A stressful experience from beginning to end !

We don’t usually like leaving negative reviews but we feel it is in the public interest to do so in this instance. We employed Mr Adrian Edward Smith of Studio Smith Architects also known as Studio Smith Architects Ltd (11333472), based in Worcestershire who offers architectural services and design. Mr Smith was recommended to us by a work colleague. The brief we gave him was to design a cost effective new build house of traditional design from scratch for our private home. During our whole experience with Mr Smith he did not fulfil the brief, he did not keep notes of our instructions, he would not make amendments to the design or layout when asked, and during the detailed drawing stage for building control he was impossible to get hold of either by text, phone or email and when he did respond it was not relevant to what we’d asked him. Mr Smith systematically avoided us for months until we lost confidence in his services and sent him a letter terminating his contract, after which, he continued to prove unprofessional, he sent us the delayed drawings which were neither correct in design or our requested construction method and were instead drawn as SIPS and not fit for purpose. He would not amend or rectify the drawings when given the opportunity and instead was obstructive and argued with us. The service we received from Mr Smith was unprofessional, we did not get the type of house or build method we had originally asked for. After raising this with Mr Smith and getting nowhere we contacted the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and on their advice we raised a formal complaint with them against Mr Smith. Shortly after this we were invoiced by Mr Smith for his services in full which we obviously disputed, Mr Smith then notified us that he’d raised a Small Claims Court case against us. After substantial additional cost to us on legal advice, delays to our project, having to find a new architect, additional stress and significant time spent on paperwork, thankfully Mr Smith was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by the Architects Registration Board Professional Conduct Committee. The small claims court also ruled against him for not providing professional services to us, dismissed his claim and he was ordered to pay us damages.

C & R Deacon - 22/02/2023 | report this review