Reviews of Visbeen Architects (Architect)

Triple Seven

We were recently provided with the opportunity to attend a video conference with Wayne Visbeen…A ‘Virtual’ meeting, to discuss the design of our dream home. We had originally planned to visit personally with Wayne and his wife Angela Visbeen, of Visbeen Architects, at their office in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. We’d planned to make the trip, from the East Coast of Canada to their office, but due to the recent pandemic, those plans were quashed. In some respects, as we later came to find out, this was perhaps a lucky happenstance, as it saved us four days of travel along with return airfare, first to Toronto and then to on Detroit, two days of car rental and possibly four nights stay in a hotel. While there have been a multitude of favorable reviews written about the fine attributes that Wayne and his firm continue to offer to clients, suffice it to say, that in this respect, we were not disappointed. Within three short hours, Wayne gave us the warm, charismatic welcome and personal service for which he is known. Indeed, throughout our meeting, we felt as if we were his most important clients. For the purposes of this review, we will narrow our comments to the process of the “Virtual” meeting. The format used by Wayne is one that has become immensely popular of late… Zoom… Downloading and installing the program onto our computer was simple. Then, a day or so ahead, via email, we were sent an invitation to attend a Zoom meeting, at a particular date and time. As promised, the meeting began right on schedule. On our end of the virtual meeting, was a 27-inch wide-screen monitor and a simple web cam that we had mounted above the screen… My wife and I sat next to each other at a desk and as the meeting began, we were greeted with a full view of Wayne, sitting at his desk. The picture quality was excellent… As far as we were concerned, we were in the same room sitting across from Wayne in his office in East Grand Rapids. After a few minutes of exchanging pleasantries, we quickly got down to the business of discussing our dream home. Wayne showed us various plans and ideas, as he switched his camera view back and forth from our view of him, to one in which we saw his hands and his work surface, as he capably sketched various ideas regarding our design. As the meeting progressed, Wayne deftly brought my wife’s and my considerably divergent ideas of home plans together and after about two hours, a much clearer picture began to emerge of a design that we both loved. Throughout the virtual meeting, My wife and I were oblivious to the fact that we weren’t in the same room and were amazed and how, through Wayne’s patient coaching, we were able to come up with the final plan, upon which we both agreed. The last hour or so of our virtual meeting, was spent carving out many of the details of what we hope will eventually become the final blueprint of our dream home. As our three-hour virtual meeting drew to a close, we were left with a satisfying feeling of knowing that our encounter had been a success. Though we hadn’t met in person, for all intents and purposes, we were able to derive most of the benefits of an in-person meeting, all from the comfort of our own home and without the additional expense of traveling to and from Michigan. We were very satisfied the virtual meeting and wouldn’t hesitate to meet this way again…It was money well spent!

Levi Painter

Great company with great people! Definitely would recommend!

Joseph Hartings

Very down to earth and creative. Listened and cared about our ideas. If we hit a snag or problem, quickly changed direction to solve it. Wayne took an idea and quickly created a shared vision. Within minutes we are looking at floor plans and perspectives. We loved the process and Wayne’s style, personality, sense of humor. We went to Visbeen a bit intimidated and star struck and left laughing with a plan. Top notch organization. Can’t wait to follow through.

Ken Semler

Wayne, Angela, and Kristen were great! My wife has been a fan of Wayne's work for years. As the founder of Impresa Modular, we were definitely using modular construction to build our new home. Wayne has experience designing with modular construction in mind and the match was perfect. We personally went to visit him and his team at his studio. We described a historic home look with craftsmen flare. In an afternoon we accomplished what would have taken months to do. Before our eyes, he sketched out our beautifully designed home. We are looking forward to beginning construction! Wayne has an affinity for modular construction and we look forward to working with him in the future on more than our personal home! Thank you to the Visbeen Team!

Greg Anderson

Visbeen Architects is a firm that are leaders of architectural design. My wife, Amanda and I have the pleasure of working with Founding Member, Wayne Visbeen on our home in Sarasota, Florida. After listening to our ideas, Wayne proceeded to free hand (to scale) our house, over dinner, for which is currently under construction. From the first time we met, through, the design did not need to be changed. We chose a modern design and Wayne delivered on an original piece of architecture that is sure to win awards. His team is responsive and timely to day to day coordination. It is a pleasure to have met Wayne, as a person, and work with Visbeen Architects.

Tara Elzinga

I never felt they truly cared.

Nick Stadel

The staff is amazing. Responsive, professional and extremely insightful. We had dreams and Wayne and his team made them come true. So impressed, they were there the whole way as well! Highly recommend.

mbp

I just finished my initial meeting with Wayne Visbeen and experienced the wonder of Visbeen Architects! I am in awe of the creativity of Wayne and his team! I was just starting the architectural investigative process for our dream lake home and came across Visbeen Architects on line. Seeing the spontaneous creative process that unfolds in Wayne's interpretation of his client's needs is nothing short of amazing! I scheduled a meeting with Wayne to review our hopes and desires for our future lake home. This initial 2-3 hour meeting was so comprehensive and intuitive! Wayne created a complete and beautiful interpretation of our wants! He sketched out numerous 3-D interpretations in response to our thoughts. Our home will be not be huge, and though Visbeen has created huge amazing structures, I had a design experience as if we were one of Wayne's largest! I am sold on Visbeen architects following this initial meeting. The professional environment and creative team is so exciting, and I know we will be in the best of hands. I will not be looking any further for our architect!

Wigmax1

Right from the start the entire team was professional and made us feel like we were just as important as their higher end clients. Wayne Visbeen listened to our ideas and was able to put our vision into a floor plan and 3D sketches so we could visualize our dream home. The final drawing set is the best our builder has seen and the 3D "walk" through set really helped us understand what our home will look like before the construction phase. Highly recommend using Visbeen Architects for your home design.

Jill Wendling

Currently, we are firming up our house plans with the Visbeen Team. After thoroughly searching various home design sites for an architect that could make our vision on our extremely narrow lake lot come true, we scheduled an appointment to meet Wayne and his team. After describing our vision, Wayne was able to talk and draw his way through our home. We went home with a plan...same day! We appreciate all the flexibility and patience with us since we came armed with so many ideas of our own. After a few revisions, we are ready to start construction in 2022. We are thrilled with our design journey. Thanks, Wayne & Jeff!

Kerry Fudold

Our first experience working with an architectural firm, and we couldn't have been more impressed and pleased with the service, talent, and turnaround time with Visbeen. They went over and above to meet our tight schedule, and everyone at the firm was professional and lovely to deal with. 5 stars for sure!

Direct Lines

Wayne makes drawing cool! The Visbeen team is professional, knowledgeable, and very good at their trade. My wife and I needed help with a very restricting lake lot home design. We shared our vision. The Visbeen team nailed it. Wayne Visbeen is the closest thing I have seen to a "Disney Imagineer" he sits in front of you, listens to your ideas, and begins to hand draw your dream home. Serious skill! Then the Visbeen team takes it to a very advanced technical level providing all building documents imaginable for your local builder. I am very confident when our project is complete we will have our forever Lake Home.

Julie Fox

What an amazing start! I have worked with hundreds of architectural firms in Chicago and GR for both my business and personal projects and never have I had such a productive first meeting. Wayne is mega talented and made it so much fun taking ideas from concepts to drawings, yes in the first meeting. Exceeded my expectations for sure. Can’t wait to see how this project develops. Julie Fox