David R. Smith Design Inc.

David worked with us to fully redesign both floors of a bungalow.from first meeting we were very comfortable with his skills , vision and immediate response to any questions. After receiving imaginative prelim plans which were exactly what we were looking for, we have shelved temporarily this project . Once we restart we hope David will pick up where he left off. Thanks David for great effort so far!!we will be in touch . Chris and glenda

With absolutely no experience with home ownership and renovations, we were extremely vulnerable when seeking out services, especially with respect to our proposed addition drawings and permits.

Thankfully we found David.

Our first experience with David gave us the sense and confidence that we had someone in our corner. David was mindful and respectful in all his interactions with us. This was a great way to set the tone for our technical and very real task of acquiring permits through the committee of adjustments.

We were requesting a minor variance (as David had correctly guided us towards) and the journey involved many facets that included multiple drawings, repeated engagement with the city, the committee of adjustments hearing, etc.

David handled ALL of this.

We were satisfied with the outcome of the drawings for our addition given the budget limitations (David was always cognizant of how drawings impacted construction costs). We did receive approval from the committee of adjustments despite some neighbours' opposition. David went above and beyond in speaking to our neighbours on multiple occasions. He handled those discussions with absolute respect and professionalism.

I waited quite a long time before writing this review because I wanted to see how David's drawings played out through the 5 month long construction period. Nearing the end of that period, I can now confidently say that the drawings were coherent, clear, and of great value to the contractors who took on my project. This was a critical piece for me because the drawings generally always look good/cool but my concern was always - the application of those drawings for builders! It has worked out great!

In closing, we were lucky to find David given our context - uninformed and on a pretty tight budget. David addressed both of these elements with respect in educating us on some key aspects and always drawing with costs in mind. David is flexible, cooperative, strategic, thoughtful, and diligent in completing what we needed him to complete. He drew the house we wanted and got the permits we needed.

Thank you David. If we find some money one day somewhere, we will do the front of the house!

David developed architectural drawings and performed all the foot work for acquiring a full permit package for our project. We came to him with our ideas, and he guided us with his expertise and extensive knowledge. In addition he thoughtfully considered our wants/needs and balanced them with our home's realistic limitations to develop the plans for our dream home. We highly recommend David to anyone!

We have used Davids company on several occasions now for both small & large projects ranging from home additions to roof top deck structures.
David has provided an efficient and speedy service to our company in order to produce clear concise plans to make the renovation process as seamless as possible for both ourselves and our clients.
Needless to say that our clients have also been impressed by his work.

We hope to continue working with David on future projects.

Our project is rather big and complicating: we are putting a second story over half of an existing bungalow, building a two car garage attached to it, and putting a floor over that. I’m a project manager (not construction) and very interested in the whole process of design and build so I’m a sure I am a bit of a pain to professionals (and place high expectations on them). There are a few general things I look for in professions – quality of work, trust, listening skills/ability to work well together, responsiveness/communication, and price.

David didn’t disappointment on any and even impressed me. While searching for a designer, I found many of them only heard a small percentage of what I was saying and then it became them telling me what they wanted – not what I want. David listens very well. But he also knows that he has more experience than I and does make recommendations and gives me a lot to think about. But if I don’t decide on his idea, there are no hard feelings as he knows I’m building my dream house, not his. In the end, I think we are building a beautiful house – one with both his ideas and ours.

We also had to use David at the Committee of Adjustment (CoA) as we had to break some variances. We had objection from one family but David handled it VERY professionally – not backing down at all but not insulting my neighbors. An easy win at CoA thanks to David.

Throughout the process, he always was well organized and communicated well to me so I knew what to expect ahead. He has always been super responsive and never left me thinking ‘has he forgotten about me’.

We had many issues (not related to David) which made the whole process drag on and poor David’s had to be patient. In the end, I think David was involved for over a year and never complained and even helped out wherever he could (even though it wasn’t his area).

Even though David’s portion of the process is completed, he still answers my questions promptly no matter how small or unusual. He is definitely someone I enjoyed working with and someone I would highly recommend to my family, friends or…you.

David helped me completely redesign my new house including an extension, basement lowering, and completely new layout.

I am very pleased with my whole experience with David: because the changes were so huge, this redesign was by nature a very evolutionary process: I needed to explore various approaches in order to fully understand my needs and wishes and balance them with reality. David supported this process extremely well and very patiently, producing alternate creative designs (including even a few 3D models!) at key points in the development so that I could fully explore different approaches. It was also a very interactive process which I liked very much: I wanted to be involved in the design and David did integrate some of my better ideas into the plans and very respectfully eliminated the less promising ones. I am very satisfied with what we produced - I say "we" because it felt like teamwork even though David did 95% of the work; as a result I have quite a sense of ownership in this design.

In addition to this redesign, David worked extremely well to get the engineering, HVAC plans and city permits in a timely way and keeping me posted on their progress. This was actually also a lot of work, as it involved interacting with the city, engineers, etc. but I it all got done without me worrying about it. That was also great.

I worked with David to design a third floor master suite in an existing space. With only one revision, David captured everything I wanted in the space and I'm thrilled . David also handled all permits and navigating the project through the endless bureaucracy of the City of Toronto Building Dept. processes including Committee of Adjustment and the OMB. His calm demeanour was a valuable asset in a complex project. I wouldn't hesitate to work with him again and recommend him without reservation.

David was recommended to us to design and help us through the permit process with our third floor master suite (attic) renovation. Although there were not many alterations that needed to be made to David's original design as we loved his first attempt, he was willing to make any changes necessary. David was always reachable by phone or email and very quick to respond to any questions or concerns that we had about the design or permit process. Having David take care of the permit process was an enormous weight of our shoulders as we would not have known where to start. He was able to come up with solutions to any of the minor snags we encountered. We would definitely use David again with future projects and highly recommend his services.

Before we hired David we received quotes from 6 architects. The service provided by David was comparable to, if not superior to the quotes we received--and at 1/3 of the cost. After we retained David for our project, he exceeded our expectations by encouraging us to ask questions, change design details we were not sure about and constantly making helpful suggestions. The finished designs were meticulous in detail and entirely captured our vision for the project. We highly recommend David for home renovation design projects of any size and taste.

It's been said that patience is a virtue, and David has it in spades. As new home owners and renovators, it's easy to think that your questions are foolish or naive, but David's prompt professional approach always helped put us at ease. He was flexible with our timeline from first consultation to adjustments during demolition.

After interviewing an architect and a reno coach, David's background as a designer made the most sense for our project. He captured our vision of returning our 1950's 1.5 storey bungalow into the quaint arts and crafts style home that we desired. While it was unfortunate that we couldn't fulfill some of the design suggestions due to our budgetary constraints, David was sensitive to the fact that we had to make certain concessions and was helpful with the adjustments. One piece of advice for fellow new renovators is to engage a contractor early in the process to ensure your drawings match your budget. Keep in mind that some contractors might prefer to begin the process once the drawings are complete.

With that said, we can't say enough about David's ability to be ever present. By email, phone or dropping things in the mail, he exceeded expectations. While we recognize that he is an extremely busy professional, it was not uncommon to feel as though our little project was always top of mind.

Finally we would be remiss, if we didn't mention David's persistence with the permitting process. He regularly followed up with the city, and helped to keep the lines moving.

Thank you David for enduring our project with a cool and calm demeanour. It was very much appreciated!