We have had two major projects in Annapolis for which Joe Mayer was our architect. In both cases, his work was creative and led to designs and completed projects which delighted us and amazed friends and family. In both cases, Joe demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the permitting and construction process, the use of new and advanced techniques, and beginning -to-end collaboration with my wife and I. The first project was an expansion and complete reconstruction of our kitchen in Harbor Hills. The second project was a master bedroom, master bath and his and her closet addition to our waterfront home in Edgewater. What I think I like best about Joe is his commitment to continue to work with you from the first discussions through design iterations, permitting, and construction. For example, when we dug the foundation for the addition of the bedroom wing we discovered that the footings and foundation of the old home, built in 1927, was not up to standard. Joe examined the job site, assessed the foundation, and came up with a new design for the basement wall that abutted the old house, ensuring that the basement of both the old house and the addition would be stable and enduring. Throughout both projects, Joe would visit the work site occasionally, and would come when asked to look at any issue in a very timely way. read more

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I hired Joe Mayer after meeting him at an event. I felt the initial consultation went terrific. I contacted another architect to make sure I was getting ideas and pricing that I liked. I ultimately chose Joe because of how he quoted the process and pricing for his services. The first of the three phases, providing as-built drawings of the project went just as easy as the first consultation. But that was the end of the positive experience. Joe told me it would be a little more expensive during the as-built measurement meeting because I wanted a 14' x 18' family room designed, instead of a 10' x 18' family room. He charged more than double the quoted price to provide a terrible "sketch" of an idea. While some of the ideas he provided were good ideas, he continued to over charge for sketches. The initial quote for layout plans was $1300. He has charged more than three times that amount even after a face to face meeting where I specifically told him that while his ideas were good, it shouldn't take 25 hours at $145/hr to come up with the ideas. I could have started construction and finished one entire new bathroom in the time he spent thinking about it. Now he wants to charge 75% more than the quoted amout for the construction plans and site plan. I have ceased all work with this hack that calls himself an architect. I built an entire custom house ten years ago. I didn't fully appreciate the builder's architect until now. Seriously appauled in Arnold MD read more