Arcbazar Inc

Good for initial idea generation - will not replace an architect familiar with local Building Codes

It was great; designs came in from around the world. Our kids loved the process. The Arcbazar staff was typically very responsive and the process went pretty smoothly, even though it takes some serious preparation to get the competition going.

haven't found the design for my cottage.

Good submitted project ideas and nice designs were provided

The deck designs blew my mind. It was difficult to choose a winner.

The overall process is interesting and I really enjoyed it. Overall though, I'm still going to have to hire a professional architect.

A friend suggested we use this sight to get ideas for our basement buildout (previously unfinished). With a few hand drawings and some pictures we posted our and quot;contestand quot; and received 11 submissions (13 if you count 2 architects submitted twice). Went great, had good dialogue with the architects and helped us come up with the direction we want to go.We really liked it because when you work with just one designer, you get their and quot;oneand quot; idea, this way we got 11 ideas, all for a fairly low cost.

While the design did not stay the same as the one I selected, it was a springboard for my designer and contractor to give me the master bathroom that I had been hoping for! I LOVED it. I would use this service again if I needed help with design work. It decreased the number of billable design hours for the project.

Not good. It didn't work out at all to me.

terrible - I purchased the deal and then the provide wanted an addition $2000 to complete the transaction, which was never mentioned in the original add

I had a really hard time deciding on a plan to finish a 550 sq ft room in my basement. When Angie's list offered a deal to try Arcbazar, I bought it. Although a little intimidating at first because it was such a strange concept, I was very pleased with the results and would recommend it to anyone contemplating hiring an architect. You send in your floor plan, timeline and desires and they "launch" it to designers around the globe. You can offer any amount you want as a award. Designers submit their designs (I got about 15) and you pick your top 3. You can even invite friends and family to help you decide. Those 3 share your award. I asked for only floor plans because my award was lower than any architect I contacted, but got many submissions with 3D pictures of rooms from several views! I was able to picture what the finished project would look like. I didn't find one design that appealed to me by itself but the submissions enabled me to combine ideas into a floor plan that I liked.

Process is very straight forward and it's very exciting waiting for the designs to come in. We did not end up using any of the designs because we moved from that house, but I could have used elements from all of the designs to make my own. I loved the process!

Initially it is disclosed that the designer could be a student or someone from another country more than likely the latter. I thought more and more about it and because we outsource so much I didn't want to keep perpetuating that and what to try to keep American's working so I chose not to take a chance. I wasn't contacted by a U.S. design person so I guess literally I threw the money away because of my belief in keeping Americans working. So the money is lost and I won't do that again. Guess it was a "donation" to Angie's List.

I never used the service and the reminder to do a review won't go away so here is a non review.

We had to postpone the project on our end.

Good, we are still sifting through the designs, but very impressed with creativity.

I uploaded the floor plan, including stairs, loly columns, doors, and hvac. I then launched a competition for $500. I was a bit put off by ArcBazar contacting me suggesting I have a higher award limit. I replied back that the going rate for basement design services by the local basement companies was 200-500. With a few weeks, I had several companies and individuals submit their design ideas. Some were elaborate, some were well thought out. We picked three winners (1st,2nd, 3rd). We choose the best features of each, gave them to a contractor who re-did formal blueprints for us. We chose BetterBasement Co as our contractor (another Angie?s list highly ranked company). ArcBazar offers many levels of competition and it comes down to how much work you are going to put in before the competition, and what level of work you need done. I didn?t need blue prints; I wanted practical idea and a vision.

While the idea generations were good, you don't actually get firm design plans you can use to then complete a project. That is extra, so it seems to be a bit pricey for what you ultimately do get in the end. Next time I would probably not offer as much prize money knowing this is how it works.

Received 6 different bids/ideas. 4 of them were very good. Overall good experience that allows multiple ideas.

I never followed through on this deal because I misunderstood what I was getting myself into. Not sure what the $25 got me in the first place, but once you're in you discover that you have to put up a good four figures to drum up serious interest in your project and that buys you little you can press into action. If you want Actual Plans a builder can work from (various views/elevations, details such as plumbing and electric) you have to pay more and more on an a la carte menu. And they are depending on your photos and measurements--they never see the site themselves--which strikes me as feet of clay in a building project. Seems to me it is better to work with a local who has access to your job site.

They're good. You have to state what you want, what you want to pay and they have a competition to do the work. You have to fill out a questionnaire to explain what you want done. It's a competition for architecture students. They have people bidding from all over the world. The more money you bid, the more bids you will get. You set up a competition to get the work done. You can pick who you want to do the work and rate them in order.

in a word GREAT. it was a lot of fun to go through this process and everyone I've shared it with has also thought it was such a cool idea. Basically you upload dimensions and a description of design work you want done - in our case finishing our attic. The website recommends the prize money amount (in our case $550) and then designers from around the globe work on designing the space. we got about 15 really impressive designs... would definitely do this again!!

I was thrilled! 9 people signed up to the contest and 7 people submitted before the deadline. I provided feedback to the contestants throughout the contest. I was amazed at the level of detail I received. Some better than others. I chose one design for the Bar wall remodel (Previously a bookcase) and one design for the TV wall (Previously an entertainment center). What was awesome was that the designers were from all over the world. (Spain, Albania, Egypt, Indonesia, Egypt, United States, Armenia, Romania, Indonesia). The winner was from Armenia. 2nd place was from Indonesia. I took the renderings and floor plans and provided them to 2 contractors, who were very surprised at the level of details and were easily able to provide quotes. They did not know about this service but were very interested to refer Arcbazar to their customers. I have great photos of the transformation from old, to design, to completed.

That was so much fun. We were more than delighted with the designs that we got and got a lot of different designs we hadn’t even thought of.

This is a great new way to get many opinions and ideas on design projects. The entire Arcbazar experience was easy and exciting. The designers managed to grasp my concept and get in down on paper. I will be mainly using one of the designs and adding elements from some of the other submissions too. I would definitely recommend and use again.