M. Besse Architect, PLLC

When I reached out to Mark and asked him how long it would take to draw up my foundation and garage plans he told me a week. After three weeks of trying to get ahold of him, he finally got my plans together. Went to pick them up and noticed he put the doors and windows for the garage on the wrong side which was clearly stated in our email we had going back and forth. He said he would revise them and send me a copy of the plans tomorrow. After a few days with no plans or a copy, I had to scan my plans and create my own copy. I could get additional quotes for concrete work. I was able to submit those plans to the town for my permit. After a few weeks, I started calling and emailing him and he finally sent the plans to me after a few days with attempts to get ahold of mark. Two months later I had my concrete poured and noticed the bulkhead access to the basement seemed very steep. After looking at the plans I realized what the problem was. Mark drew the stairway to scaled at six, but his dimension line showed eight max or 8 11 max in sandy or gravel soil. My concrete guy poured the wall to 8. Well, eight would never work because you would have stairs that would go past the basement wall about eighteen or have to step down eighteen to the first step. Mark said he has never had this issue before and had no solution. So to keep the stairs to code and put a door in the opening I had to cut 16 off to the top of the concrete wall for my bulkhead as seen in the pictures. I would never recommend mark to anyone. He is very unprofessional and does not get back to his clients. Wish I read the reviews on him before I decided to use his services, looks like I am not the only one with these problems.

Excellent

Showed up on time. Submitted preliminary designs on time. Good ideas. Easy to work with. Did a great job at reasonable price.

We were referred to Mark Bess by a reputable builder. Unfortunately, the experience was horrible. We met and shared specs, our own drawings and input on the two story garage addition. We paid a substantial (50%) deposit on his quote. He failed to get back to us as promised within two to three weeks. After several phone calls and emails he emailed some drawings a month later than promised. The drawings and questions accompanying them did not reflect the input we had provided on several key points. We met again three weeks later to go over the drawings and reiterate those key points. At this time Mark asked for another check and promised to get back to us later in that same month after doing some research. After six weeks had gone by, I sent several emails, Mark finally replied and promised an update within one week. Seven weeks later, six months after our first meeting, I emailed him and expressed my extreme disappointment. We paid $1,200 and wasted six months for nothing.

My Father gave him 300 Dollars for me because I was away at the time. He told my father he would have the drawing done in 4 or 5 days so I could start the job. I kept calling him and he would say he would have it in a few days. Its been 51/2 weeks and he will not call me back. Now its small claims court to get my 300 back.

On time and good ideas will help with design

He did a great job very punctual