DES Architects Engineers Reviews

Former Employee – worked at DES Architects Engineers full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Fun. Great personal relationships with some staff members. Overtime is occasional and always paid. Use to have pretty significant projects. Good structure and project support.

Cons – Favoritism. Need to fit in a little box and be nice. Schematic and Design Development team is separated from the more technical / construction documentation and construction administration team. Slave of old clients (all local developers).

Advice to Senior Management – Stop to act as a primadonna and be more in touch with the personnel.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at DES Architects Engineers full-time for more than a year

Pros – Graphics team is great, does great work, and has great talent employed. Which is a bit of an anomaly considering they are an AEC type firm. There are also individual Architects and Designers that have great potential if given proper leadership.

Cons – Leadership is out of touch and really grasping at anything for relevancy. Upper management has no clue about the tools used in today's technology driven workplace environment. This is also atypical, considering where the firm is located. HR management does not create a fair working environment, instead choosing to play favorites. Typical fitness award programs are rigged. Not trustworthy at all.

Advice to Senior Management – Retire

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at DES Architects Engineers

Pros – Some of the staff is awesome, but they are not the ones getting the credit. DES will be lucky if they keep their talent.

Cons – They are the opposite of nimble. If they mismanaged project staffing, look out. It's not their fault, you're the one getting written up. You won't know you were written up until much later, at that point you're one step away from the door.

Advice to Senior Management – Management needs to get out of the way, especially the managent that doesn't have a degree in Architecture from an accredited university or a license. The recession more than decimated them, so no one is willing to shake anything up. They are in dire need of finding their soul. Many of the recent new hires are destined for greater things.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at DES Architects Engineers

Pros – Opportunities to work on a range of project sizes and types. Supportive of employee training and education. Good benefits. Allows for growth in areas of interest such as sustainable design. Good access to public transportation (train).

Cons – Types of project / clients limited by size of firm and firm expertise. Not viewed as expert in any one project type but generalist in many types. All disciplines are not supported equally.

Advice to Senior Management – Better define what company is and grow in that direction. Focus on becoming more expert in certain markets / project types. Do a better job of retaining talent.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend