Austin Impressions - A Design and Build Firm

Austin Impressions was an absolute pleasure to work with. Every step of the design and building process they were available for our comments or concerns. The project turned out better than we ever imagined and we would absolutely recommend their firm to others.

I am an interior decorator in Austin and have had the pleasure of working with Austin Impressions on two jobs. They have done a fantastic job and have been a great partner to work with. They are very detail oriented and easy going at the same time. The perfect combination for a builder. I highly recommend them!

The Austin Impressions team in a word.. Professional. John Gehlken has amassed an excellent team of thoughtful experts with an obvious knack for detail and communication. Their projects are on time, a joy to be affiliated with, and always turn out excellent. I highly recommend this team.

We have been working with Austin Impressions for many years and we have had nothing but great experiences! They are very organized and treat their suppliers with the utmost respect. We greatly value our partnership and love working with them for their plumbing fixture selections. - Moore Supply Company

We had our home completely remodeled by Austin Impressions and can't recommend them highly enough to any homeowners out there who are looking for an all-in-one design and build team. The completed project exceeded our expectations and the journey to get to the completed project was pretty much worry-free and fun. The team was always pleasant to work with, answered any and all questions promptly, had very high build standards and really challenged us in the design process to create a fantastic vision...and they delivered on that vision. The team met with us in the planning stages for about 3 months working on the design vision and creating price points for all aspects of the project before starting. AI is very sensitive to the budget and we agreed on a budget based on the design vision before we started construction, and the final budget was completely in line with the pre-construction projections...there were no surprises along the way. Their dedication to the project has continued after completion, we had some issues with appliances and Austin Impressions did the legwork to contact the distributors to fix the problem. Again, I can't recommend AI enough... from design to completion they made the difficult and stressful prospect of a complete gut and rebuild a fun and exciting project.

My husband and I signed on with Austin Impressions in March 2014 to remodel our home. The design phase was approximately six months, and the construction phase was six months. We appreciated the design phase, because at the final completion of the project we knew the right design was selected for us. The entire teams at Austin Impressions are an awesome group of individuals. I was especially happy to have great designers alongside of us helping us from paint, flooring, back splash, etc. The finish product was just amazing!! My husband and I would highly recommend Austin Impressions.

We had been considering upgrading parts of our house: kitchen and bathrooms for several years or even moving. In 2013 we happened to see in the Sunday paper that there was a remodeler’s showcase that day. We decided to go. It turned out to be a good decision. We looked at the houses online before making our plans, and picked out the two homes redone by Austin Impressions as our primary destinations. We were very impressed with the transformation of the homes. We met John and his team at the homes, and made the decision that a total update was necessary. Anything less would have been incomplete, and would not have achieved our goals. We met on a weekly basis during the planning phase, and at the end John came up with a realistic budget. It became obvious a complete overhaul of the pool and yard would be necessary. John brought in Design Ecology, and they were equally professional. At the completion we have a stunning modern home blending the outside and inside. The entire project was completed very near the budget, and essentially on time. We could not be more pleased.

We have been working with Austin Impressions for almost a year now. They are a competent and growing company and their main focus is on helping homeowners renovate, remodel or build a new home. As a homeowner I think you will find they have all the qualities you will need for Austin Impressions help you turn your dreams into reality.

We are so thankful we chose Austin Impressions to take our inspirations, craft a thoughtful remodel design, be open, creative, and fun during the entire renovation project of our 3/1 into a marvelous, modern 3/2 home that feels so much grander than the 1880 sq feet. We added 300 sq feet onto the home, moved walls, lifted ceilings and even added a laundry room concealed behind a hidden bookcase (think Scooby Doo sliding bookcase - yeah you got the idea). John and Josh were a joy to work with throughout the entire 6 month project.

We have lived in this 1977 built, 3-2 ranch, since 1993 and while we have had some previous interior face-lifting, we decided with this remodeling project to 1) update the entire interior to a more contemporary, open look and 2) make the house more supportive to “aging in place”. In essence, we wanted to convert our old house into a new, open, and more energy efficient home that will permit us to remain in it through our "golden" years. Before selecting AI, we had interviewed over a couple of years many, different remodel firms and went on several NARI Remodel Home Tours to see various remodelers work. John and Josh had a home on a recent NARI Austin tour that we saw and we were able to tour the remodeled home of another AI client shortly after. We came to believe that AI offered the level of workmanship and showed the degree of professionalism and attentiveness that we were looking for. During the initial consults and design phase, John and Josh took ownership of our goals and presented a master suite and kitchen layout that accomplished our goals. They listened to our ideas - we had a lot of them - and at those times when we did not really know what we wanted, AI took the time to explain options, along with the costs and benefits of each, so that we could make informed decisions. While we thoroughly enjoy all of the resultant work, we are particularly thrilled with the design and execution on the master suite, including the way that Josh came up with enlarging the master bath without losing any square footage in the master bedroom. Given that we were touching so many areas of the house (essentially taking the house down to the studs), AI came up with solid ideas that made sense given what we were doing overall: such as installing whole house spray foam insulation, relocating the furnace to add space to the very cramped kitchen and raising the 1970’s sunken living room floor. We had to move out of the house and into an apartment, but stopped by the site most evenings. As such we were able to see the work as it progressed. We certainly saw that our property was treated with respect, the work space kept as orderly and clean as it could be, and that the sub-contractors were polite and skilled in their trades. When issues arose, AI was able to resolve them in a consultative manner. Of great benefit is the web-based project management system that John uses. Through it, you can easily communicate anytime. It also allows for simple uploading of photos of ideas, PDF documents for review, and the posting of detailed invoices. We can certainly recommend AI for a home remodel or addition project based on our “whole house” remodeling experience, and we plan to call on AI again for any future projects!

We purchased a too small house in a wonderful location in NW Austin knowing that we needed to add on as soon as possible. We interviewed several builders and design-build companies within weeks of moving in. Austin Impressions was working on another house in the neighborhood, so we added them to our list of companies to meet with. We were very impressed with the ideas John and Josh came up with during our initial meetings. The estimate was reasonable and we felt very comfortable with their communication plans and the positive feedback received from past clients. We were able to look at a few in-process projects and recently completed homes and knew they did great work. The plan we came up with was to add a master suite (bedroom, bathroom, closet, and patio) downstairs, remodel the existing office, add two bedrooms and a laundry room upstairs, and create a storage area off of the garage. In total, the addition was a little over 1300 square feet to be added onto the side of the existing house. We have three small kids that are not yet school-aged, so we were a little unsure about how it was all going to work out with construction crews at the house for several months. We were actually able to live in the house during the entire project. The kids loved all of the Austin Impressions team and the subcontractors were all very friendly with them. There were a few unavoidable loud and dusty days, but everyone worked hard to make the process as easy for us as possible. We were very happy with the quality of subcontractors that were brought onto the project. They were all honest and hardworking. Alex is also extremely talented. We were very impressed with his range of abilities on the project. There was nothing he couldn’t do – do well – and do with a smile. John and Josh stayed in constant communication with us throughout the entire project. We talked almost daily in-person, on the phone, by text or email. We were able to work through any issues that came up during the project very quickly and easily. And we stayed very close to the original project timeline. We are so grateful that we chose Austin Impressions. Our neighbors, friends and family can’t believe what a positive experience we had. Most people just hear horror stories about terrible contractors, delays and budget overages. That was not our experience at all. Thank you so much, Austin Impressions! We absolutely love our new home.