John designed our home in 2019 and we have just recently moved in. We love it. He is a very talented fellow and a real pleasure to work with. He was so quick with ideas and output from his 3D model that he made the whole design process a lot of fun. The house is chock full of thoughtful details and is scaled just right. We get tons of compliments from our neighbours and it is always John’s details which have caught their eye. The house has already become a home and we are just so so satisfied.
We are truly happy with what you have presented in this design and at that, amazed even. How you’ve been able to capture, filter, and utilize the useful bits of our seemingly endless stream of consciousness about what we need & want and flip it around so quickly, transmuted and tuned by your professional experience, is truly a special skill.

Barry and I just wanted to thank you for your participation in the photos of the house. The house looks amazing and is a great compliment to your design. We are enjoying the house very much. Your placement on the lot was perfect for light and sun. Everyone comments on how light the house is even though it faces North.
John has a unique ability to combine intricate elements of aesthetics, functional layout, resilience, and purpose into a progressive design package with minimal environmental impact both in construction and ongoing habitation. His designs are both mindful of the future and accommodating to his customers’ desires and lifestyle requirements. Such a complicated balance of considerations is not easy to achieve and John seems to do it time and time again. We have worked with John on several projects over the years and each experience has been a pleasure. We recommend his services without hesitation.
John designed our lovely home in 2002. We opted for the full package (highly recommended), including interior design and ongoing support throughout the construction process. We can’t say enough about how pleased we are with our home. Every square foot serves a purpose with a harmonious integration into the landscape. John spent much time with us discussing how we spend our time in our home, taking the concept of custom home to a much higher level. We have referred two of our friends to John–there are now three Gower Design homes in Maple Bay! Each one is a delight–unique to the client’s needs, but sharing a thoughtfulness of design that creates timeless value.
John was our house designer for a property on a steep site on the water. We wanted something modern and a bit unusual and he provided that. He was respectful of our needs and our wishes and designed a lovely and functional home. Working with him was a pleasure. He made several site visits and as well we met with him several times at his office. As well he took part in sourcing material that was hard to find. I would recommend him to anyone. We had no problems re deadlines or budget. The house was complicated to allow for view and needs, but John provided excellent blueprints for our builder to follow.
John Gower provided the designs for a renovation to our 70 year old house. He designed a home that is energy efficient, durable, safe and beautiful. We cherish its simplicity, the connection it allows us to maintain with our community and the heritage feel that we were able to preserve. He made the process fun, thoughtful and productive. The sustainability of the design work that he provided will allow the house to be enjoyed for many more years.
John Gower Design has provided me with outstanding service, time after time. I have relied on his team’s ability to recognize the scope of work that I have required, and deliver exactly the level of service which I had asked for. John Gower Design has shown a high degree of experience on my projects that required design solutions. Many of the designs had high levels of difficulty and I was always impressed with the intuitive knowledge that I could tap into. A pleasure to work with!
We hired John Gower Design to design an energy efficient Arts & Crafts style home for us. Working with John was an enjoyable and productive experience. He took our ideas and made them a reality. We found John’s strengths to be his sense of space and proportion and his willingness to listen to our ideas. We have lived in the house for two years and are continually amazed at how well the house works and its comfort and beauty.
We worked with John Gower Design on a ‘contemporary craftsman’ style custom waterfront home. His drawings were thorough, well thought out and the assemblies worked well. He responded quickly to our requests for clarification and we collaborated well to refine the specifications as we built. We would be pleased to work with John Gower Designs again.
We are so appreciative of John Gower’s expertise, creativity and communication skills. The process of designing our new home was very collaborative and enjoyable. His communication skills were especially valuable because we lived out-of-province and much of the planning was done with creative use of email, the internet and an interactive architectural program. He took the time to help us develop an inspired vision for what this home could be for our family. He then designed a great plan for how it would integrate with the natural environment on a complicated site. His creative spark added a beauty to the interior spaces beyond what we had imagined. Part of that beauty is the functional, multi-purpose use of space, and the knowledge that energy efficiency was a core value for the home. He had a great working relationship with our builder, which helped maintain the integrity of the plan through to completion. We would highly recommend John and his work to anyone considering his services.
Your building plans worked fine for us and there were no issues of any size… We moved in here in Dec.2013 and find the house well laid out and easy to live in. Our dealings with your company were straight forward and presented no problems. All in all a good choice for us.
The drawings have exceeded our expectation. We are very appreciative of the expertise, the professionalism and look forward to building a beautiful well designed Mountain Cabin. Thank You!
Everyone loves our plans and I have referred you to a number of people who are planning to build.
Thank you John. It has been a pleasure working (by phone) with you! We do appreciate the manner in which you listen – we truly feel that our ideas have been incorporated.
Ron and I are very happy with the design of the house…. We love the house and feel good inside the spaces. I know when we move in, it will fit us perfectly.
We looked at many house plans over the past few years looking for the one that would fit the property, fit ourselves and had creative style as well. To be frank, your whole line of plans was appealing and our second choice for a house plan was also one in your catalog. Thank you very much for your care, your time and your input.
We’ve been living in it for a year now and are really pleased with the design and the final product. I can’t thank you enough for the extra work you did designing the downstairs living space. It is a perfect floor plan and very roomy. I can’t believe all that we are able to fit in there. We hope that you are still designing houses when we build our next house!
Every time someone asks me about the design for our house, I tell them how great you were to work with and how you took my attempts to change things and made them happen on paper. Thanks so much!
Rod and I are happily settled into our beautiful home… Every day we look around and say, WOW! We might possibly forfeit a trip south this winter just because we love it here so very much!
What an amazing experience to be part of designing a home to suit our lot! We had looked at house plans for months and could find nothing that we liked. Within ten minutes you had ideas for a plan that would fit the location and not destroy the natural surroundings. You are so knowledgeable about the whole building experience, not just the designing. We liked the way you interacted with our contractors. They said they thought you were very down to earth and had obviously done some building yourself. We were totally overwhelmed by your relaxed way of dealing with people. Not to mention the amount you accomplished while you were here. It would take pages to list all the things we liked.
Bud and I wanted to thank you for the plans for our wonderful new home. It was a pleasure to work with you. I was concerned that we might have a difficult time working together with your being so far away. I must admit you made the process very easy. You seem to have a knack for taking what I saw in my mind and making it happen, even better than I could see it.
We enjoy the house very much and every day we are thankful for the design… We love the open feel and unique design. In fact, passers by are always noticing the house and we have received many compliments.
It’s a beautiful home… We’ve had lots of comments and a few visitors coming to check it out and the feedback has been very positive – everyone loves it!
We made our final decision to go with your plans based primarily on what we perceived as your ready accessibility and ability to understand our needs. We were not disappointed.
Everything is the way it should be. You designed us an amazing, perfect house which nestles into the landscape and gives us endless opportunities to enjoy this special piece of the world. Thank you!!!!
The house has become such a place of healing and retreat for us, we love every bit of it… Everything about the function of the house is working just as we had hoped- the indoor and the outdoor spaces seem to easily accommodate the extra people and we lived on the covered part of the patio all summer… I am so grateful for your creative genius in bringing our partly formed hopes and dreams into such a beautiful reality.
We have been absolutely showered with complements on the outside look of the house and the clever use of space on the inside. Even the carpenters were constantly praising the design in its efficient use of materials and space. They offered many times to purchase the house from us (only partly in jest). And everyone asks who designed the place.
Thank you John, for working with us on this home design. You are so nice to work with, we truly felt important and valued…You helped us solidify our vision into a beautiful home.
We spent the night here last night and we absolutely LOVE our place. It is just gorgeous! Every square inch of it is well thought out, beautiful, all the views; from lying in bed, from working, from cooking, all the window views, everything is just gorgeous. Thank you so much for your work. Thanks for your help with colour choices; it looks great! You’ve done a fantastic job, I hope this piece is the highlight of your portfolio, or one of the highlights and brings you lots of work. Its a gorgeous place!
I am thrilled with your work. I think the drawings look perfect. I am very satisfied. It is, to me, a fantastic floor plan, and the exterior well achieves all of my design directives re: simplicity etc. Well done! All in all, I think the whole package is entirely excellent. Thank you for the great work.
Thank you for the final drawings. I must tell you they look really nice. We are very happy with the outcome. I will certainly recommend your services with other people.
Thank you again for a fabulous job on our home design. We absolutely love it! You were definitely able to merge our wish list with the reality of our budget. We love the space configuration.
I can only say that I was very content. John is a very professional fellow.
Alice and I really enjoy the space we’ve created together. It didn’t take any time to know that it fits like a glove. We just love it.