Mark H Smith Designs Inc.

Mark did an excellent job transforming our desire for a new front porch into a design that we loved. He took care of everything including liaising with the city and obtaining a building permit.

Mark was a pleasure to deal with because he listened closely and used his expertise to satisfy all our wishes.

Mark was such a joy to work with, especially after some prior bad experiences with architects.
We appreciate Mark’s professionalism and consistency the way he conducts his business, at the same time being personable and attentive to his clients. He asked detailed questions, listened carefully and took good notes on our thoughts for the project. The three initial design solutions he proposed were all aligned with our visions and sympathetic to the project limitations. It was easy and hard at the same time to choose one of the plans to go with. Mark encouraged our feedbacks and was very open to adjustments we requested (within contract scope), his focus was always on arriving at a design solution that best suits our needs and budget. He took our project to zoning preview, resolved the kinks through persistent follow-ups with the city, and produced a building permit application that was swiftly approved. We plan to begin construction come next spring. It was through Home Star that we found Mark, with our review it has come a full circle! Of course we highly recommend him and his services.

Mark, thank you for your wonderful work!

This review is long overdue.
We have used HomeStars in the past and have had some (not all) bad experiences with the vendors we have chosen to work with but Mark has restored my faith.

He's checked all the boxes on what we are looking for...

* Professional
* Personable
* Over communicates and readily available to patiently answer our questions
* Doesn't overpromise and realistic on what can and cannot be done.

It's not hard to find people to design but what seems to be rare is customer service / customer relations. My husband and I felt reassured by Mark's suggestions and quality of work.

We WILL be working with Mark again in the near future and have recommended him to our family and friends.

Thank you Mark for your services and putting our mind at ease.

We engaged Mark as we were having trouble building a garage and could not be happier with his work. We had received planning permission from City Planning based on the plans of another designer. But during the construction process the building inspector noticed some of the measurements were wrong and would not approve the construction. When the original designer refused to return our phone calls Mark stepped in, re-baselined the entire project, and went above and beyond to give us the advice and do things right. It was only after working with Mark that we realised just how bad the original designer really was and the steps a proper designer should take. We are eternally grateful and would recommend him in a heartbeat.

My wife and I are so pleased with Mark's work. He helped us through our design evolution, was patient, full of ideas and perspectives that we found very helpful. He was keen to adapt as our plans evolved and let the project become what we wanted rather than what he thought should happen. His perspective attention to detail and his ability to convey what he was considering as he developed the plans made us comfortable. His personal attendances at the site and his willingness to spend the time to understand what we were thinking made us both fans both of Mark and his work. We cannot overstate how much he impressed us.

I had worked with Mark for the past almost 2 years. I can't even begin to explain how great he was. Simply put, he is one of the best person I've ever met so far. But that's putting it very mildly. Simply saying that he is a great designer would be a huge understatement. I highly recommend him to everybody who's going to renovate a house or build a new home.

We were referred to Mark through a Toronto area construction manager knowing that our project was to design a new home for us in the Grand Bend area. Our starting point with Mark was a conversation on site to get to know our initial vision, lifestyle and approximate budget. Then using our comments he created a number of home designs to begin refining our thoughts. We achieved a final design of about 4000 sq feet of construction that we were excited to move to the permit stage. Our new home will be located in the country and as a surprise to the local builder, ourselves and Mark we needed to apply for a minor variance. Here Mark shone in handling all the paperwork and attending local meetings 2 hours away. He established a very positive working relationship with the local building department and followed through to the approval. We are now breaking ground thanks to him.
Mark is knowledgeable and creative, detail-oriented and timely, conscientious and very patient. It was a pleasure to have him at our side through this journey. We are happy to highly recommend his services.
Greg and Anna

We had a very clear idea of what we wanted in terms of layout and design for a 2-storey addition & renovation to our 100+ yr old semi. We wanted to find someone who could execute our vision and had thorough knowledge of all the city rules. Mark definitely fit the bill as he had knowledge of the city codes and helped us navigate towards a plan that would avoid the committee of adjustment (something that a separate designer had told us was not possible). Sure enough, we got our permits no problem at all without needing to go through CofA. Throughout the process, he was extremely patient, offered some great suggestions, was kind and understanding, with a very professional style of communication. We had a very challenging time with our contractor - during which, Mark was so very quick and helpful in trying to help us problem solve issues. If ever there were any adjustments needed to be made to the drawings, he was very prompt to correct. We’d definitely recommend Mark and are grateful to have gotten the chance to work with him. Thank you Mark for helping us push the project forward and help our vision come to life!

Mark was a delight to work with on my project from the get-go. He was attentive to my described needs & desires, & offered up several solutions by way of drawings.
He took great care to make sure he had correct measurements for the entire house.
We spoke & emailed a few times & I always felt that he was on it! And more importantly he was able to deal with my changes as we went forward & openly accepted my input.
He provided drawings as well as applying for the permits & all pertinent permit application information.
I would definitely recommend him!

Mark created a complete set of drawings, and obtained city permits to convert a single family home to a legal duplex.

Why work with Mark?

1. Took the time to understand the project, and returned to the property a several times to discuss/address concerns in person.

2. Knowledgable - This word is often thrown around, but when speaking with Mark about the project, it was evident he has lots of experience in the field.

3. Expedient - It's not often that a contractor has to chase a client, but there were several instances where Mark completed work so expeditiously, and had to follow-up with us to provide additional details/decisions.

4. Honest - I've had both good and bad experiences with contractors in the past, but there was never a situation where I questioned Mark's integrity.

5. Nice guy - This may seem like an odd item to include, but Mark is not "rough around the edge's", he's a very genuine and nice person to work with.

Mark is a true professional, and I will strongly recommend him to family and friends in the future.