Justin Sherry Design Studio
9 reviews 17 Poyntz St, Barrie, ON +1 705-300-2341 www.justinsherry.ca suggest an edit
19 February 2023 11:02
We used Justin Sherry Design Studio for our second suite design. At the beginning, we were excited to be working with Justin after being referred to him from a realtor we were working with. Initial conversations were great but when we had to make a couple minor revisions we were left waiting over 11 weeks and treated like we didn’t matter to his schedule. Our calls kept going to voicemail with no follow ups. We’ve since moved on and had to work with another company to complete our project.
04 February 2023 14:20
First I want to say I do not normally write bad reviews and don’t take writing one lightly.
I hired Justin Sherry to design a Garden Suite and a second suite, and the experience was worse than I could have ever imagined. Although Justin ultimately did submit our permits to the city he was extremely difficult to get a hold of, treated our account with little to no respect or urgency, and ultimately left us high and dry needing to find a new designer and engineer to get the project over the finish line. This is all despite paying top dollar (over $10,000) for both our designs, and him using prior designs as a template to streamline the project.
As our first project, it took some time for us to begin construction and when we finally got things going our contractors found several issues with the design. Those included 1) Missing a structural post in the design, 2) Not measuring for the beam height to ensure minimum head clearance for the second suite, and 3) Putting our electrical panel in the middle of the kitchen for the 2nd suite. To be clear, I would expect any professional in this field to know the minimum height requirements for a basement and make the beam measurement one of the first things they do when starting a design to determine if it will need to be recessed or not. Despite the beam being fully exposed in over half of the basement it was entirely overlooked (he’ll probably say it was behind a wall…it wasn’t). I would also expect a professional to know that putting a fuse panel in a kitchen isn’t good design.
Despite all of this, all along the way I have been polite and given Justin the benefit of the doubt (things can get missed, that’s fine) and was even willing to pay for the time it would take to correct these oversights. After discovering these issues, I simply reached out (for the first time) on October 24th mentioning that we would need to make some minor changes to account for the beam, move the kitchen to the other side of the room, and resize two windows. These changes should take at most 1 hour to do in CAD and send on to a structural engineer for the beam but I believe a week would be more than reasonable. He acknowledged the changes and said he would “get it done”. After two weeks, I reached back out to Justin on Nov 7th over text to ask where things were at but got no answer. I then called and he told me there was a queue and that he would “have it to me ASAP”. After waiting an additional 9 days from then, I still had not heard from him so I reached out again and he said he was "in a meeting call you soon”…again no call. After telling him these delays were costing me money he fired back telling me how I should run my projects and not tell him about my lost revenue…. He said “I’ll get it done. ” Today is January 6,2023, and I still have nothing.
I have now given up and removed Justin from the file. I had to find a new designer and engineer to get my project over the finish line costing me extra money, time, and a massive headache. Had I known what I know now, I would have gone elsewhere for my designs. I’ve never experienced this kind of lack of care and attention from a company in my life. In one word “unbelievable”.
I hired Justin Sherry to design a Garden Suite and a second suite, and the experience was worse than I could have ever imagined. Although Justin ultimately did submit our permits to the city he was extremely difficult to get a hold of, treated our account with little to no respect or urgency, and ultimately left us high and dry needing to find a new designer and engineer to get the project over the finish line. This is all despite paying top dollar (over $10,000) for both our designs, and him using prior designs as a template to streamline the project.
As our first project, it took some time for us to begin construction and when we finally got things going our contractors found several issues with the design. Those included 1) Missing a structural post in the design, 2) Not measuring for the beam height to ensure minimum head clearance for the second suite, and 3) Putting our electrical panel in the middle of the kitchen for the 2nd suite. To be clear, I would expect any professional in this field to know the minimum height requirements for a basement and make the beam measurement one of the first things they do when starting a design to determine if it will need to be recessed or not. Despite the beam being fully exposed in over half of the basement it was entirely overlooked (he’ll probably say it was behind a wall…it wasn’t). I would also expect a professional to know that putting a fuse panel in a kitchen isn’t good design.
Despite all of this, all along the way I have been polite and given Justin the benefit of the doubt (things can get missed, that’s fine) and was even willing to pay for the time it would take to correct these oversights. After discovering these issues, I simply reached out (for the first time) on October 24th mentioning that we would need to make some minor changes to account for the beam, move the kitchen to the other side of the room, and resize two windows. These changes should take at most 1 hour to do in CAD and send on to a structural engineer for the beam but I believe a week would be more than reasonable. He acknowledged the changes and said he would “get it done”. After two weeks, I reached back out to Justin on Nov 7th over text to ask where things were at but got no answer. I then called and he told me there was a queue and that he would “have it to me ASAP”. After waiting an additional 9 days from then, I still had not heard from him so I reached out again and he said he was "in a meeting call you soon”…again no call. After telling him these delays were costing me money he fired back telling me how I should run my projects and not tell him about my lost revenue…. He said “I’ll get it done. ” Today is January 6,2023, and I still have nothing.
I have now given up and removed Justin from the file. I had to find a new designer and engineer to get my project over the finish line costing me extra money, time, and a massive headache. Had I known what I know now, I would have gone elsewhere for my designs. I’ve never experienced this kind of lack of care and attention from a company in my life. In one word “unbelievable”.
26 January 2023 19:53
Justin does one of the best designs, very impressive and creative, extraordinary designs, I recommend anyone who wants to have dream property designed. I am satisfied with the experience I had, he did the design and all permit processes and had permit issued successfully as well.
28 December 2022 21:29
I've worked with Justin for 5 years now on various designs and he's the real deal. He's a great designer with a detail oriented team surrounding him that know how to work within many municipalities; when permitting, this is half the battle!
His designs are sleek and modern, but I've seen more contemporary designs as well that are magazine worthy! Just drive down Kempenfelt Drive to see his design and you'll be sold!
More recently I've used Justin for designing Garden Suites; a market he's cornered in Barrie. He was able to hook me up with a project management group he works with for a completely turnkey solution. The best!
His designs are sleek and modern, but I've seen more contemporary designs as well that are magazine worthy! Just drive down Kempenfelt Drive to see his design and you'll be sold!
More recently I've used Justin for designing Garden Suites; a market he's cornered in Barrie. He was able to hook me up with a project management group he works with for a completely turnkey solution. The best!
27 December 2022 1:01
Justin and his Team were fantastic to work with! They really listened to my wants and needs as their client. Making the process smooth through out the design phase. In the end the results were amazing. Both architecturally and the interior design concept with Veronica. Highly recommend them!
07 December 2022 0:46
Working with Justin on Designing the garden suite that I built, and am now living in, has been the smartest choice I’ve made during the pandemic.
Justin showed enthusiasm, professionalism and an impressive amount of creativity during the design and planning process.
The design is very custom. A side split with bedrooms in the lower level, a kitchen with 16’ cathedral ceilings and a lofted living room and bathroom with 10’ ceilings. Our perception is truly 3 Dimensional. This 850 sqft garden suite is perfectly designed to make maximum use out of every square foot making it feel larger than the 1100 sqft bungalow I used to live in.
I will be using Justin and his team on my next custom build and would recommend him to anyone that is looking for a magician of an designer.
Justin showed enthusiasm, professionalism and an impressive amount of creativity during the design and planning process.
The design is very custom. A side split with bedrooms in the lower level, a kitchen with 16’ cathedral ceilings and a lofted living room and bathroom with 10’ ceilings. Our perception is truly 3 Dimensional. This 850 sqft garden suite is perfectly designed to make maximum use out of every square foot making it feel larger than the 1100 sqft bungalow I used to live in.
I will be using Justin and his team on my next custom build and would recommend him to anyone that is looking for a magician of an designer.
29 November 2022 6:03
We sat down with Justin with no expectations on creating us a house to build on our lot. Within an hour we had a rough plan sketched up that was beyond our wildest dreams. They were very professional and dealt with all of the permitting which was exactly what I was looking for. We are set to break ground in the near future on our dream home!
18 November 2022 3:51
Justin and his team (I personally dealt with Justin, Danielle and Katrina) were top notch. Such wonderful people; professional, knowledgeable, pleasant and willing to go over and above! They truly cared about my project and the guidance they willingly offered was outstanding! Thank you team Justin!
Forever grateful!
Kim
Midhurst
Forever grateful!
Kim
Midhurst
15 October 2022 12:41
After meeting Justin and his team we immediately felt that we are going to work together. We had great experience with the design of our dream home and furtherfollow up every step of the way! We couldn't ask for more! Justin is very talented and knowledgeable architect incorporating newest aspects of architecture and design into his approach. All the members of his team are very attentive, caring and punctual. We will highly recommend Justin Sherry Design Studio for all architectural needs!