This design group is a TOTAL disappointment, in so many ways. As a general building contractor for four decades myself, and having worked for an architectural firm for a few years early on, plus having worked with many architectural and engineering firms over the years, I was completely unprepared for the level of incompetence and lack of communication with me as a client that occurred with these people. I have built hundreds of projects and never had issues like I've had with Rainey Design Group. I took them a residential project for a new shop addition and an entry remodel to our home, in October 2023. I signed their contract for design work on November 1, 2023 and gave them a sizeable deposit. The intent was that I would do most of the drawing work and they were to look after detailing and engineering as I am unfamiliar with the local building authorities in Coeur d'Alene. Rainey did some design work to start with, then informed me that the drawings that I had provided (which is what their contract pricing was based upon) needed a lot more work before they could send the project to their engineer. I asked what the extra costs would be for them to do that and was informed that the contract already included such work so no extra costs were involved. That was completely wrong as I found out. By the time I pulled the project from them in April 2025 I had missed two build seasons already and the total had gone from $5,050 in the contract to $7,420, and they still were not done. At one point in later 2024 I was waiting for the engineered drawings so contacted Rainey and found that they had not followed-up with the engineer to check on his work. He then told them he thought that he had already sent his work to them the previous month - another sign that they don't care about their clients. So that was finally sent back to Rainey. I have more than 100 emails in our conversations, plus made several phone calls to them, and seldom received replies. I went into their office twice to get some resolution. The first time I met the owner (Dale) and he told me to talk with the design person (Terry Clang) that was handling my project. That didn't help much. After a while longer of me not paying the extra invoices - because there was no description of work performed that I've asked for several times - Dale emailed me that they wanted my account paid up or would have to send it for collections. When I immediately returned Dale's contact I was again told that Terry would handle the issues that I wanted to understand in order for me to pay any balance due. That is, that I have no idea what I was paying for as the invoicing doesn't stipulate what the hours are for, by whom they were incurred and what work was done for that cost. It seems a reasonable request to me as that is the kind of information I have always gotten from other designers, and what I would do for clients that were not on Time-and-Materials based contracts. I finally gave up and got what I hope is the total of their work. And I paid them what they said I owed, still not knowing what exactly it was that I was paying for. So, I'm out ~$7,500 and still have nothing to take in for a building permit. I tried so many times to get Rainey to respond to me and get the project done, but that was not to be. At this point I don't believe that they can complete a project of any kind. Mine should have been reasonably simple compared to most of the projects I've either designed myself and/or built. If I were not unfamiliar with the local requirements I would have just finished the design and gotten the permit. But I thought having a local design company help out would be best. And I wanted to establish a relationship with a local company for similar projects. They basically told me they are too busy to look at more work. This company is a joke! They didn't even bother to apologize or offer any remuneration. Nor did Rainey ever fix what they missed or simply did wrong in all the work they did. And that being after I ended up having to 'red-line' for them so I could hopefully get the drawings completed and in for a permit. Now I have another designer whom I'm working with to assist with what I originally wanted done. I wish I had known of this new designer before I started with Rainey ... it would have saved me a lot of money and well more than a year of time. My new designer pointed out a few things when I took the project to him that would have prevented the building department's approval ... the very things I was looking to Rainey for input on. read more

Dale is completely unethical with no moral compass whatsoever. I sent Dale a client I was preparing to build for. Dale undercut me and stole the build from me. read more