R Vari And Associates

Ron was called specifically to confirm that we could remove a five-foot section of wall and make other minor changes to the walls for my condo renovation. He was given a key to the (then-empty) unit and given permission to make as many holes in the walls as he needed to in order to confirm exactly what was in the walls. After a several-month delay in beginning the project (not related to Ron's services), the initial demolition revealed that the five-foot wall in question had multiple electrical conduits, some of which could not possibly be moved, and some of which required an extensive project delay while a custom electrical box was designed and built. The contractor called Ron to the site for a meeting which I attended. Ron explained to us that none of the problem was his fault -- that he couldn't possibly know what was in the walls (???) and that if we understood anything at all about architecture that we'd understand that. (!!) He was as condescending and arrogant and pompous as anyone that I've dealt with in the last 30 years. He disclaimed any and all responsibility for carrying out the task that he was specifically hired to do. His attitude was atrocious. The plans that Ron and his office staff drew were okay, except, of course, that they explicitly showed the removal of a wall that couldn't possibly be accomplished. Ron's ineptitude caused a big delay in the project which added considerable expense for me and for the contractor.

I originally called a contractor from Angies list named Bob Schmalz (847) 293-4980, that refered me to his architect Ron Vari. I set up an appointment to meet with Ron and he was promt with the appointment time and was very professional. He gave us a qoute for $2,300 with the survey and permit fee being $350, and $750 respectively. We ended up not using Ron because we were on a really tight budget. I also did not really care for the two guys that Bob sent out to look at the property and take measurements. We could have used another contractor, but I prefered to use someone that already had all the resources in place. Trying to keep Ron and searching for another contractor to do the work would have just been a larger aggravation. However, I would use Ron Vari and Associates if we were dealing with a much larger project. We were qouted by serveral people including Bob that the project would run us more than $30k, and that was just completely out of the budget because there was not enought equity left in the house after having to replace or repair the roof at least 5 times in 30 years. My suggestion is use Ron and see if he has another contractor that he can refer you to. You have to trust your gut in these decisions and mine said run for the hills when Bob sent his people out.