Joseph B Lanza Design + Building

Simple stunning design, solid guy, quality product & a great value. I found Joe Lanza by surfing the internet and called because I liked the look of his work -- the best impulse call I ever made! He designed & ultimately built my 'dream house' with all the talent, skill & integrity that a homeowner could ever want in an architect and general contractor. In the design phase, Joe listened carefully to my preferences and drew his plans accordingly. He found clever ways to meet significant height limit and setback restrictions on my small, sloped lot. He was enormously patient with me on myriad design decisions, from basic layout to kitchen cabinet pulls. He made the process genuinely collaborative, and the result is a light-filled home that looks fabulous and functions perfectly. In the construction phase, Joe used subcontractors who – like him – were experienced pros with a heavy-duty work ethic who did a quality job while meeting the schedule. He handled the inevitable construction aggravations efficiently & without fuss, explaining but not imposing them on me. On the financial side, Joe’s billing methods were totally transparent. He transmitted copies of all receipts in organized fashion, making it easy to see & track all dollars. He was candid about the relative value of more vs less expensive options and good about conserving costs. E.g. he sourced awesome but affordable flooring lumber for the house and porch floors. He kept me up to date on everything: telling me about upcoming big-ticket items, laying out the time frame for final decisions, etc. The icing on the cake was Joe’s skill in cabinetmaking. We had salvaged paneling and doors from my old falling-down family home that was demolished to make way for this new one. Joe used it all, making it into barn doors, bath vanities, built-in china cabinet, linen closet, etc. The century old interior doors got cleaned up & hung in all the new house doorways, complete with vintage hardware. Finally, using new wood, Joe built on-site kitchen cabinets that are a daily pleasure to see and use.

I've worked with Joe many times over the years as an editor and photographer for Fine Homebuilding magazine and I've watched several of his projects progress through the various states of completion. He is the consummate professional. He's not only a great architect, but also a veteran carpenter and cabinetmaker who understands down to the micro level how a house should be built. Joe has a great sense of design and proportion, and puts an inordinate amount of thought into each aspect of a project. And his clients always profit from his experience and hard work. They get the house that they wanted when they called him, with a minimum of stress.

Joe Lanza did two renovation projects for me and I can't speak highly enough about the quality of the work he did. They were quite different from one another. One was a small condo on Beacon Hill requiring knowledge of historic restrictions and sensitivity to building residents. I lived happily in that renovated condo. The second was a complete re-do of the first floor of a nice house on the South Shore. Lived there happily, too, especially with the new kitchen.