Elemental Design

I had such high hopes after reading so many positive reviews, but sadly, I’m tremendously disappointed on so many levels. I initially consulted them via their website and used their client survey form, attaching a detailed plan my husband and I spent much time putting together. Maybe it backfired instead of being helpful. My husband has some experience with AutoCAD, which is a design program. We laid out a general plan for the deck we hoped to build, as well as where we wanted to put an outdoor kitchen. We included pictures we found of certain designs we liked. We sent this July 7^th and two day later got an email stating their chief designer, Traven, was out of the office that week, but would get back to us early the following week. Twelve days went by and I did not hear from them. I called and left a message for him. He called back later that day stating, somewhat brusquely, that it looked like our plans were complete and that he did not have much to add, especially since we wanted to build it ourselves. I’m sure our wanting to build it ourselves was a turnoff for them, but I stated that we were open to a discussion about having them building it. We were hoping to employ them for design elements and nuances. He said he would send some dates that we could meet in two weeks, since he was gone again the following week. I still have not heard from him and now it’s August and I have no deck design. I can’t tell you how turned off I am with their unprofessional behavior. It makes it hard to believe all these wonderful reviews aren’t rigged. As much as I would like to give the benefit of doubt to other people, I’m hard pressed to understand the glowing reviews about their chief designer.
By the way, I tried to post this review on
, but they refused to publish it because I never received an estimate. How can I receive an estimate if Elemental Design refuse to contact me? Don’t believe the reviews on Houzz. Obviously they are teamed up with the contractors to get biased and probably made-​up reviews.