Testimonials

Habitat for Humanity Peterborough

Northern Designs has worked with Habitat for Humanity Peterborough & District since 2008 helping us turn our mandate of providing safe, decent and affordable homes for low-income families into a reality.

We rely on Northern Designs’ knowledge and experience to meet our need for small, efficient homes which maximize the use of space.  Our designs must meet industry standards and provide opportunities to realize energy savings for our families.   Despite the challenges presented the Northern Designs team maintains high standards.

Dennis is punctual, professional and a pleasure to deal with. He stays in touch and oversees the project all the way through, letting us know that he is available for questions should any issues arise.

Thanks to you and your staff for your patience, hard work and great service and support of Habitat for Humanity’s work in the Peterborough area.

Dave MacRae

“We enjoyed working with a designer who was responsive, flexible, and careful to take note of our objectives.  The starting point was a house that while not particularly old, suffered from a number of poor design choices, and longer term neglect.  A complete renovation was required, including lifting the house about 24” to allow for the construction of a walk-out basement.  The end product was a renovation design that works.  Long sight-lines, and a sense of openness in a house that as originally built was never intended to offer such features are a source of a lot of compliments, even in the current unfinished state.  On the exterior, some of the less attractive features of the original gambrel roof design were improved with better proportioned dormers and window placements. Along the way we have been able to meet energy efficiencies that are required of new construction, placing the house in the top 5% of houses of this age.  Our contractors commented on the quality of the construction drawings that Northern Designs produced, and problems with approvals by the township were essentially nonexistent.”

 

Margaret & Gerry Schnurr

Hi Dennis,

This testimonial is long overdue! Our first summer at the cottage has been fantastic and we comment often to each other on how much we love the design. Our friends and family members have visited and told us how great the layout is.

Working with you Dennis has been such a pleasure! You were able to see our vision, right from our first meeting and through every subsequent meeting. You took the design to meet every one of our requests (“another window please”) and expectations. People stand in our living room and stare in awe at our wonderful kitchen; remember…no upper cabinets? We love it!!!

Other important details that we love include:

  • not having a post so that the main floor is all open
  • fir beams on the main floor
  • placement of the basement stairs and pocket doors
  • the openness of the stairs going up to the second floor
  • 9 foot ceilings on the main floor
  • slanted ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom.

Mark & Leona Tilden

Initially we had discussions with several contractors to determine if we could renovate our existing cottage to turn it into our retirement home. Given the way it had been created by adding several additions to an original structure, it became evident that we would never get a product that would fully fit our vision, and the end result would be more costly than to demolish the existing structure and build from the ground up.

Dennis was referred to us and one of the first things that impressed us was his fee structure. It was a simple formula and allowed us to have as many meetings and make as many changes as we wanted up to the point of finalizing the design.  Scheduling meetings was important to us because weekends were the only time we were available to review the design. Dennis was always accommodating.

Although we had a pretty good idea of the floor plan and layout we wanted, we stressed that we didn’t just want him to replicate that. He brought his knowledge and made several recommendations to build on preliminary ideas.  Conversely we had a few very different ideas on how some parts of the design should look and we had good debate on those items. The end result was a collaborate effort that had us feeling that we certainly had pride of authorship on the look, and confidence in the overall integrity from an engineering prospective due to his expertise.

Twenty months after our initial meeting with Dennis, we have a home that we will enjoy for years to come.

Janel & Luke McLean

Dennis Jenkins of Northern Designs has a great knowledge of the building code and construction materials and was very helpful during the process of building a large heated workshop as well as a large scale remodelling project of our home. Dennis interpreted our needs and desires and incorporated them into a tangible point from which to start this huge project from. Dennis was very accommodating and patient throughout the process of plenty of revisions. In addition, Northern Designs has earned the respect and regard of our local townships building officials which ensured timely approvals and issuance of our building permits. We highly recommend Northern Designs for a very positive building experience! Our home is absolutely beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Craig Carleton

My name is Craig Carleton and I am a very pleased client of Dennis Jenkins, at Northern Designs. Since I initially contacted Dennis with my idea/plan to build an off grid dwelling making use of shipping containers as part of the construction, he has been most helpful and professional in our dealings. His finished drawings are of the highest quality my contractors and building inspectors have seen and have all commented that the drawings were very complete and easy to understand and I highly recommend his services to any and all individuals interested in starting a project. He has maintained contact with me throughout the ongoing construction and has been most helpful and attentive regarding any questions I have had.
In closing, I am very pleased with his professionalism and commitment to my project and I am very thankful for his continuing help with my project.