GFD Architectural Design

We are starting our second (and hopefully final) home design with Frank now. What a pleasure it is to work with such a detail oriented professional. His experience building and now designing homes of all sizes and price points makes the whole process an efficient and exciting experience. We would highly recommend Frank to anyone looking do design a home. He is also a great marriage counselor! Something that is also helpful during the design process. Jim and Lori Marotta.

Unfortunately I did not have a great experience with GFD Architectural Designs. First know this is a company of 1 person, Frank. So it is his way or the highway. If there are issues you have no recourse. Just do it Frank's way or hire someone else and lose your money. I knew what I wanted going into this process and hired Frank to help me turn it into useable blueprints. However, Frank absolutely did not care about what I wanted in the house. There were many times that we ran into a snag but he never offered any alternative solutions that would still give me the end result I was after. I wish I had counted the number of time he said "the only thing you can do is..." Ultimately it was up to me to come up with the solutions. Since you pay so much money up front we suffered through dealing with Frank and his lack of creativity and poor communication skills so as not to waste all that money. Additionally, what you get from Frank is basically what you would get from buying a blueprint online but at 4 times the price. A very basic floor plan and exterior views with one cut section. I was constantly asked by the different contractors we hired if we had things in the plan that I now know are normally included in blueprints and were not part of ours. I would also mention that his communication skills are lacking. He would not return emails/voicemails for a week or more. When I would send a list of changes to the plan he would only make the ones he liked. No explanation as to why the others were not included. I would follow up asking again that the changes be made sometimes more than once before he would include them in the revisions (at the end he just did not include some at all). Then he would warn us that we had done a lot of revisions and he wouldn't do many more without more money. Well, if he had just made the changes I asked for in the first place there would not have been the need for so many. We were very excited for this adventure to begin but Frank sucked all the joy out of the experience.

Our experience with GFD was phenomenal! Frank was very attentive and had wonderful ideas on how to make our dreams come to life. His attention to detail and years of experience ensured we got the most efficient, beautiful and unique home to suite our personal needs and desires.

I had drawn a floor plan on a piece of paper. Frank was able to bring my basic concept to life, including many changes I had during the design process. He was easy to work with and so knowledgeable about the building process. Many times he would tell me that I could build anything I wanted if I wanted to pay for it. He would then explain to me how we could do something similar without added building costs which I really appreciated. We are just now breaking ground, I can't wait to see the finished project.

I had the pleasure of working with Frank at GFD Architectural Design on a custom home for our family in Canton, GA. Frank is truly second to none when it comes to understanding the details that go into a custom home, being able to think through all the complexities, functionality, and design aesthetics. Starting out we had a very specific plan in mind, Frank was able to use that as inspiration and create a better, more functional and practical house for what we were looking for, in the end we could not have wished for anything better - Frank worked out and nailed every detail to perfection. Frank had been in the trades in a past life and it really shows, the depth of understanding Frank has in general construction and his ability to use that to balance cost and push design is incredible. In addition to Frank's skills, his good character and sincerity will become apparent for anyone working with him. Throughout the entire process, it was clear that Frank's top priority was to ensure that we were completely satisfied with what we were building and made what we expected to be a stressful process, an absolute blast! If you're building a custom home, I highly recommend Frank and GFD!

Highly recommend Frank! We actually ended up with 2 plans. The first one, that was exactly what we told him we wanted, was way too expensive to build, so he was then faced with the challenge of giving us what we wanted in a footprint we could afford to build. Not only did he pull that off, he was extremely fair and upfront with the cost of what was effectively a 'do-over'. We'll be breaking ground soon, and can't wait to see the real-life 3D version.

Where do I begin?!?! We set out on our journey to build our dream home by looking at house plans on every website we could find. We had a good idea of what we wanted but everything we found that was even remotely close to meeting our wants and needs, required major changes; only adding to the already high price of the plans. We then decided to switch gears and look for a custom home designer, one that would take our dreams into consideration while providing us with not only structural knowledge but also budgetary guidance. It didn’t take long to find Frank Dollar of GFD Architectural Designs out of Cleveland, GA. His website was super informative and detailed all the way down to his pricing (which is very helpful when you are on a house building budget). My husband and I really liked the looks of his work so we decided to reach out. He was very quick to respond and just like that we were on our way to building our dream home! The entire process was stress free and Frank was wonderful to work with. He always made time for our questions and his explanations regarding the structural aspects of our new home helped us to understand why certain things were necessary and how we could save money. His knowledge and expertise as a builder and home designer allowed for all of our dreams to come to fruition. And the 3D views that Frank designed made us fall even more in love and we cannot wait until we see it come to life! We love our new home but we also love the fact that it is one of a kind and no one else will ever have the same design. We highly recommend Frank for all of your custom home design needs. Jason & Mary Carrollton, GA

Our house burned downed 3 days before Christmas 2018. We were overwhelmed and stressed with the rebuild process and were desperate to find an architect who would be able to work with our existing foundation and stumbled across Frank via a Google search. From day 1, he put our minds at ease. After our initial contact, we found Frank to be, extremely, knowledgeable and we were, immediately, put at ease. Throughout the process, he found ways to save us money and was always available whenever we needed him. He never told us what we "wanted" to hear, but, instead, told us what we "needed" to hear. Frank is very open and honest and was always available when we needed him. He made the process painless and we would highly recommend Frank!

Frank was wonderful to work with. He is very personable and extremely patient, we had made several changes to our plans at the last minute, and he never lost his cool... He is knowledgeable in his field and made several recommendations, but is never pushy. He was great to communicate with, quick to return an email or phone call, and always let us know if he was going to be away for a few days, so we do not have to worry about getting a response. I feel like we have become friends, and will invite him to come see our house once it is build.

I really enjoyed working with Frank. He was very patient and helpful when designing my house plans. I strongly recommend Frank to anyone looking to build a home.

Frank is an excellent home designer, as a framer in his past life, he understands intricacies and importance of structure and roof design to ensure there are no issues and minimal waste (time & cost savings) during construction. Many times architects will design something that is not realistic on the field and will cost an arm and a leg when executing. Frank is able to value engineer many things in his design to save on construction cost. Highly recommended.

I worked with Frank to design a custom lake house in Dawson County. I strongly recommend Frank to anyone building a home. He was responsive and knowledgeable. He also made sure to design the house we wanted while giving input and recommendations when needed.