Rideout Leif Architect

I whole heartedly agree with the other reviewer! Leif is such a joy to work with and such a great person. He is mellow, flexible, extremely knowledgeable, very creative, and his work passes through the permitting process with flying colors. His designs are elegant and practical and he really understands our design aesthetic and sticks to it.
We have a huge fixer upper that we divided into two living spaces, one for us and one for my mom. It turns out that Leif did work on this house for the previous owner 20 years ago, adding an addition that joined the main house with the cottage in the back yard that is on a steep slope. The addition Leif originally did is a wonderful light-​filled space. The cottage it connects with was not part of the remodel he originally did (the original cottage was not Leif’s design), so we hired him to design the cottage to continue the work he did on the connecting section. The results are just amazing. It’s now a light filled living space with triangular decks overlooking lovely views. Leif eliminated numerous problems such as water runoff flowing into the cottage, butterfly roofs that leaked, and a really ugly entry now transformed into something from Dwell magazine. Our style is California modern, but Leif can do all sorts of styles. When working with our builder who is herself a seasoned veteran, he added a lot to the process, including explaining the expansion and contraction of our clay soil, which caused damage to a concrete slab. (Normally you would have to hire a soils engineer to explain stuff like this.) He is also extremely knowledgeable on keeping the cost of a project down and how to get beautiful effects without breaking the bank.
Leif also does design/​build, but we learned this after we had already hired our builder. I would trust him completely with any sized project, and he will be our architect for all future projects. You can see his work if you drive by Santa Cruz Montessori or look at their website, and I got him in touch with Tara Redwood School to design the interior of their temporary building where the old Soquel post office used to be.

Leif Rideout is an outstanding architect and a good guy. My builder said Leif is one of those very rare architects who «gets it» about the realities of construction and the expenses involved in various design alternatives. Leif saved us a bundle by using that knowledge to design a very attractive addition to an existing century old house that blended the roof lines in a way that was far less expensive than alternatives proposed by others.
Leif has a great sense of design and tempers it with common sense about construction. He accomplishes that without sacrificing visual appeal. The result is a great looking very functional structure that doesn’t blow your budget when its time to build it.
He has all the latest CAD tools and uses them to optimize efficiency. He is really good at squeezing every last available square foot possible into a design and still complying fully with zoning lot coverage rules.
He is also very aware of sight lines and what can be seen from different vantage points. He can design additions that add a huge amount of space yet maintain curb appeal and are nearly invisible from the street.
Leif also plays well with others. My builder said he will recommend Leif on other projects because Leif «gets it» about construction and is a pleasure to work with.
Leif is also a great guy. Honest, smart as hell, easy to work with. I recommend him highly and without any reservations.