Zaga Design Group

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• By Zachary J. D.

  December 1, 2021

  Plans and submit

  $500,000

  As a consumer and homeowner who takes great care to research items and services prior to purchasing, I often rely on feedback and reviews to help guide my decision and also help set my expectations for products and services. In this situation, I respectfully cannot agree with most other reviewers’ glowing reviews and as such, I feel obligated to provide others some clear, honest and objective feedback about our generally disappointing experience with Zaga Design, specifically, the owner architect, Sandy Thompson.

  Please note that I don’t take the decision lightly to leave negative feedback, however, since potential clients are considering spending tens-of-thousands of dollars on this service, I feel that it’s important to educate others and provide an overview of my experiences as reflected through fully archived communications and notes of my interactions with the firm and thus the length and detail of my review reflects that.

  As it pertains to our experience, the old adage “you get what you pay for” rings true here. Zaga’s bid and proposal for our home addition was among the lowest cost that we received from any firms. Having had positive in person interactions with the owner, Sandy, and realizing the relatively simple and straightforward parameters for our garage expansion and bed/bath addition, we opted to go with the “low cost” option as it pertained to architectural drawings and input.

  This was ultimately a mistake as the “honeymoon” stage was very short lived and we rather quickly went from feeling as though our project was a priority to having to consistently call and email Sandy multiple times in order to get answers to very simple questions. When spending $10k (or less for that matter), it’s my belief that we are entitled to expect that simple emails or calls should be replied to with-in 24-48 hours during the business week. Communication is absolutely key when moving through this type of project and not long after starting we were consistently disappointed in this seemingly fairly simple and straightforward aspect.

  It also became a hallmark that when meeting with Sandy, the first things out of her mouth were always her venting about some unrelated struggle or problem in life; schedule, employees, family, etc. Since our project was being conducted during a pandemic, we chalked this up to Covid related stresses and I can certainly understand the human need to commiserate from time to time but suffice it to say, there is a certain level of professionalism that was lacking in this regard and we were disappointed to consistently feel as though our meetings lacked focus and started off as her therapy sessions versus creative and efficient planning of our project.

  Unfortunately, space for my full review is limited here, however, I'd encourage and welcome you to search for and find me on LinkedIn. I'd be happy to share a copy of the review which outlines examples of unethical business practices, the firm's lack of basic attention to detail when rendering drawings, their inability to communicate in a timely and effective matter and overall the message that you should not be fooled by the positive reviews or Sandy's apparent easy-going demeanor. This firm is an embarrassment to their profession and my interactions with them are quite frankly shameful on their end.

  Look elsewhere; there are many superior firms in the Denver area.

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• By Jennifer B.

  February 11, 2021

  basement renovation

  $80

  We had a terrible experience working with Sandy. We wanted to do a small renovation to finish the basement and alter the first floor layout of our newly purchased home in Sloans Lake. We met 3 architects before starting the project, and although Sandy charged 2x , we were sold after meeting in person. She had a lovely demeanor and was warm. We are first time renovators and she pitched us on the fact that she was going to hold our hand through the process: help us figure out how to save costs, connect us with contractors, join contractor meetings to help with selection, etc. We walked through the whole project and she communicated we could do this well within our budget (she predicted $50-70k).

  Communication was sparse from the start, but our project was simple, so we were not too worried. I was frustrated because we comunicated this was a project we wanted to move quickly on, and we were always the ones to setup the next conversation and ensure the project was moving forward. The first big red flag, was when Sandy was scheduled to meet my mom (who was driving 2 hours from Edwards) at the house. I reached out in the days leading up to the meeting to confirmand I didn't hear back. She finally emailed the evening prior to the meeting with little apology.

  Once she submitted for the permits, we tried to stay on top of this timeline, so we could coordinate with the house sellers and contractor. On a Thursday, she said she was checking with the permitting office and would get back to us the next day. We didn't hear from her the next day, or for the following 2 weeks. She took vacation for 2 weeks with no warning or communication, although she knew we were super time sensitive.

  After making all these claims about connecting us with contractors and walking us through this process, ensuring we stay in budget, etc. she did not connect us with ANY contractors. When we reached out, she ended up delivering ONE bid (no conversations) that came in at $350k!!! 5x what she told us this project would cost. She justified this, saying the contractor assumed high end finishes. This didn't make sense given our project scope, and the fact that she explicity said we should keep the finishes low/mid range in the basement and claimed she would help us contain costs. She took no accountability for the fact that she didn't deliver on all the services she claimed to provide.

  Lastly, when I gave her this feedback, she said upon reflection, our project was not a good fit. Fair enough, but given we did a hour property walk through and the project scope didn't change, this is something SHE should have determined PRIOR to starting our project. No apology was given for her oversight on this. She is great in person and a great sales person but in my experience her word means very little and she will say what you want to hear with little intention or care for actually staying true to what she has said.

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• Anonymous

  November 7, 2016

  Extremely satisfied with the entire process: design, contractor bidding and negotiation and construction administration. We were in good hands from inception through completion.