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January 28, 2008
Have you worked with this architect? Thoughts?
Hi all:
We're considering going with an architect named Sarah Jefferys to handle some pretty major renovation for a duplex apartment. Has anyone worked with her and if so we'd definitely be interested in hearing your impressions.
Thanks,
Rich
Comments
I think sarah jeffreys is an interior designer who might get you an architect.
She is very expensive
Her website is nice.
Don't let that british accent fool you into thinking she might be an architect.
A license is a lisence,
.
What about her insurance policy.
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 28, 2008 7:51 PM
If you want a real architect........Christophe Lardschneider is from Germany and he has an interesting portfolio.
He is talented and a pleasure to work with.
His fees are reasonable.
He is not a showoff and he has no fancy website.
A great architect is a great architect no matter what.
Class all the way
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 28, 2008 7:59 PM
Sarah Jefferys received her degree in architecture from the University of Penn. Just google her.
Posted by: dt at January 28, 2008 10:10 PM
dt, it takes a more to get licensed than a college degree.
Posted by: Smokychimp at January 28, 2008 10:51 PM
She is definitely licensed are you kidding? She has a major practice and recently built a house on Wykoff which you obviously can't do without a license. She is great - reliable, fast and does beautiful work.
Posted by: guest at January 29, 2008 10:08 AM
Once again, Ysabelle, a font of misinformation.
Posted by: guest at January 29, 2008 10:35 AM
No dice. Sarah Jeffreys doesn't show up on the NYS licensure site as being a registered architect in New York. Check for yourself. Here's the link.
http://www.op.nysed.gov/opsearches.htm
Posted by: guest at January 29, 2008 10:37 AM
Sarah Jefferys can own an archtectural firm with out being lisenced in the field.
She can hire licensed architects to work for her company.
It doesn't mean she herself is licensed.
Before you hire any professional to work on your residence please
double check their credentials.
Speaking to previous clients is not all that helpful because the person you want to hire will give you references that are obviously glowing.
The bad references they keep to themselves.
It is not an objective process.
It is all one sided.
Go with your gut.
If she is licensed in the UK it does not cross over to the US.
She still has to pass her US exam to get a US license.
Do you want to get into visa requirements,too?
Doe anybody really care whether sarah jeffreys has her own lisence as an arhitect?
i
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 29, 2008 11:24 AM
Sarah Jefferys can own an archtectural firm with out being lisenced in the field.
She can hire licensed architects to work for her company.
It doesn't mean she herself is licensed.
Before you hire any professional to work on your residence please
double check their credentials.
Speaking to previous clients is not all that helpful because the person you want to hire will give you references that are obviously glowing.
The bad references they keep to themselves.
It is not an objective process.
It is all one sided.
Go with your gut.
If she is licensed in the UK it does not cross over to the US.
She still has to pass her US exam to get a US license.
Do you want to get into visa requirements,too?
Doe anybody really care whether sarah jeffreys has her own lisence as an arhitect?
i
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 29, 2008 11:24 AM
Example to my
own response.
I have a personal friend named Simone Medio who is a professor at
Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. He teaches students who want to become architects.
He owns an architecural firm in Savannah, Georgia.
He interned with Lorenzo Piano in Genoa, Italy.
Simone worked on the NYTimes building and also is working on the expansion of Columbia University.
He owns a business in Georgia without architect license from that state.
He doesn't even live there.
He is licensed but I don't know where.
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 29, 2008 11:40 AM
Has anyone actually worked with her? The licensing piece is a bit besides the point. Many people with architecture degrees work for years without being licensed, and have licensed architects sign off on their drawings because the licensing process is immensely long and arbitrary, probably to keep down the competition. Obviously one would want to make sure that all proper permits are pulled, and a licensed architect signed off on desings if legally required, but otherwise, what the heck it Ysabelle going on about?
Posted by: Putnamdenizen at January 29, 2008 11:54 AM
If Sarah Jefferys is not licensed and someone else has to sign off on her work then Ms. Jefferys fees should be less and not more.
She did not sweat it out the way the lisenced architect did.
Respect the ones who killed to get their education with all their ducks in a row. They are the true heroes of the profession not Ms. Jefferys.
If you cut a deal with her outside her office, you are nuts.It is not about competition in the architecural field.
It is about strong character and conviction not laziness or maybe she would fail the exam.
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 29, 2008 12:21 PM
Ysabelle, if you are going to rant, or plug your friends, please learn how to spell. It really does add a bit of credibility to your posts.
Posted by: guest at January 29, 2008 12:32 PM
If you are paying for knowledge make sure they have it in the true sense.
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 29, 2008 12:33 PM
Ysabelle, sorry, stop talking rot (as Sarah Jeffrey's might say.) An architectural business is a business, and not everyone in it needs to be licenced, not even the owner, unless (s)he represents herself as so.
Many firms hire consultants - engineers and others who are not licenced but have the expertise. The plans are signed off by the appropriate person. And believe me, the consultants can charge a lot of money for their knowledge and the licence makes no difference.
Posted by: cmu at January 29, 2008 12:57 PM
To 12:32pm
Thanks for telling me the forum became a spelling bee.
I am not plugging my architect friends for jobs.
Believe me they have enough.
The expansion of Columbia University might go on forever!
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 29, 2008 1:25 PM
Putnamdenizem looks like he knows what he is talking about.
Ysabelle you have posted smart comments in the past, but now seems like you have losted.
Way too much spare time.
Posted by: guest at January 29, 2008 4:22 PM
Shut it, Ysabelle. It's not just your spelling. You need to go back to school yourself and learn English, if you expect to be cogently comment here. You routinely make no sense whatsoever. Seriously. It's not just that half the time I disagree with what you write. It's that the other half of the time I don't even know what you are trying to say.
Posted by: guest at January 29, 2008 4:31 PM
Wow--some people are truly mean. Hard to believe.
Posted by: guest at January 29, 2008 6:15 PM
If there are licensed and non-licensed architects to choose from, why would you choose a non-licensed one? If someone jumped through all the required hoops necessary to be a licensed professional, why not reward them with the job? Isn't it kind of like going to law school but not taking the bar? Or finishing med school but not getting certified? Come on.
Posted by: guest at January 29, 2008 6:19 PM
to 4:22 pm
losted? Is that a word.
If it is it is a new one!
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 29, 2008 6:59 PM
Hey 4:31, say what?
"if you expect to be cogently comment here."
Posted by: denton at January 29, 2008 7:42 PM
A few points to clear things up. Let me say first off that I'm a bit biased about what licensure actually means, since I am an architect (so there that's out of the way). But at least in New York State:
-There is no calling oneself an "architect" without a license and the full process that entails, just as no one can say they're a doctor without all the education, testing, and internship that the title represents. I mean you can, but it would be a felony, which you might appreciate if you discovered mid-trial that someone calling themself a lawyer representing you had actually never passed the bar. Or mid-surgery that your doctor did not go to medical school.
Actually forget mid-surgery. Say you meet someone at a cocktail party and they call themselves a medical doctor, and you later hear they hadn't gone to med school at all, wouldn't that creep you a bit?
-A non-licensed designer can not be an owner, part- or co-owner of a firm that practices architecture. Straightforward enough.
-yet an architect (or engineer) may legitimately "stamp" the work of another person who's not licensed under certain conditions. It can't be done as a formal part of a firm's services when the owner's not an architect -- for example having an architect on the staff of a developer to rubber stamp the developer's work. Probably a good thing.
Now understand for an architect this power, if you could call it that, is definitely a mixed blessing. There's a running joke in every architectural firm when an intern begins the testing process he or she is asked "are you sure you want to do that?"
Which boils down to this -- the state grants powers to licensed architects to do things like change C of O's, file plans, all that good stuff representing public safety. In exchange, the architect becomes liable for the project for the duration of their lifetime. Longer if their firm continues after it. A designer has no such liability. Sue a designer and they can dissolve their LLC faster than a gypsy cab company.
So here's my bias part: I believe licensure is a hard process and takes years. I think this suggests a measure of seriousness and responsibility about what they're doing. I think someone unwilling to take these steps can be talented and brilliant and do what they want, but not go knock down walls in multi-tenant dwellings without professional advice on board.
Remember I am trying to outline how things are SUPPOSED to work, not how it plays out with creeps like Scavono or whatever his name is running around loose.
Posted by: Smokychimp at January 29, 2008 8:29 PM
At last, someone who knows what s/he is talking about. That said, anyone ever use the design services of Ms Jeffries (or was this whole post a set-up for Ysabelle to go off on a rant?).
Posted by: Putnamdenizen at January 29, 2008 9:15 PM
Smokychimp, you have no idea what you're talking about.
-A non-licensed designer can not be an owner, part- or co-owner of a firm that practices architecture. Straightforward enough.
I am a non-licensed interior designer. I am partner with my my non-liscensed architect husband. We have a triving busness (we're incorporated in NY) with numerous clients. We hire someone to sign and seal our drawings. It's common practice in NYC. I've worked for the top architectural firms in NYC, I've also worked for the top expediating firm in NYC, Where it's common to sign and seal drawings from other firms (after review).
We are capable of doing all our drawings, you don't need a license to draw. You don't need a license to know construction, details and how to draw them. As an interior designer, I have more knowledge than some architects (it comes with experience). I just finished a gut townhouse renovation on the west side. I 'knocked' down every wall and added a stair / elevator bulkhead to the roof. I also changed the C of O. I...me...an interior , un-licensed, designer did ALL the drawings.
Do you think in a large architecturel firm, only licensed architects are doing the drawings? You are mistaken, they are done by anyone with a knowledge of architecture, a draftsperson.
Anyone....If you're considering a design / architectural firm, consider them, based on their past work and recommedations not on whether they have a stamp and an ink pad.
Posted by: guest at January 30, 2008 1:44 AM
Wow, that's really something. On one hand, you're arguing against a bunch of stuff I didn't say at all. Of course architectural firms have many (most?) on their staff not holding licenses. Of course anyone can draw a building and have it approved if someone licensed stamps it. Of course holding a license is not necessarily a proof of more knowledge than someone else at all. All it proves is that someone has completed a process, that's it.
However the question of whether the owners of an architectural firm are required to hold licenses is something else. It's state law and these regulations can easily be found summarized at the NY Office of Professions web page, so you might want to check the information there.
And a license is not just a stamp and an inkpad. For example I discussed the question of liability earlier, this is a fundamental difference between holding a license and not.
Posted by: Smokychimp at January 30, 2008 10:19 AM
I have worked with Sarah Jeffrys and she is GREAT. Has done tons of jobs in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Eveything I've seen of hers is beautiful. She is a perfectionist and throws herself into a job.
Addicts of this site know that Ysabelle is a nut job and has no idea what he's talking about.
Posted by: guest at January 30, 2008 10:23 AM
To 1:44am
I don't want to burst your bubble but under ny state law all interior designers have to be licensed.
If you are an interior decorator no license is required by the state.
. Interior designer and interior decorator are 2 different professions.
All the overly educated people on this particular post don't know squat.
They are so busy being creative that they are overlooking the administrative side of the business.
Don't worry know one will sue you.
At least learn how to run your business properly.
It pays to be organized.
I am an interior decorator (no lisence required)
who owns a small high end firm with repeat business.
No, I am NOT looking to increase my clent base at the moment.
I have more than I can handle right now.
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 30, 2008 12:14 PM
To all the people on this post in business, .....
you better learn the difference between LLC, LLP, and LLCOOLJAY
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 30, 2008 12:35 PM
Ysabelle you are right there is a licensing process for an interior designer in NY.
Posted by: Smokychimp at January 30, 2008 12:49 PM
Dear smokeychimp
Thank you for taking the time to look it up.
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 30, 2008 12:59 PM
I worked with Sarah Jefferys on a total gut renovation in a Landmarked district. I know a lot of architects and designers. While I understand the license issue to be confusing for some people I did not find it so. Sarah had worked with top firms in NYC, had a great reputation and we "clicked" right away. She impressed me tremendously going through proceedings with my local community board as well as the dreaded NYC landmarks commission for approval on numerous things that most expediters were afraid to deal with! Sarah also managed the contractors and crew in a solid manner that was phenomenal! She is highly professional, decently priced, fair, looks up every option for her client, is personable, and sticks by her work for years after! I have lived very happily in my home for five years since its completion. I suggest some of you stop playing so much "ring around the rosy" and just meet her if you are interested and find out for yourselves. She is aces!
By the way, therapists in NYC just recently became licensed. That sure did not stop a huge percent of the NYC population from going to therapy in the past decades did it? Good work is good work. Many unlicensed people have "superiors" as supervisors and colleagues, and this is how one progresses in their fields.
Posted by: guest at February 5, 2008 9:37 PM
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