Zink Design Services LLC

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designer took a while to get his design adequate for the contractor ok now

Like most home projects, this one has a long story. As first time home builders, we were new to the process. Ryan was delivered a set of floor plans that had been through two other people previously, one architect and one designer. He asked all the right questions to become familiar with the proposed house, and the current phase of the project. I wanted to get moving quickly on construction documents so our builder could create a price quote. Ryan took the job on rush status and quickly started producing drafts. We communicated most via email (which is my preference), and PDFs were exchanged easily. It's hard to know what to expect on a large project such as a new custom home, there's just so many variables with regard to cost, city regulations, and deadlines. All in all, I feel Ryan delivered a substantial value for the money.

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Ryan is a very knowledgeable, patient, and a pleasure to work with. Half way through our re-design project our builder bailed because the project was "Beyond their building scope". The minute we learned that our builder was walking away after 4 months of planning, I contacted Ryan to let him know about the situation. He was more than accommodating in helping us through to the end. He was extremely complete in answering all of our questions and communicated directly with us as the project moved forward. He attacked our mess and worked closely with us to make the changes we needed to be able to take a beautiful set of plans to the county to submit for approval. He made great design suggestion and was very helpful with the “Nuts and bolts” of designing and was able to make our dream home a prefect home. This is our last house we will ever build…it’s our dream and Ryan helped make it all possible. He’s a stand-up guy and his willingness to take the appropriate amount time to complete our project correctly speaks volume!

For the most part pretty well. The house and garage have no straight lines so it was a challange to come up with something that worked. Did not seem to bother Ryan, he jumped in. We got permits on first try. We had an issue trying to understand a part of the plans, Ryan came over and went over it with us. He was really responsive on this. This is not our first experience with Ryan. He did plans for a major rebuild with dormers on a previous house a couple years ago that was a lot more work. It was designed from the concrete forms to attaching to the existing house and rebuilding the top floor with a new design and floor plan.

1-8Working with Zink Design Services was a great experience. From the ground up we designed a house and shop on our 1 acre property. Zink design services took everything into account for the design. Topography, views,building setbacks, etc. The county experience was seamless due to the detailed plan sets. Framing was a breeze and no real issues during the build process due to the plans. Zink design services always answered the phone during the process. The house size is approximately 3800 sq', and the stick frame shop is 3000sq'. Zink design services was able to have us do a virtual walk through the house and come up with any potential design flaws before the printed plan sets. I would not hesitate to use Zink design services again and I know they will do a wonderful job for anyone that chooses them.

Ryan was referred from a contractor that we have a great relationship with. Unfortunately we found out after the fact that our contractor had never actually worked with him, just talked to him about working on projects in the future. The contract was to provide construction documents for a 640 sq ft addition to our house. I had a plan of what we were roughly looking for and sent it to Ryan after he came out and looked at the house, took measurements etc. His first draft was totally off from what we had sent him and it turns out that he forgot that we had sent it and just went off of memory. He sent us another draft that was based on our plans. After a number of back and forths, we got a final set delivered minus one piece that he said would be to us in a few days but actually took nearly a month to get to us. Overall, we have a set of plans that is functional for structural construction, but we were expecting a lot more. It doesn't include a lot of detail (which we expected it to have, as it was not specifically excluded in the contract and we were expecting documents that could actually be used for construction - by ALL trades), like even the most basic electrical, HVAC, plumbing etc. Our goal was to use the plans to get accurate quotes from contractors and to ultimately take them to the city for permits. Without the details the plans are just about useless in soliciting accurate quotes for construction. We are putting everything on hold to I can't speak to whether there's enough there to get permits. We were also hoping for more guidance, more actual *design* help instead of just charting out the structural details in Autocad. We had thoughts, suggestions, questions etc and when we brought them up, instead of going over how that might work, if it was even a good idea, if it made sense money- or design-wise, there was just a few days of radio silence then a new draft that included the changes. The final piece that we were waiting on was from another vendor. Ryan told us it would be to us in a few days after we paid for and picked up the rest of the plans. We called him repeatedly to get updates as we were only waiting on that piece to go to the city and get permits, and we needed that piece. He said he didn't know, he couldn't get in touch with them, etc etc. After three weeks, we finally asked who he was using, called them ourselves, and got what we'd been waiting on within 48 hours. The plans themselves, for what they are (basic structural plans), are serviceable, and I'm sure Ryan is knowledgeable in CAD and in that type of work. However, the final product that he gave us was not what we were expecting, and we are now delaying the project until next spring because we didn't get what we needed in time to get the permits on our timeline and the plans that we did get require a lot of detail work to be useful to us. We were also consistently frustrated with his communication. Even acknowledging that he got our email and he was working on making the changes would have been helpful (esp since half the time we weren't actually asking him to make the changes, but were only asking him about the impact of a choice). If you know exactly what you want and you only need structural plans to take to the city for permitting, Ryan may be a fine person to work with. If you actually want design support, or construction documents that you can use for getting quotes from a general or from sub-contractors, you won't get what you need.

He was easy to talk to, quick and a great price. I highly recommend him.

With all the redoes and mistakes I would say the overall work was pour and to much money for what you get from his work. I would not use his services again in the future to many problems redoing things that should have been done right from the beginning.

The County had a lot of codes that surprised us all. The building finally got done. One big problem was one bathroom had the toilet against a wall that was not long enough to have the required ADA handbar so we had to hire a plumber and contractor to switch the sink and toilet. Other than that, Ryan was always there working out solutions to the problems that arose. Had there been a more hands on general that communicated better with Ryan, the job probably would have gone smoother. The building finally got done. Ryan worked hard to make it happen.

He got back to me right away and responded to my calls which was a big thing.

With any major renovation there are always a few surprises but Ryan help keep these to a minimum. Overall I was very satisfied with the service.

We found Zink Design Services via a Craigslist ad, and after talking with a number of engineers and architects, went with Ryan. He came out and went over our ideas, took measurements and provided a rough estimate. His professionalism, easy-going manner and knowledge of codes applying to our project sealed the deal. Once we chose to proceed, we signed a contract and provided a portion of the money up front. First drafts of the plans were supplied quickly and we made a few revisions. Ryan was always prompt and on top of our changes, even when we were slow to respond. Once all changes had been made and the permit ready plans were delivered, we paid the balance.

Ryan came to my house to scope out the project. He was prompt and got right to work. I was tight on money and he offered me a very fair price. He worked diligently with me from beginning to end. During the design phase I found it helpful to create a checklist of the things I wanted him to incorporate as he missed a couple minor details from our original conversation. He accompanied me to the city planning office and saw that may plans were approved before receiving the final payment. I called him a few months later for a small adjustment to the plans and he did it for free!

The overall process of working with Ryan couldn't have gone better. We originally called about 5 companies to see about helping us with the project and were surprised that only 3 ended up returning our phone calls. Ryan called us the next day and was able to make it out to our house for an initial consultation that week. We appreciated his professionalism from the beginning. My wife and I met with 2 other companies. One larger one and one smaller, similar to Ryan's company. We ended up choosing Zink Design Services not only for the inexpensive estimate (about $4500), but because of his past experience. Ryan’s past construction experience was obvious throughout the design in his suggestions on how to simplify and streamline the process. We doubled the size of our kitchen and two bedrooms which entailed expanding the front façade of the house as well as an energy efficiency upgrade with new insulation. Everyone says that you get what you pay for and I thought we may have some small issues come up because of the low price we paid for services. Not the case! My wife and I couldn't believe we found a company with that level of service at that price. One of the other estimates we received was more than double than Ryan's estimate! I know I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, bottom line is that I would HIGHLY recommend Zink Design Services to ANYONE!

Working with Ryan was fantastic!! I had met with several architects and was astonished at how much they would charge. Then I met with Ryan and his fees seemed very reasonable. Ryan kept to the timetable that he gave me up front even though I was not as quick to get back to him as maybe I should have been. Plus during the construction, Ryan was very easy to reach with any questions and he made it a point to drop in on the contractor randomly to make sure there weren't any problems. I would strongly recommend Ryan to anyone thinking about doing work to their house!!

The design went great!! He was on time, responsive and well worth the money. Beyond that, I could reach him throughout the building process and he was always ready to answer questions.

Ryan spent a lot of time coming out to my home, assessing the situation (which was bad) and drawing up plans to build my second story, all of a more than reasonable price. He also dealt with the city inspectors and obtained all my permits (twice, as he had to redesign the upstairs after plans changed). Ryan was always on time, always responsive and very professional. He provided me with multiple options and I am very happy with what was done.