Sun Architecture

We were very fortunate to meet George socially many years ago and then engage his services in 2003 to design a residential elevator and accessible bathroom for my nonagenarian mother. George proved himself to be a consummate professional in every way. It is a demanding and complicated job to grasp and satisfy the needs and wants of a multigenerational family such as ours. George was unfailingly patient, understanding and respectful. His listening skills are matchless. He allowed us to participate in the process as fully as we wished, and we never felt he was imposing his aesthetics or his will on us (unlike other architects with whom we have worked in the past).
The project became challenging when our contractor turned out be less than competent — and I am being kind. George went to bat for us and was our staunch advocate and protector in seeing it through to a successful conclusion. All the credit goes to George, not to the contractor. Because of him and in spite of our contractor, we have a fantastic enhancement to our age-​in-​place home. All our visitors are so impressed with our elevator, seamlessly incorporated into our 1920’s home, and our beautiful, versatile master bathroom. Our daily life is immeasurably enhanced, and we have George to thank.
We are now working with George on a remodel and addition to our newly purchased home in Monterey County. His design skills, ethics, budget-​consciousness, open-​mindedness, responsiveness and affability are an unbeatable combination. We are excited and confident having him on our team and cannot praise or recommend him highly enough.

I used George on a bathroom remodel of our condo in the Inner Richmond neighborhood in SF, and was extremely pleased with working with him. We needed to remodel a small bathroom that was a full bath, but with only a shower, to convert it to \ a full bath with a shower-​over-​bath. The space was extremely tight, and one realtor had told us there wasn’t sufficient space to do the remodel. George brought several great ideas to the process. We interviewed several other architects, and George’s estimate was fair and reasonable. He was able to get us the plans very quickly, and he had them subsequently approved by the city also very quicky. We were able to commence work on the bathroom remodel in the timeframe that we wanted, and George was extremely responsive when our contractor had questions for him during the process. We sold that property, and are in a new house — and we are going to consider George for our upcoming extensive remodel there, as well. I would recommend him without hesitation.

I worked with George Sun on a ground floor remodel project at my house, where I wanted to add a bedroom/​family room, bathroom, and accessory rooms.
Before starting, I interviewed several architects. Most said that what I wanted would be difficult to permit; one even said it would be impossible. George said no problem, and pointed to a specific bulleting by the zoning administrator.
At the start, George wrote up a formal contract describing exactly what he would be doing, how much it would cost, and what it would cost for extras. I thought the price was very reasonable, and it ended up being about 6% of the total project cost.
I made it clear that I was on a tight budget, and that I didn’t want anything too fancy. George understood completely, and didn’t go overboard with the design. He made some very good suggestions about how to optimize the space and layout, and also what might save on the construction costs later.
Before I started, I already had a very good idea of what I wanted the remodel to look like, and so I knew I was mostly interested in a professional to produce drawings and help me get the permit. Again, George gave me exactly what I wanted. When the drawings were done, and it came time to permit, he got it all done over-​the-​counter in just a couple days. There was a dispute at the building department about the position of a wall, but George corrected it on the spot with no further issue.
George also offered management service during the construction, but I opted to do that myself. After his job was done, there were no design or permit problems, and no need for me to contact him again later.
Throughout the design process, George was very responsive by email and phone, and meeting with him at his office off Geary Street was very convenient. I found George to be professional, knowledgeable, and understand right away what it was I wanted. Overall, I was very pleased with the whole experience.

Disclosure: I am George Sun’s wife. I am also an English professor at De Anza College and have been full-​time there for 9 years. George and I are residents of San Francisco and have owned our home there since 1996.
George Sun is an architect who will listen carefully to your needs and desires and will work hard with you to help you achieve the successful completion of your project within your budget. Check out his website to see photos of his past projects and if you like what you see, contact him for a free initial consultation as well as further references from past clients. We are also willing to open up our own house for your perusal, since it underwent a major remodel completed in 2009, which George designed and oversaw.
George has his BA in architecture from CSU San Luis Obispo, consistently one of the top 3 architecture schools in the nation. He is also LEED AP certified, if green design and construction is what you are interested in.
As for the single negative 1-​star review, this seems to be a malicious plant from a builder whose unprofessionalism forced George to terminate his professional relationship with him. You should ask why the same reviewer gave 5 stars to Alpha Omega Construction, a company with many questionable and shoddy business practices, including a license on file with the California State Contractors License Board that states there are no employees, which means they are not paying workers’ comp for the workers they certainly employ.

We hired George Sun based on a referral from a kitchen and bathroom design center here in the Sunset. We checked his references and liked what we heard/​saw. He did the plans for our downstairs family room/​guest suite remodel and our main bath upstairs. We also paid him to check on our project during construction. He was professional and our house looks really great. We spent a lot of time together and I have only good things to say. I always recommend him when asked. I feel that we are really accurate judges of his performance, so keep this in mind if you are thinking about hiring him. He wasn’t cheap, but he was worth it. I wouldn’t do construction without an architect after using him.