European Design

Jalda Hoff and Bertrand Genoist are the best, as designers, builders, architects, and, most importantly, people. When we wanted to renovate our home in 2019/20 we met with a lot of design-build shops and were extremely frustrated that no one could give us a straight estimate for our project, so much so that we gave up and started looking for a new house. We ended up meeting Jalda and Bertrand at an open house for one of their other projects and hit it off. They worked with us to put together a plan and preliminary budget, which allowed us to properly kick things off and start on formal constriction plans and process with them. We were very hands on clients and wanted to be involved in every detail, which I'm sure was frustrating at times, but Jalda and Bertrand did a wonderful job of including us and managing our input and expectations. They were extremely responsive, engaged and enjoyable to work with throughout our project. We don't need to relive the details of the pandemic, but building in 2020/21 was difficult to say the least, as everything was overpriced and extremely delayed. While we couldn't control those market forces and the project did take longer than we had hoped, Jalda and Bertrand did everything they could to keep costs within our budget and were remarkably successful, which we appreciated immensely. We never felt as though were nickel-and-dimed or unnecessarily upcharged (common complaints of other contractors) and always believed that they had our best interests in mind. Our renovation turned into building an entirely new home and we absolutely love it. We have not had any major problems, complaints or regrets and recommend Hoff-Genoist without hesitation. Thanks for everything and looking forward to our next project!

We have a pretty big townhouse in Santa Monica and before moving in, we decided to do a complete and total remodel with modern-minimalist theme, including removing walls, removing an extra bathroom etc. etc. - the works, from top to bottom. We interviewed six different companies and finally decided to go with Jalda and Bertrand at Hoff-Genoist as their pricing was very fair, honest, and reasonable, and more importantly - as fellow Europeans (I am from Finland and my wife from Ukraine) we felt strongly that they understood and 'got' exactly what we wanted to accomplish. This was an excellent decision ! The project took longer than originally expected (as they always do) due to supply chain delays, but Jalda and Bertrand stayed on top of everything from start to finish. Jalda got us some discounts on materials, furniture, etc., she knew right away where we should go and choose all the different items, she continuously came up with good ideas and improvements, and acted as the perfect arbitrator/compromiser when my wife and I disagreed on some issue. We are very happy with the end result and we love our new home ! I highly recommend this firm and they will be certainly be doing our next (and final) home after my cryptos finally blow up. It is safe to say that you can save yourself a lot of time and effort by simply hiring Jalda and Bertrand to do your next project - you cannot go wrong with these two !

Hoff-Genoist are wonderful! My husband and I hired Hoff-Genoist to do a complete interior and exterior remodel of our approximately 3,000 sq. ft. house in Marina Del Rey. We had seen several of their projects and found them extremely talented designers. We also really liked the idea of working with a “one-stop-shop” design-build firm. We both have busy jobs and there was no way we could take on this project by ourselves. I am not always comfortable with change and I’m also a bit of a control freak, so the entire remodel project was very overwhelming to me. But I had seen a lot of Hoff-Genoist’s work, in-person and online. My husband kept saying to “trust them because they know what they’re doing and that’s why we’re working with them”. So, I was able to take a step back and let them do their job. And I’m SO glad I did! The result is beyond our expectations. Our entire house is unrecognizable! Hoff-Genoist completely changed the layout of our main living space and kitchen, and they improved the layout of our master bedroom and bathroom, just by making some “minor” smart changes - moving walls, swapping the location of the toilet and shower in the master bathroom, adding sliding doors and windows to several rooms, doubling the size of our walk-in closet, and even closing windows. I was blown away by their vision. It was great to be able to trust them with the not so glamorous aspects of remodeling and building such as inspections, pulling permits, “rough” framing, and insulation, while they allowed me to still be involved in the fun aspects like picking tile and selecting the finishes. Hoff-Genoist are creative but also practical and efficient. They are honest and very passionate about what they do. They listened to our ideas and concerns, but they were also not afraid to push back if they thought we were making a mistake. Whenever we have visitors or guests, they ask if we worked with professional designers when remodeling our house and they tell us that it’s very obvious we did. Jalda Hoff would always try to explain to me how you could absolutely love your own house, the feeling of living in a house that you were fortunate enough to have (re)designed with professionals, and how you would so appreciate the result, and I get it now! I just love my house! Every so often, I just send Jalda a message thanking her and her husband Betrand again for working with us and to let them know how much we love our house. We have no regret about working with Hoff-Genoist and we highly recommend them.

We hired Hoff-Genoist to design and build a 2,100 sq. ft. house for us in Mar Vista. We had seen some of their projects and loved their esthetic, and that they are a full-service design-build company that is licensed in both architecture and construction. We were also pretty sensitive to resale value, and we liked that they have a lot of experience doing projects intended for sale so they know how to design and build something on a budget and create value. And they did not disappoint! Not only are we SUPER happy with the result but working with them was a great experience. Jalda and Bertrand form the perfect team, always ready to listen to our ideas and concerns, and extremely responsive and available. Bertrand is very knowledgeable in the permitting and building process, and he has a great network of sub-contractors which meant we always had good pricing and people that would prioritize our project because of their relationship with Hoff-Genoist. Jalda was amazing at keeping the administrative side of things on track, which I appreciated so much given that I have a day-job! And her interior design esthetic and access to resources and discounts were priceless. When problems arose which they inevitably do, they always went straight into “problem-solving” mode and kept things moving without skipping a beat. This was so reassuring as building your own home is such an overwhelming undertaking. We are now enjoying the compliments we get regularly from our friends and family who visit the house, and we are thrilled with the result every day! I would recommend Hoff-Genoist without hesitation.

Jalda and Bertrand are the best DUO you could wish for! As husband and wife with over 10 years’ experience in architecture, interior design and construction, they have the skills and talent that reassured me in my choice to work with them on building my own new home in Mar Vista. In my opinion their designs are gorgeous and better because they work on them as a team, and they have a really good sense of flow and light and were careful to consider how I intended to live in each space. After that, their skills are really complimentary: Bertrand is a great architect but thankfully lacks the “ego” of some architects who like to push their own designs without considering cost and practicality. And as a contractor he has all the resources and experience to trouble shoot and get things done at the high-quality standard he holds himself to, within a reasonable timeframe, and at great pricing thanks to his network of subcontractors. Jalda has a great eye for design and I really enjoyed working with her on picking finishes, her help was invaluable as the choices out there are overwhelming! And I appreciated that they approached things from different perspectives and were open to my ideas and concerns. And despite the onset of COVID and the uncertainties that entailed, they were able to complete the project pretty much on time which was impressive, and I so appreciated that they managed the budget for me! They clearly care about what they do, they are really nice and honest people, and their attitude helped me through the stresses of the process. I’m thrilled with the outcome, and I would not hesitate to work with them again!

Jalda and Bertrand helped us take our 3-bedroom house to the studs and redesign the interior and exterior. They were able to completely transform our house beyond our expectations! As part of the house remodel I wanted to create a home-office to start working more from home. They came up with a spectacular redesign of our living space. Creating a separate office, expanding the kitchen including adding a kitchen island, and re-using the existing space much more efficiently. What I most appreciated about working with them is their knowledge of the process from A to Z, dealing with architecture, permits, inspections, construction, and all the technical problems that come with opening up the walls of an original building. Nothing fazed them and they always found solutions to problems quickly. They were great about explaining the process and sequence of events, so that we felt really confident that they would tell us when decisions had to be made or things ordered so that the work would keep moving along. There was never a substantial delay during the 10 month project. The people they work with are great and have very reasonable pricing, and I really appreciated the transparency with them in that we established their fee upfront, and they passed along their trade discounts and went to bat for us on cost all the way. And I personally LOVED that I didn’t have to go out “shopping” for anything – they just showed us pictures or brought us samples of options for all the finishes, and we picked together, based mainly on my trust in their taste! I basically feel like I could have left and come back and had a beautiful house done without worrying about anything. They really care and never left us hanging, even though we left town for a few weeks a couple of times, we could count on them to keep the project going. All-in-all it was a great experience with a stunning result that I enjoy every day. Koert B

Jalda is smart, passionate and has a track record of building fun, non-boring and stylistic dwellings. I found she and her husband were patient, understanding of our first time, newbie questions, and ultimately executed a bid process for a home with integrity and realistic expectations. I would definitely consider them for future projects.