David R. Smith Design Inc.

I would highly recommend David R. Smith to anyone and everyone. When it comes to these sorts of important decisions I am extremely particular and very detail-oriented and I'm happy to say that David exceeded my expectations. David is extremely knowledgeable and accommodating. On many occasions he has gone above and beyond what we thought we signed up for. He truly cares and took great interest in all of our needs and wants. He spends quality time, going through ideas and processes. He is also very fairly and reasonably priced.

We were very budget driven. Beginning this process, David was very clear as to the scope of work that could be done for x amount of dollars. He works closely with a variety of contractors and clearly understands cost of quality construction, from materials to labour. (Note: He does not push his contractors on you, you are free to use whoever you feel is fit.) He was very realistic about what we could and could not accomplish but was willing to break down our project in segments in order to focus on what our priorities are and what we really need vs. want. To us this was very important, because after going through months of working with David, we realize that our ideas continued to snowball which in turn snowballed the cost of construction. David would kindly remind us of where we began and what our focus was and this was much appreciated. But he had no problem exploring new ideas.

From a design perspective, I think one of his greatest strengths is working in urban and small spaces; maximizing what we have and offering solutions that still allow us to work within small parameters but achieve what we want at the end of the day. Although in our case, we are not adding a huge amount of square footage, the impact should be great and allow most of my "wish list" items to be met within our budget.

I think anyone can run into disagreements along the process, especially if either side is unrealistic about expectations but this did not happen. Any question or concern we had, even when thinking about making alterations to the plans, David would happily examine and offer the most professional advice listing both pros and cons. I could not be happier. I am walking away from this process feeling much more educated and confident in the decision to go ahead with the construction phase.