Scott W Bartholomew Architecture

Scott did a great job for us designing and drafting plans for a new house addition that included changes in the decking, a new carport and an elevator shaft. Scott was quite open to our feedback and very pleasant to work with. He turned around the drawings quickly and worked very well with our contractor. I recommend him highly.

Scott did an outstanding job with a difficult lot. We are more than happy, and strongly recommend him for your project. We started in NOV 2012 and finished in OCT 2016. Reason for the long period - we were living in Belgium, working with NATO, and in no hurry. Good communication by email throughout. Drawings were sent digitally, and when needed, I went to the local print shop to produce full-sized blueprints. Scott was recommended to us by the builder we intended to use. His expertise was essential. Our lot sits on a hairpin turn, with steep sides and some tough setback distances by the local homeowner's association. Mixing & matching plans from the internet and magazines would never work. We needed a fresh design from the ground up, to match the terrain, sun angles, and views. Finished product is beautiful and we're very happy with it. We spent about 2.5 years pinging back and forth with the drawings process. By spring 2015 we were ready to build. Sadly, by then, our chosen builder had retired. Guess if you wait 14 years to build your house, that might happen! Scott helped us sift thru the choices of builders. Scott did a great job managing our project thru the local HOA architecture review committee. There were lots of particular concerns with the colors of the stone and exterior walls which he deftly handled. He's got a good personality for dealing with special groups. As we were overseas, he was also very helpful as we worked thru the hundreds of colors/designs/aesthetic issues. He provided great suggestions for our final choices on all the different colors, making sure the various fixtures and fittings all matched and worked together at the end. He had a good relationship with our builder. They made a good pair, with our builder being a concrete sequential engineer, like me, and Scott leans toward the other end of that spectrum, like my wife. Made for a good system of checks and balances, good discussion of problems, and a variety of proposals for solutions. Scott always had time for us and was readily available during our one minor freak-out period when we thought we'd have to scrap the entire exterior color scheme. And, conversely, he did not push himself on us, giving us time to reply to any open issues. I was happy with the communication process. The house turned out great, and I would not hesitate to hire Scott again.

I engaged Bartholomew to design a house. He sent me a price for design and we proceeded. He wanted to make the plans more detailed and elaborate than I needed (he likes to work on million-dollar projects on which he can bill continuously for many months), but I rejected that. Then when my simple plans were finished, he presented me with a bill for 60% more than he originally quoted. When I objected to the inflated bill, he wrote me this: “I will be pursuing legal action. This action will include, but not be limited to, a lien on [your] property and I will be contacting Haywood County to inform them [my] drawings dated 13 Jan 2016 are not released for construction. Any legal fees incurred by [me] to these ends will be added to unpaid balance including interest on the entire unpaid balance.” I ended up paying Bartholomew 40% more than he quoted just to be finished with him. It turned out that his design would yield a $300+ sq. foot house (though I had told him I wanted a house at half that cost). Do you really want windows in the toilet and the shower? the contractor asked me. It turned out that Bartholomew’s design was so impractical that it required a crane to put on some of the cornices. His over-priced plans were worthless for the most part.

Scott is great to work with. He listens to his Clients and produces great designs. His plans are clear and straightforward to implement.

We highly recommend Scott. Scott designed for us a home that we absolutely love. He patiently worked with us through many ideas and plans; he gave us advices that saved us from making costly mistakes. Not only a detailed-oriented engineer but also a creative and experienced architect, Scott is definitely an asset throughout the entire process of designing and building. If we ever have another project, we would definitely want to work with Scott again.

Scott was easy to work with and knowledgable. His roll was both engineer and architect and he did excellent work in both capacities. Highly recommended.

We hired Scott to design two structures on our property in western NC. He listened to our vision and goals and spent time on our property. The structures he designed brought to life our dream and were in such harmony with the geography. The structure we fondly call The Garage Mahal and guest house is complete and the second structure which will be our home is under way.

We saw a project that Scott did in our neighborhood and loved it. We subsequently called him about designing a boathouse for our lake front property. He had never designed a boathouse before but did an amazing job! We get compliments from near and far on the design; even featured in an article in the WSJ about boathouses! Scott was excellent to work with, I can't imagine a better experience.

Scott designed our house and did an outstanding job! He listened to us and understood what we wanted and was able to fulfill everything. He helped us avoid mistakes by taking the time to explain what would work and what would not. We would highly recommend Scott.