I had the pleasure of serving on the Victoria Mews Owners Board [San Francisco, CA]  with Allen Phillips for two terms during a major renovation. The Scope of Work included 10 lobbies and two recreation/meeting rooms with adjoining kitchen. Materials included new carpeting, lighting, hard-surface transitions from the exterior, painting, and artwork packages.

Allen was instrumental in gaining consensus from the 87-member association, creating a budget, schedule, minutes and benchmarks to move the project forward. His management of the internal and external resources necessary to complete this renovation 27-years in the making was exemplary.

I first met Allen in a professional capacity almost 10 years ago. I was an account manager for a large advertising agency and Allen was my customer service representative for one of our printers. In the field of promotional marketing, my clients often had significant challenges in getting their message across in a physical environment. What impressed me about Allen is that he went way beyond the expected roll of providing cost and time estimates. He provided many design solutions that delivered creative and innovative platforms for messaging while at the same time saving my clients significant money.

Since that time, Allen and I have become friends and I have been able to participate in a number of his creative projects. Every home that Allen has purchased has been transformed from ordinary to showcase in just a few months. He has an amazing eye for adding details that create a sense of space and design, with just a few elements. He was able to take off-the-shelf elements and install them in a way that created the feel of a very expensive custom design job.

Even weekend events were made memorable through Allen’s design work. On a house-boat trip with several other groups, Allen’s boat looked like a Caribbean cruise ship with themed decorations and entertainment features while the other boats just looked like boats. Of course everyone ended up on our boat because good design draws in people and creates community.

I had the pleasure of working with Allen Phillips on a 3-Lobby Renovation at 333 East 43rd Street in Midtown East, Manhattan.  The scope of work for this project included lighting, custom decorative paint, updating upholstery on existing furniture and creating new furniture, custom rugs, commission of an artwork and photography package, directory signage, renovation of the mail room (mailboxes, package storage, signage) and entrance mats. 

In his capacity as project manager, Allen was an invaluable resource on this project. Allen attended board meetings with me and was key contact for our workroom and tradespeople as well as suppliers. He managed all facets of client communication including meeting agendas, status updates, minutes, budget creation / comparison and calendars.

I would not hesitate to recommend him for similar projects.

Buying, renovating and renting apartments in Manhattan for an overseas investor can be extremely time critical and time consuming.  This is why having a trustworthy, resourceful and competent person like Allen Phillips on the spot to follow a project from start to completion proved to be invaluable for the recent property acquisitions made in the Financial District.  

Allen is approachable, has good ideas and high standards. What I liked most about him was that he completely understood what was needed, got on with it without fuss and I had complete trust he had my best interests at heart.  I have no hesitation in recommending him.