I found Bart from HomeStars in July 2013 and it was my first experience hiring an architect. I didn't know anything about the process of a reno, submitting drawings to the city, or whats required etc so relied solely on Bart to guide me throughout this entire process.
To make a long story short, Bart did a lot of preliminary work and drawings that was a complete waste of time because the city did not approve any of our drawings because they were all in violation of bi-laws, city codes etc. So we ended up wasting months and months of back and forth emails and red paper, hold ups etc. When I told Bart he should have checked the codes before spending all this time and money on drawings he didn't have an answer for me.
Anyway, the reason why I'm giving Bart a 0 out of 10 is because he was not honest in his dealings with me. He was not up front about the costs involved, he did not educate me to the potential bi-laws issues, and to this day 2 years later I have nothing close to an approved drawing in which to start my reno. This was supposed ot be a 6 month project maximum has turned into a 2 year disaster and a waste of my time, money, and stress level.
The worse part about it was whenever I wanted to just get the project going forward he would hit me with more costs, more issues, and delays and gave me answers that didn't help the situation at all hitting me with technical excuses that were completely out of my skill set forcing me into a situation where I'm just about to give up. Hence, I am giving him a 0 because he was dishonest, not helpful especially given my circumstances and lack of knowledge.
Regardless of what Bart says the facts are I have paid him about $6000 in fees and have yet to have a single drawing to the city that will come close to passing. Furthermore, he is extremely stubborn and difficult to work with when it comes to any further submissions to the city without charging me extra fees upon extra fees. I have never given a negative review on HomeStars in my life so I am not a complainer but in this case I have to write this to warn future clients who need an architect, do NOT use Bart. My dealings with Bart have been terrible and I feel I've been taken advantage of with $6000 paid and absolutely nothing to show for it but about 20-30 back and forth emails and a lot of headaches. Thank you for your time.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $6,000.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Company Response
Brian
It is unfortunate the design process did not meet your expectations. We provided you with the same services we give to all our clients and made exceptions in your case, designing multiple solutions to your needs for the five major changes you made to your original design scope. All of your requested designs required minor variances. Our design fee remained fixed as stated in our contract where it also clearly states that the client pays City approval fees. You did not respond to my last request for your approval to apply to the building department, instead pulling the plug when you were one step away from approvals, an unfortunate and curious decision after so much time and effort, and the 5 complete sets of design drawings you have in hand.