I cannot describe the depths of regret, time and money that we invested into this very frustrating and painful process with Rand. He may be one of the best (and he will be sure to tell you that several times), but his process is much longer and more painful than it needs to be. And, by the way, he charges by the hour. After the initial couple of meetings (which were ok...), we were never excited to discuss or review anything about our dream home with him. How could we be with comments like "I don't decide how much your dreams will cost you" and "you should really pay for everything in cash" and defining what hearth means in a five minute rendition (we are educated people). He is probably brilliant. We tried so hard to suffer through the very painful, six hour programming process to get to the design phase where I was sure he would wow us. When the plans *finally* arrived, they weren't even close to what we were hoping for or what we'd described in our hours long conversations with him (did I mention we paid him by the hour?). We were beyond disappointed (on the brink of meltdown and furious). When we approached Rand about our grave concern of not even being close, he was very quick to tell us 95% of his customers are happy with the first designer because he does such a wonderful and thorough job of programming. To add insult to injury, he stated that he didn't understand why we were unhappy or the "feelings" we had about the house design. As if being on the spectrum of emotional depravity and awkwardness weren't enough, he further alienated us by aggressively pursuing payment for his "services" (we were never late on any payments and never questioned his invoices). He has a two week payment requirement (even when he choses to email the bill at the beginning of a holiday weekend and only accepts checks by mail). After which time he promptly institutes a hefty late fee with no regard to his customers concerns or personal lives. When designing a house you want to feel excited and happy with your architect, and he/she should ease your concerns and help with the process. Instead, Rand added to an already very stressful and expensive process. We routinely felt patronized, frustrated, and nauseated at the thought of having to skype with him. And we felt nickel-and-dimed throughout the process - almost criminal with the threats of hefty, levied late fees and unrealistic turn around times for payment. Rand designs the house for you that he would live in. He is rigid and limited in his scope of design. Despite multiple attempts at explaining our idea of minimal luxury, we concluded he is incapable of designing modestly (we can afford two dishwashers, we just don't want two dishwashers in the kitchen. Or two refrigerators. Or two sinks.). We were so very, VERY disappointed. Chalking this one up to hard lessons learned. Sad to write a scathing, yet honest, review but just want others to be warned. read more