see this type of detailed set put together. It was truly an education to see what drawings look like at the next level.
“I really appreciate all your hard work and the final product. Thank you!”
– John Albini
Jeff Lake received the following communication:
Jeff,
“We had our grand opening celebration this past weekend, and over the two days we had an estimated 300 people through the door. I was amazed at the quantity of qualified traffic; our marketing efforts and creative product really paid off.
“The public’s response to our architecture and product was incredible. Everyone loved the departure from large grandiose spaces to the intimate retreat living, and they commented on that, unaided. I overheard regularly ‘attention to every detail,’ ‘genuine quality,’ and ‘it all works together’ when referring to architecture, trim, specifications, and decorating.
“I must have held at least 50 detailed conversations with people asking for their impressions and did not hear one negative comment, even though I asked openly for criticism! People lingered for hours at a time, asked detailed questions, left and returned; called friends, telling them to get out to see us; and even sat and relaxed with friends for extended periods on the porch, deck, and veranda.
“Thank you for all your help in making this come to reality and again – excellent work!”
– David M. Watters
Winchester Homes, Inc.
Jeff Marcotte received the following communication:
Jeff,
“As you know, we had our grand opening this weekend. I wish you could have been here to hear all the compliments on the hard work you have done for us. We had 1,850 people here this weekend, and they all loved the architecture. I think the most popular home was the 7510. I only wish you could have heard all the Wow’s and O-My-God’s.
“Job well done. Thanks, Jeff.”
– Charles Holland, Production Manager
Shea Homes Trilogy at the Vineyard
Scott Adams received the following letter from Dave Viggiano at Pardee Homes, describing the Bear Creek land plan:
“The City of Stockton Planning Department staff expressed a strong level of confidence in Pardee’s site-plan solution for the master planned community of Bear Creek. Specifically, the planners felt that the plan had met the overall intent of the city’s vision for community design, both in large-scale concepts and in the finer-grain details that the site-plan drawings exhibited.”
– Dave Viggiano
Pardee Homes
In an e-mail to Scott Adams:
“If possible, I would like to see if you can have a copy of your Tuscan design book autographed by the owners for friends of mine, Jerry and Nancy Robles. They actually looked for several years to buy their current home, a Bassenian/Lagoni home in Brea. I believe they purchased within the past year and a half. Jerry is an artist and adores design. They absolutely love their home! Thanks.
– Lois Smith
The following letter was sent to Jeff LaFetra:
“I have worked with Bassenian/Lagoni for 20 years. I have truly enjoyed everyone that I have worked with on the several projects we’ve done over this period of time. One of your standout employees is Brian Cameron. He knows how we do things up here, and he has a true appreciation for the details. Brian is such a nice guy to work with, as he truly is interested in trying to deliver the best product he can to us. He is a can-do person.
“Living in the details, I can completely appreciate the job that he does and the commitment that he makes to getting things done correctly. We work with other architectural firms as well, but none of them can turn things around anywhere near as quickly as Brian. You are lucky to have someone working for you like Brian. Brian delivers high customer satisfaction!”
– Patrick J. Henneberry
Vice President of Housing Operations
Castle & Cooke California, Inc.
Ken Niemerski shared this story during a recent Tuesday morning staff meeting:
Jeff Marcotte met with Mike Tregoning with Shapell Northern California last Friday to kick-off the new Eagle Ridge project in Gilroy. Mike had not seen Jeff since a project he worked on six years ago, so Mike said to Jeff:
“It’s good to see you again. The last project we did together was the smoothest project our office has done. I’m glad we are working together again.”
– Mike Tregoning
Shapell Northern California
Hans Anderle received this voice mail from Bob Clauser of Pardee Homes after Hans’s team had pushed to complete presentation materials with a very short turn-around time for four projects.
“Thanks for the voice mail follow-up, but more than that, thank you for getting everything done for us on such an accelerated time frame. You guys really pushed to help us out. I'm unrolling all the work right now, and it looks great. Thanks again for the great work!”
– Bob Clauser
Pardee Homes
RECOGNITIONS
Bassenian/Lagoni Architects was recognized as “Consultant of the Year 2005” by Zhejiang Shaoxing Kang Er Fu Di Chan Kai Fa Co., LTD., of Shaoxing China. This is the second consecutive year that the firm has received this mark of distinction. Congratulations to the following teams who helped the firm earn this honor: design team members Ray Hart, Lauren Moss and Laura Minott; design development team members Jose Mendez, Jeremy Phillips and Freddy Conrado, and planning team members Kevin Stracner and Michael Wu.
FROM INSIDE BLA
“I am so impressed with our print staff, most particularly Jesse Barrera and Casey Galyean. They have stepped up to the plate on numerous occasions, helping to set up meeting spaces, picking up food orders, cleaning up after meetings, cleaning and stocking the refrigerator, etc. They are always cheery, smiling and ready to do whatever you need. Never a frown and never say no. We are so lucky to have them.”
– Karen Bestone, Executive Assistant
BOOK KUDOS
Dear Sirs:
I just wanted to say how much help your book “Tuscan & Andalusian Reflections” has been to me..........I loved it!!! We recently moved to New Zealand from the U.K. and would love to build our own home in the future. However, the house building here does not have the same character of the Tuscan homes, so your book has proved invaluable to me. Could I please ask if there are any more recent books available (other than “Pure California,” which I am trying to order from our local book store)?
Your book has given me soooooooooooooo much inspiration, I just hope that we will be able to find a builder here that can do justice to the wonder of the Tuscan home!
With thanks & best regards,
– Helen O’Brien
I have your book “Tuscan & Andalusian Reflections.” I just love it. We are renovating our newly purchased house in Sarasota, Florida, and were looking for inspiration.
We certainly found it!
Thank you,
– Renee Bellamy
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