Arcbazar Inc

It was good. They were responsive. They did what they said they were gonna do. It wasn't a job that they came to my house to do.

It didn’t go too well. We didn’t get anything that was functual and we had a lot of trouble getting the designs back in a timely manner. I had them working on a kitchen or bathroom with my wife.

I used their pricing recommendations, had 8 or so interested. Only two submitted, one of the two obviously never even read the design requirements and just stuffed in stock pictures. The other one came up with a nice design, but did not deliver all of the products (drawings) requested. It was an OK design, though, that I could work with. But no other choices of designs, and for this much I could have gone local and had some chance for feedback. I'm pretty dissatisfied with the product for the price. Arcbazar never returned emails or messages when I complained. I suspect that they are not very active, just set up a computer network and pretty much ignore things. I would not use or recommend Arbazar again.

Great concept and well worth the money. The websiter spells out the process and it was a lot of fun. I would use this service again for sure.

I received 9 submissions, the service exceeded my expectations.

It was a really good way to get feedback from a lot of architects for a really cheap price.

Overall the experience was as good or better than I expected. The contest ran about 4 weeks. 16 architectural designers signed up for our project and 9 submitted completed designs – which I understand is about the average. If we had offered more award money, I am sure those numbers could have been even larger. We had architects from all over the world participate with about 1/3 coming from the US. Designers could interact with you through a message wall with questions, etc. The final submissions were anything from multi view architectural CAD renderings, to complete blueprints, to 3D animated designs. At the end of the project you rate and rank the submissions and the top 3 designers split the award. For instance, in our case the winner received $180. Considering I investigated a similar project form an independent architect and they wanted at least $1500, if not more. The risk is that you don’t get very many submissions (which probably means your award was commensurate with the scope of the project) or that you don’t get a design you like (you take what you get) but I we had once design we favored but were also able to draw upon ideas from the other submissions. You can also continue to work with the designer (for some additional agreed upon compensation) if you desire. I will definitely use this sight for any similar needs in the future. There are contests on this site for everything from landscaping, interior design/remodeling, architectural design, to full scale home design.

Did not even get started. Second thoughts brought me to decide it was not something I was capable of participating.

I haven't gotten around to using the deal yet but the company has been very diligent about contacting me which I appreciate. I would highly recommend them to others.

Crowdsourcing site for interior and architectural design. Interesting service and if you are comfortable with internet shopping and a little risk, IMHO, worth the cost. My project: Redesigning kitchen and family room (great room concept) and we needed interior design/style advise for the project. The site posts a "competition" for the project, you determine what amount of money to offer for the competition (site recommends an amount, but the customer is free to change if needed.) Within 20 days, we had 20 designers signed up for our competition from all over the world. In the end, 8 designers submitted designs. We picked our top 4, rated all designs and the top three were selected based on ratings -- one from France, USA and Serbia. Honorable Mention went to country of Georgia. First, second and third place received a portion of the award money. Pros and Cons: You, the customer, must be comfortable with the risk of paying for something and not knowing if you'll like the result. For me, this was part of the process and an acceptable risk. You don't have a face to face consultation. The site has a "wall" where you can post ideas, photos, communication with the designers or architects. I resolved this by posting my houzz.com design book on the wall to give designers ideas of our likes, dislikes, etc. You can also post requirements and constraints for your project. Toward the end of the competition (a deadline is set when you submit a project) a lot of communication occurs with the architects and designers. Expect it, it's part of the process. The website is fairly rudimentary. Online/chat help is available but is somewhat hit and miss. You can send designs to friends and family to rate. This is helpful in making a decision. Overall, we got a number of ideas between the designers and were very pleased with the process and project.

The provider wanted more money to provide a design. You get NOTHING for $25. I hired an experienced landscaper that did a design as part of the landscaping.

I am getting a refund because the deal was not what I expected. There were some extra costs involved that I was not willing to pay. It was very misleading.

Like I said I did not use his services

It was pretty good. They didn't come out it was an online competition. It took a month for them to get all their designers give their design that was the length of time given and whoever gave their design after a month got rewarded. I try not to use them because I thought it was too expensive.

My experience was awesome. That was seriously the most exciting 30 days of my life. When I first signed up they made it very easy, they answered all the questions that I had because it's entirely online. I uploaded pictures and the descriptions of what I wanted. At first, no body was finding out and I was a little nervous about it. By the end of the month we had 26 designers that signed up and we got 12 submissions for design. Some of them were incredible and some of them were gross but a lot of them were very very great ideas. After I worked with the money, I worked with the winning designer to make some revisions and were about to do our remodel. It was incredible. I've referred everyone to them. The actual provider was very helpful, she was good about communication, she stayed in touch with me and answered my questions quickly, she was nice and professional. The service that I paid for came with the most amazing design.

They have followed up with me to ask why I haven’t utilized the Big Deal yet. I hope to use the Big Deal in the next few months though.

The service has turned out well so far. The competition was for my balcony rebuilding. They have given me some good ideas on different aspects of the balcony. They had good ideas on how the furniture should be arranged. I really liked their creativity, as well. The pricing is reasonable.

The experience was lots of fun. I submitted details and pictures and seven designers submitted designs and great ideas. It was fun to answer their questions. They really helped me see the possibilities with the space. It was hard to pick a winner and narrow down the top three. The cost varies with the size of the project. Mine was a two level house with a redesign focused on the stairs. I cannot say I got a perfect plan but I know more about what I do want and what I can do with the structure of my house which was built in the 1900's.

We are happy with the results. 18 designers signed up and 8 delivered layouts. The layout we selected was then reviewed by a professional in person who was so impressed with the work that he asked for the designer's contact information so he could use them. Would use again.

The website service they provided went very smoothly. We received more entries than expected and was very excited that there were designers from all around the world. The interaction and website provided to hold this contest was well done and we would use again.

I had purchased a big deal for $250 and did not pay anything additional. They were very good, and the measurement was on the drawing. They give you a 3d layout of the kitchen. I had to call them, they didn't call me.

While we did not get one single plan that met our needs we were able to take elements from two plans we liked and show those to builders.

I purchased a "big deal" from Arcbazar for "Launching an Interior Design Project". The description was completely misleading. It states "Arcbazar Inc charges 5%-20% of the award money as a service fee depending on the award of your project. For example, if you put an award of $250, the service fee is 20% of that award, that is $50. In this scenario, your coupon would cover the entire service fee. A client can purchase a $25 coupon from Angie's List to cover up to a $50 of service fee." What it doesn't make clear is that you'll be spending a minimum of $500 to "award" the designer for the project. Basically, when I purchased the $25 coupon, I committed to spending at least $525 with this company. That was not clear when I made the purchase. I wasn't planning to spend $500 re-doing the room, materials included. We don't need a renovation, just some ideas of furniture placement and color selections. I think I can figure that out myself for $500.

I set my contest to be a month long. I was worried that because my project was unique, a 8'x24' long house. There were a lot of expectations. I was looking for something new, exciting and not the "norm". I had several competitors ask excellent questions all during the competition. People signing up right until the last minute. In the end, I had 23 designers from all over the world signed up. I had the following countries sign up, United States, Italy, Romania, India, Ukraine, Indonesia, Switzerland, France, Canada, Bulgaria, Albania, Vietnam and Montenegro. I was a little disappointed that only 12 submitted. That is NOT Arcbazar's fault however, it is the designers for not following through. On the site it does state that the average submission number is 9, so I received more than the average number. The quality of submissions for my contest ranged from okay to absolutely amazing! I did find a design that I absolutely love! I will be in contact with the designer to make some adjustments to make it perfect for me. Once I get a piece of land to put my house on, I will definitely be going back to get a landscaping competition! There was a glitch in the beginning with my coupon not working correctly but between the site and Angie's list it was fixed in less than 12 hours. No project is too big or too small. It was awesome seeing different takes on my write up of what I was looking for. I also posted the contest on my facebook page to follow the build of my house. A LOT of people liked different designs but the one I chose was a huge favorite.

I could not be more pleased. For my landscape design project I had nine designers submit plans. They ranged from very simple to very elaborate. Some of them had very intricate graphics; some were more basic. Some had a great deal of technical detail; some were more conceptual. In the end, I had a broad range of styles, designs, technical data and, best of all, nine unique concepts for my front yard design. It really worked out well. Following that first experience, I was looking something more conceptual. Specifically, I was looking for design and layout concepts for a residential loft where a musician would like to live. I specified some basic requests to be incorporated into the design, but for the most part I wanted creativity to prevail and was cautious to put constraints on that. 20 designers signed up for my design contests and nine submitted plans. Again, with the number of designs and visions, I had a full array of design concepts - several were really imaginative. And, once again, several had technical detail that I had not really requested, but found extremely helpful in focusing the next step in my project. I was also impressed with the interaction I had with the arbazar staff - Ana and Imdat. When I engage in e-commerce, I typically go in expecting that any human interaction would be with a call center and probably very frustrating. Not with arcbazar. I corresponded directly with real-live humans - the team that operates the site - and I found it reassuring that they were monitoring the progress of my projects. It was a level of customer service that I'm not used to seeing when I do business online, and I really wish more people would follow their lead. I have recommended arcbazar.com whenever the opportunity to do so arises, and I will continue to do that. I'm also gearing up to post a new design competition for my backyard project, so I'm fully sold on the site, the service and the people who operate it.