Not Professional, do not follow through. Bottom line is after paying almost $20,000.00 We now have pay someone else for new designs as they never stamped the designed and never responded to our phone calls. Total rip off. read more

Has anyone who paid for a project gotten their money back? They took my money and never delivered anything. I see there are a few lawsuits regarding money claim and I am feeling I need to do the same. read more

Be careful with this company,they are scammers. We paid in full for our invoice and we never got the service that was promised,it's impossible to reach the customer service or the project manager and because if all the delays we had to pay additional late fees to the county,when they got the comments from the county it took them 5 months to provide us the new plans and those plans are not completed like we asked. They tried to charge us additional 50% to correct the corrections they got from the county and just after we drove to the county we found out that they that they lied to us and there is no reason for the additional charges. Stay away!!!! read more

I really didn't want to get to point of leaving a review on Yelp but the company has left me no choice. We've been in contract since July 2020. Since the beginning, I informed our project manager that the set is incorrect and with the details that seem to be copied & pasted from someone else. The work was sloppy from the beginning. Example, they sent us a set with the dimensions calling out 2 stories while our my house is a single story. We had to go back and forth several times because there were always changes previously called out that somehow didn't get incorporated in the set they sent for approval. After 5 months, we locked down on design and a final set. After printing it and sharing it with our GC and tradespeople, I was informed the architectural set was off-scale and dimensions switched between internal and external walls. I was told I didn't printed correctly. I literally had to take a picture of ruler against printed plans to show the discrepancies. Structural set lacked detailed and when concerns were raised, I was told that my GC can just have the conversation with city when they show up for inspection. I had to tell them that is inappropriate to roll the dice with inspection. In Jan, I went back to company to push for them to remediate they errors so I could get an accurate architectural and structural set, I have been placed in limbo where a date for deliverables was promised but never followed through. I was told architect who previously worked on our plan is no longer with the company and a new architect is being onboarded. They asked me to be patient during the transition. So I waited. Now, the mid-Feb, I am still waiting and following up every couple days, every week. After reaching out to Jessica (Customer Success Mgr) and Shiv (Project Manager), they have completely ignored our emails and text messages. I copied CEO on emails and even reached out to him via LinkedIn, and he has responded either. I realized he might not respond here either but it's worth a try read more

Avoid at all costs. Built a ADU in Los Angeles area and they could not finish line the project. They were not familiar with the municipalities code. They refused to send anyone out to the project location even though it was in the contract. I had to spend several thousand with another architect to have my plans stamped. They outsource every part of the project. read more

I highly recommend Design Everest Structural Engineers!!! They provided great engineering services. Marcus was our structural engineer, he was awesome. I needed engineering services quick so I met with Marcus and explained my project and mention I did not want us going back and forth with the county like a lot of home owner go through in the process of getting permits. The scope of my project included redoing the complete foot print of my home and building another home with garage on my property. One county comment and response and permits were issues!!! Yes, we ended up slightly over building my house and now the house is structurally sound and earthquake and safe! read more

I recently used them for some structural design work on our ADU. It was a bit of a struggle getting plans back and we went well beyond the initially quoted timeline. The plans I received they used the wrong detail and designed the home with a pier and post system instead of the slab on grade I had requested. No biggie we were able to work it out and they revised them after about another week or two. I'm used to working with contractors and designers so I chalked it up to miscommunication and maybe being overbooked. Then came time for me to help a friend of our put solar on their home. I will be helping them install and they are going to pull an owner/builder permit. After WEEKS of waiting after submitting the information to get plans made, I get an email asking for more information. I send everything I have to them, pretty cut and dry project. It's a patio cover that will be built and permitted by others and I clearly stated I only need the solar PV plans, NOT structural plans for the patio. I wait another 2 weeks and after many attempts to get ahold of them finally get an email back. Some people got sick and they were short staffed....okay sure. I could not believe what I was told next. That they would be getting me a PROPOSAL in the next few days. A PROPOSAL. THEY HADN'T EVEN STARTED ON THE PLANS. Well guess what. I get the proposal and it's for $11,500 for a solar design and structural drawings. WHAT?! I've been in the solar industry for 16 years, plans are on average 300 bucks and done within 48 hours at most. This isn't rocket surgery. I have no clue who is running their solar plan team, but they are WAAAYYYYYYY off the pulse of the market. Kicking myself for not waiting the few days my normal designers were backlogged, thinking I could get it done quicker here. RUNNNNNNN read more

I've been getting nonstop calls from Design Everest, who I have never reached out to before. I can't tell whether this is a legit business or spam. I asked to be taken off their contact list but I have still been getting random calls for the last 6+ months from different Mountain View phone numbers on services I apparently requested from Design Everest. read more

I reached out to Design Everest through their website. They promptly responded w/ their CSM Jessica Passage responding w/ some additional questions about my project (needed site plans for an ADA-compliant ramp for my commercial building). After providing more details, she comes back that they can't help me without offering any explanation. When I pushed for one (since my project seems pretty straightforward), her response was pretty curt: Jessica Passage: We do not have availability right now. Me: Are there other firms you can recommend? Jessica Passage: If I do I'll let ya know Now, I'm not a customer success manager, but this came off very rude and unprofessional. I would've been fine with her even saying "we don't do these types of projects" instead of a bullsh*t reason "no availability right now" -- if that was really the case, Jessica's first email to me would've been "I'm sorry, but we can't take any additional projects at the moment because x, y, z." I didn't get any sense that this company cares about how they treat potential customers -- makes me wonder how they actually treat paying customers. Look somewhere else!!!!! UPDATE: I just submitted an inquiry through Yelp to local firms for my project -- guess who is the first to respond multiple times? Design Everest --- what happened to no availability right now? read more

I made the mistake of submitting a request for a quote on their website, and have been bombarded with nonstop emails, texts, and phone calls ever since. I must have unsubscribed a dozen times, but they've propagated my contact info to all their offices across the state and the spam just won't stop. The "quote" I received was an automated form letter, and I suspect their website is a honeypot to harvest contact info for resale. If you are tempted to request a quote, make sure to use a throwaway email address and your ex's phone number. read more

I have been dipped in the grease every which way by this company. It took over 2 years to get my plans finished. After the start of construction it was decided during the first inspection that while everything was done completely according to the plans, the plans themselves weren't safe and we needed to change them in order to move forward with the project. It also took 7 submittals to the county for approval- there were times that no changes were made and I had spent $1200 on prints! Since the initial inspection, the builder has fought other things that dont make sense. This has resulted in months of delays, having to wait for them to make changes and also then months waiting on the county to approve the changes. Overall, the company isn't reliable, the plans they initially made were deemed unsafe, and now, it seems they're going through bankruptcy and I'm concerned about how we're going to get engineer sing-offs. We ran into another issue on the plans and nobody is responding. Sounds about right! read more

If there was a no star review - this bad excuse for a company would qualify for minus -5 for it's absolute failure to produce competent service and timely execution of deliverables. I am a design build professional with 20 years experience. A construction company I work with engaged these fools at my expense and it's been a disaster. Do. Not. Use. Them. Ever. To clarify, Design Everest have utilized third party professionals to execute plans and calculations and the work of these contracted engineers, specifically that of Marcus Yan, meets basic professional standard. However the leadership and project management within Design Everest is a trainwreck - they are a bunch of unaccountable, unapologetic clowns who simply cannot get anything done. It took over 12 weeks and $12,500 to get a 100 square foot residential exterior deck plan completed. Basically, it's been an exorbitantly priced waste of time. To date, I have still not been provided a wet stamped set even after being extorted for the final deposit. The company has been non responsive and utterly negligent in it's duty to provide time sensitive plan sets required for permitting and construction. I have it on good authority that the company will be ceasing operations. Next week - who knows? How will I ever get my plans? Hope anyone else currently doing business with them gets out of contract with them and quickly. Hey - Design Everest, don't bother replying to this review with any further excuses or empty apologies. Just get me my flipping plans and shut down this total racket job once and for all. Epic. Fail. read more

We had an excellent experience with the team to complete structural and elevation drawings to meet permitting for a new retaining wall. I was very thrilled when Jessica responded right away to my initial inquiry, and we talked through all my concerns about meeting both our limited budget plus strict Santa Cruz County requirements. They also were by far one of the only affordable civil engineering firms in the area that also had the bandwidth to take on a new project. Our project manager Rajiv was great throughout the process and very responsive, and worked as an efficient liaison between our engineer to address any design updates and concerns. Once we got comments back from the permit department, they were able to make changes quickly and efficiently. Even though this process is stressful with a lot of "lessons learned" as a rookie home improver, the team really helped us understand everything and worked to ensure we had everything we needed in our design. I highly recommend getting a couple construction bids during the process to see if any cost concerns can be addressed ahead of getting the final stamped drawings, so the team can make any changes in calculations if you want to swap building materials. We didn't have them do a site visit, but were able to provide all the measurements via email/photos which were reflected accurately in the final design. read more

SCAM ALERT We hired this company for structural drawing. We plan on using the space in the ceiling for storage. They took our money. Guarantee to have the drawings done in 10 days, before Christmas. It's now March. No explanation on why it was delayed. No drawing. No draft. After reading the reviews and looking into the company, I do not think this is legitimate. I believe this is a one-person show outsourcing their work. I have never been able to get a hold of anyone working on my project--constantly leaving messages for management to get in touch with me. No response. read more

We worked with Design Everest team. They did a great job with addressing the structural requirements in the permit process with the City of Palo Alto. They were fast, easy to communicate and work with. One of the team members Lokesh was extremely helpful throughout the process to answer any questions, evaluate trade offs and make decisions. read more

We have a complicated situation that COVID made even more difficult to assess. After talking with Amar I was able to grasp what I can do next. I would highly recommend calling DESIGN EVEREST for a virtual consult. Don't wait until COVID is over. Your home is everything. Don't risk permanent damage if you suspect something is wrong. Discuss it with trained professionals who know what they are talking about. read more

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I have used Design Everest for several houses and the experience has been great each time. They have a team of designers, architects, structural engineers, and project managers to make sure things are constantly being completed and moving forward. We went through countless iterations until my vision was brought to life. Their guidance and experience helped navigate through issues before the arose, bringing our dream into reality. I will recommend Design Everest to anyone looking to complete the plans of their dreams quickly with a team of experts at a reasonable price. read more

Stay away. Very poor service and no responsibilities for the work and timeline. I asked to provide a structural design plan and after several months and calls of work, they delivered completely different plans. When I requested to correct them they disappeared for several months. After waiting with no response I requested to finalize what they have (at least I would have something), and they disappeared again. Any attempt to reach to actual person lead to silence (reception will take a message and nobody call back) I asked to terminate the contract due to non-performance - in response I got an invoice .... with no explanation, no calls... nothing... This is the worst design company I ever dealt with. read more

In the process of getting info on our ADU. They have been very helpful in the starting stages of this project and will continue with them as we proceed in all the steps going forward. Will update as this project moves forward. We know this could be a long and difficult process but know that without outside help this could be ...financially a huge mistake. Will try to send updates as we progress our project. Tom and Nina read more

We hired Design Everest for a relatively straight-forward residential remodel and had a horrific experience. I initially hired this company because I liked the concept of a group of engineers vs. a single engineer, so any available engineer can pick up my project as soon as one is available. Fortunately, I was warned by fellow Yelpers that Design Everest uses mostly outsourced engineers not in the Bay Area, so I specifically requested a local one because it is important for an engineer to *actually see* the structures they are engineering. Makes sense, right? 1 star off: Design Everest uses a project manager (PM), which introduces an unnecessary level of inefficiency. Our PM refused to allow us to speak with our engineer (ENG), stating that the company policy is to protect its working ENGs so they can get their work done. The only way to communicate with our ENG is to E-mail our question to the PM who will pass it on the the ENG. The PM is basically a robot who does not understand any context of the communication but forwards E-mails back and forth. One time, I E-mailed a question about the design and the PM robot forwarded me back, "Per ENG, the design is in the plans." Yes, I know, but I sent you a specific question about the plans... 1 star off: I took the engineering plans to the City for approval. The City reviewer looked at the plans and had an urgent question for the ENG. I called the PM telling him about the urgent request, and he said, "I need two days advance notice to set up a conference call." Well, a conference call sounds lovely, but I just told you this is an urgent matter... 1 star off: Demolition started, and my general contractor (GC) has a question for ENG. Since Design Everest does not allow customers to contact ENG directly, I again had to reach out to PM. PM refused to allow GC to speak to ENG without setting up a formal conference call. GC thought it was odd that a simple phone call would not suffice, but that PM insisted on setting up a conference call. ENG did not answer GC's question during the conference call, completely wasting everyone's time. 0 star off: During construction, GC realized there was an oversight on the ENG's part and one wall is really load-bearing when ENG initially didn't think it was. I was charged an extra fee to re-engineer that wall because of "new site conditions". I specifically showed all these conditions to ENG at the site visit; there is no "new site conditions." If ENG did not know for sure, he should have told us to expose the ceilings during the site visit, which was not done. I eventually got that extra fee refunded, so I will not take a star off for that, but still irritating to deal with. 1 star off: Another issue came up in construction where GC realized ENG has designed a post that goes through one of our existing doors! ENG tells GC he didn't know there was a door there. I looked at the architectural plans given to Design Everest and it was there. I pointed this out to ENG, and ENG tells me to look at the details in his plans. I know there are details in his plans, but there is a post running through an existing door... I pointed this out to ENG and did not hear back from him. I finally became impatient after waiting for five days and reached out to ENG again. ENG's reply was that he is on lots of projects. Okay, so aside from coaching you on time management, what do you want us to do with the post going through the door...? Eventually, I reached out to Aakash, the CEO/Founder of Design Everest for help. We both agreed that the communication with company staff was terrible. He sent a new engineer to do a quick site and we resolved the issue in minutes -- I did appreciate this gesture. I guess all issues were resolved eventually, but it just took *so* long, creating *so* many unnecessary delays in construction...for a straight-forward residential remodel. I cannot imagine how Design Everest can handle anything more complicated. When I think back about my interactions with this company, I want a drink. read more

The entire experience is unfortunately very painful. 1. There is no value added from the program manager. She is not only very slow in response (sometimes it takes longer than 7 days to answer a simple question) but also not detail orientated. There were often mistakes in the information they provided. 2. They charge extra for any changes regardless of the causes. For example, when they provided the design, they didn't ask for soil reports. After we submitted to the city, the city requested the soil report. Then they suddenly realized that they need to change the design and charged us additional significant $$. They should've asked the relevant information before providing the design. But they didn't. Instead, they just delivered based on their assumption. It prolonged the entire process because of this unnecessary revisions and back and forth with the city. It not only shows that they don't care about the customer experience but little interest in ensuing the quality/security they provided. We can't back off from them because we had already invested so much. But I really recommend not to work with them for your sanity and safety. read more

Highly recommend the structural Engineer Marcus Tan. We are in the process of buying a new house and want a Professional structural engineer to check on the house, especially the cracks in the foundation. Marcus is so professional and patient. He examined the whole house and spent hours explain to us all the different details. read more

I have written a review a while back and somehow I can't find it to update it. We hired Design Everest to design our home addition project. The whole process took 1.5 years due to their lack of responsiveness. We almost gave up but because it finally got through city approval we decided to continue. Now during the construction process we have been in many difficult situations with their lack of responsiveness. For example, it's been 19 days since we had a question about a measurement and just can't get an answer from the engineer. By the way, there is always a middle person so you never really speak to the engineer/architect. I never write reviewes but this one I had to. This company is a joke. Don't waste your money!! Update- we had to spend more labor and materials in our project due to wrong measurements done by their "team". Our contractors caught the mistake so we could fix the problem - but this company wants more money to provide us a letter from the engineer to ok the changes - which are corrections to their own mistake. It's beyond crazy! read more

DO NOT USE THIS BUSINESS!!! I'd go over the events we went through for the construction on my small business but at this point I can probably write a book on it. They claim "white glove service" blah blah blah but they are nothing of the sort. A couple of the CS workers were quite pleasant and deserve to be at a better company. As for their architects, engineers etc. They are slow, incompetent, unreliable and just plain unprofessional. The amount of delays in simple corrections had caused my project to drag on months passed the initial target date without any legitimate cause. We expected and budgeted for some delays but what they put us through was simply laziness and lack of time management. The company caused us to blow through the remaining of our business funds leaving us in such a hole that we are still trying to dig ourselves out of over a year later. If you want a company that takes your money and sits on their ass then you've found the place to go to. read more

These thieves basically filed for bankruptcy and didn't provide the services I paid for. I am still waiting to get my money back, (contact me please and make it right) just want my fair share that was not provided. Talked to a few of their consultants since they don't really have any engineers in house, they just outsource it... Yup they ripped them off too and owe quite a bit to the on site/inspection SF Bay engineer. The project manager was quite nasty to me knowing I couldn't do much except sue them. Stay away, or try to get your money back as they are in the process of filing bankruptcy. Plus the PM will hustle you all day to post reviews yelp and such. read more

We hired this company to do our structural designs for our backyard retaining wall. We had the most unpleasant experience ever. Our design included a large amount of grading, we and the city could not understand where the grading is required. Looking at the designs itself, it was not possible to know, which speaks their quality of engineering. Since the last four weeks, we are trying to get clarification on the grading part. The PM assigned to us does not let us speak a real engineer. We provide him information, fully clarify then he sends an email after weeks as if he did not understand what we are speaking of. It has been 4 weeks since we connected with PM. Many emails and messages being sent and no reply. He just does not respond to us. We spent $14000 on Design Everest fee in addition to other things they have requested which costed a ton more money. We wanted to build this backyard for our kids to play in the summer break. The summer is getting over :) I'm stunned by lack of responsiveness or responsibility. We feel terrible as we are stuck with them after paying so much money. We do not recommend this company to anyone. read more

Design Everest was with us every step of the way on our project and with excellent communication. They got the job done and hung in there with us and even helped us work with the city's building division. I highly recommend Design Everest. The plans and calcs were top notch and just what the city needed for our project. read more

Excellent and highly interactive service! My son needed specifications and calculations in order to obtain a construction permit for his BSA Eagle Scout Project. Design Everest worked hand-in-hand with us to ensure we got the permit approved. Their highly communicative style was greatly appreciated. They even gave us a discount on their fees in support of the Boy Scouts of America!! read more

I hired this company to do a garage conversion, simple right. No , so I gave them 3k down and could not get a site visit, either they were in an accident or they put it off. They did not communicate well and when I got fed up I had to ask for a refund 5 times. Then they send my refund to PayPal as a check instead of electronically paying which put a 21 day hold on the money, now I am 2 weeks behind and have to pay another company and just wait for my money. By the way the new company has already visited the site and will be complete in 4 days. I would not recommend them at all. read more

Did a good analysis for us regarding potential commercial project. Walt Dwyer/Broker-Owner/Dwyer Real Estate and Development

As others have said, stay away. We used them for structural engineering for an addition on our home and the whole process has fallen apart. They were very slow in design and changes and provided bare minimum structural details. Revisions were a pain in the butt and they always wanted more money for correcting things they flat-out left out. To make matters worse, now that we're under construction, they say they are undergoing management changes and can't take on any new work (it's an existing project!). They referred us to another firm, who of course wants a bunch of money for making a tiny edit to a detail. Not sure how we're going to get them to sign off on our permit at the end of the day as they are the engineer of record. read more

Fraud company. Amar Prasad did my 1400 sqft addition engineering and missed basic foundation calcs. City engineer had more the 3 rounds of corrections for them. It costed me $40k extra to fix the foundation and I ended up firing Design Everest from the project. Never work with Design Everest. read more

Design Everest did structural drawings for our addition. There were a few back and forth with the city and took a long time to get our permit during pandemic mainly because other parts of the plans. The structural plan review went smoothly; there were virtually no changes from the city reviews. We ran into a few issues during construction and the supports from Lokesh were excellent. The team is reliable, responsive and professional. Highly recommended. read more

Very professional company. Megan Malone's support is very good! You will be happy to try!

If I could rate less than 1 star, I would. Project was significantly delayed. Began discussions in July 2022 and I write this on Oct 22nd with out accurate engineering plans for a wall removal in my house. Initially quoted 4-6 weeks. Now my Project Manager and "Customer Success" manager both not returning phone calls. Absolutely frustrated with the whole process. read more

I would not refer this company....although I have read numerous rave reviews...my experience was and is not acceptable. I believe that the Architect that was assigned to my project was and is overwhelmed. Communications have been extremely difficult...Nanak indicates "technical difficulties" in getting in touch with the assigned Architect. The plan check correction work completed by the assigned Architect had to be revised by the Designer on the project and then sent back to him to revise...it still has not been received back...."tomorrow" is what is communicated. They have been paid in full for their services and they have not completed the required work. Think twice about doing business with them and if J Paul Acaro, is involved...don't go there! Jessica said "someone would contact me" yesterday....still waiting...unprofessional to say the least read more

We had Design Everest do an inspection of the foundation and property. The report that followed, in my view, was flawed. I had taken pictures of the foundation that contradicted the report. When the photos were sent to the company the engineer would not change his report. He replied by saying what the intend of the report was trying to do. The company offered to refund $150 of the $800 fee to show good faith. I declined the refund and asked that the report be corrected. Design Everest was unwilling to send someone else out to redo the inspection. I had great hopes in using this company to more extensive work for us. Now I really don't trust what they say. read more

I have a very poor experience with Jessica their sales representatives. She was very non responsive and seem to not understand what I was asking and all was going on since Nov. I am very disappointed with the poor service and even asking for a manager there is no response. Keeps on saying that I changed the scope, when I have emails after emails outlining the scope. It is Jessica who knows nothing about how to scope or what architecture is.... Please do NOT go with them if you have a custom design or remodel! Or best avoid Jessica. She is not the sharpest knife in their team. Very disappointed! read more

An update since my last review: Design Everest has worked hard on improving our experience working with them. We requested a revision which they provided at a huge discount and worked quickly to finalize, the revision passed the city with no comments. In addition they assigned another project manager who was a tremendous help, she responds quickly and makes sure to follow up. It has been great working with her and getting the answers as we now move to construction phase. Only reason it's still 4 stars is due to the delays and miscommunications we experienced in the beginning, this though could be attributed to the pandemic and getting adjusted to remote work and life being unexpected to everyone. read more

I enjoyed working with whole team on my project. Waiting for my comments from the city. Hopefully the team responds to them in a timely manner. TBD. So far, they are real good to work with. read more