TESTIMONIALS

"We've been in our Fred Hahn-designed home on the Maine coast for eight years now, and at least once a week we find ourselves saying, "Gosh, we love this house.   Fred is masterful at listening to people's ideas and then coming up with a plan that works. When we began talking with him, we had only a vague concept of what we wanted; only weeks later, he produced preliminary sketches that caused us to gasp in delight. He's easy to work with and a great guy - a consummate professional."

      - Glenn and Nancy Tucker     

"What we wanted from Fred was his designer's sensibility - how to make the practical beautiful. How to maximize the natural light? How to open sight lines from one room to another? How to lift a ceiling to give depth to a small room? Sometimes it wasn't even clear to us what we were actually looking for nor could we really explain the feeling we wanted have when we walked through the front door. Fred asked clarifying questions. He listened well. Fred gave us the cottage we wanted, but it is filled with Fred's ideas."

- Mitchell Seltzer 

"All projects involve details – some more than others. We recently bought our first old house and walked into the project wide-eyed. We knew this 1895 Queen Anne had great potential but we didn’t fully understand all that is involved in maintaining the character and integrity of a 100+ year old house while transitioning to make it live like a new home. A friend recommended we work with Fred Hahn, and we are so very glad we did. Fred sees things that we certainly would have missed. His design defined our project and gave our contractors a consistent plan from which to work. He answers our questions, helps us work through difficult design and construction issues, and keeps an eye on our budget – all with great care and good humor."

      - Jerry and Carol Stergio     

"Something simple and comfortable, not too big but have room for guests – yet must look like it had been designed for the coast of Maine……….and be of exceptional quality------yet never having any experience at designing or building a new home, I knew I needed a professional residential designer. After a little research, I found Fred Hahn. He was a gift.

Fred and I met several times over a period of a year. He guided me through the planning process, incorporating my ideas with his talent for designing. The excitement grew as I saw my home coming to life – first on paper – and then under construction.

Designing from a distance never felt remote! He was always available and responsive to my questions or concerns throughout the process. Fortunately I solicited his advice beyond the home design. Fred assisted greatly with the selection of a builder, the design of the 1500’ private driveway, the sighting of the house and separate garage on the land as well as the final electrical walk-through.

I’m eternally grateful for his thought provoking questions, which allowed me to think clearly about the important decisions to make along the way. I would heartily recommend his services to anyone desiring a quality custom built home."

      - Barbara Richards    

"When it was time to retire, my husband and I were fortunate to find a stunning piece of land on Maine’s Kennebec River in Bath, and twice fortunate to find Fred Hahn. Our real estate agent contacted Fred late on a Saturday morning after a meeting with our builder and another designer fell through; and Fred, who was on his way to Boston with his family, agreed to take time to walk the property with us and our builder. Ten minutes after seeing the site, he said, “I would like to design your home."

Fred’s best advice to us was, “Buy a LARGE 3-ring binder, and create three sections:
(1) Everything you want to have in your new house,
2) Everything you dislike about any house you’ve ever seen, and
(3) What you absolutely cannot live without when it’s time to trim your budget.”
And we did. We finally presented Fred with the stuffed-full binder, several elements from the two homes we had lived in for the past 40 years, and three floor-plan ideas, and said, “Design our house from these.”

One week later, Fred showed us preliminary plans

Two months later we broke ground on a home so amazing, we still say after eight years, “We love this house! We will never leave this house!”

And to finish this lovely fairy tale -- when I was a young bride I eagerly read all the decorating and design magazines I could find, cutting out ideas and putting them in files and envelopes and books -- you know how that goes. One day I came across a photograph of a house, and I remember thinking, “Someday we will live in a house like that?!” And I put the photo away. And like all photos and ideas that are put away, it traveled with us in boxes, never to be seen for 40 years. When we finally moved into our dream on the river, the time came to unpack the boxes and files and books where all of the ideas and hopes had lived during our life together. You cannot imagine my stunned surprise when I finally came across the treasured old photo of my dream house. It is our today house -- different setting, maybe even a different state, but it is the same -- right down to the bay window, and the doghouse dormers, and the light pouring into the rooms.

Thank you, Fred Hahn. You delivered our dream.

- Mikelle and Ken Carr