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Larry Leigh – Manager at LFI LLC

Client

“Wayne is the most creative design and concept person I have ever met. He has designed two homes for me and the results have been exceptional. The ultimate value is in the product/home, but the process with Wayne is always fun and rewarding. The first person I will call in future projects will be Wayne.”

From LinkedIn.com


Mark & Jeanne Ford

Client

“Several years ago we decided to build a new home and we weren’t sure how to go about it so we started looking at house plans on the web. There are literally 1000’s! We had a specific style we were after and every time we found that look we would notice it was the same architect. We continued our search for several months and every time we found a clever idea, something we hadn’t seen before or an idea we hadn’t though of, it was always this same architect. The only problem was, this architect was 2200 miles away. However, we decided his work was so good we had to talk to him so one day we called him. The conversation was very easy. He was direct and to the point and every thing we discussed with him seemed as if he could complete our sentences. He suggested that we come to his office and that he would be able to show us everything we were looking for in one place. We decided, why not? To us it was worth it to get exactly what we were looking for from somebody who seemed to understand exactly what we wanted. Within two months we had set up a meeting with Wayne Visbeen and flew to his office. We were a little nervous and apprehensive about making this long trip to an architect who was out of our area especially since everyone told us we could easily hire a great architect locally. Our nervous apprehension quickly turned to “we definitely made the right decision” from the time we walked in to his office and were warmly greeted by his office staff, including his wife Angela and Wayne himself. As we sat at his table and he started drawing our thoughts, everything we discussed with him was drawn to perfection in front of us as we watched. Wayne and his staff quickly turned all of his drawings into a house design and floor plan that we loved. We were amazed at how quickly this happened. Within 2 days we were leaving their office with our house design and floor plans in hand. Within the next few months, working by phone and email, they completed our plans to perfection and sent them to us.

When we turned these plans over to our builder, he was pleased with how detailed and well thought out they were, requiring very little modification. We are in the process of getting our permits approved and haven’t broken ground yet however, Visbeen Architects have let us know that they will be involved with us all the way through the construction with any help or questions that need to be answered and we have no doubt they will be there for us.

We couldn’t be more pleased with our experience with Visbeen and would highly recommend them to anyone regardless of where you live. We are extremely happy we decided to use Visbeen and Associates. We give them a 5 star rating!”

From Houzz.com


K. Jon

Client

“The entire Visbeen team has been a pleasure to work with. Meeting with Wayne the first time is incredible. He really makes your vision come alive on paper. Angela is there every step of the way for any questions or help with the project. Once we had a vision, I worked with Paul who was always accessible and did a great job. We have just completed all the construction documents and now we head into making the dream a reality. I am very excited about the house and can’t wait to see it come to fruition! I would use Visbeen again in a heartbeat!”

From Houzz.com


Gina Walsh

Client

“We started working with Wayne and his team last spring. After one 2 hour session he had a great understanding of what we wanted, eagerly accepted the challenge to stay within our budget and helped us create the cottage of our dreams. Simple yet classic and full of character. He made the most of the square footage we could afford and included everything on our wish list. We especially loved our time with Wayne as he drew each room on paper in front of us, listening to our wants while incorporating his artistic touch on things. Visbeen works with clients and projects of all price ranges and gives the same dedication and attention to a 2000 sq foot cottage as they would a 10,000 sq foot mansion. After tweaking a few things from the original plan with Paul and Wayne, by early fall we thought we had a great plan to give our builder. We had no idea how great. Construction started late September and by early December the cottage was roofed and shingled with windows installed. The outside was complete and everything was ready for our crew to work through the winter on the inside. Our builder commented several times on what a great plan Visbeen helped us create and how their initial work made the building process flow so smoothly. Their attention to small details left no questions or guesswork. They happily included our designer in all conversations and offered her access to their design contacts. My husband and I highly recommend their team and look forward to continued conversation with them as we move forward toward project completion.”

From Houzz.com


Ben Ipema – COO at Level Data

Client

“Wayne is an exceptionally talented Architect who rapidly takes your thoughts and turns them into visions as he sketches before your eyes. His high energy, broad range of product/material/finish/structure knowledge, inquisitive nature, and relentless pursuit to determine if he has captured your notion lends to an outstanding result. By adding his own perspective you are able to quickly realize how dreams become reality.”

From LinkedIn.com


Scott Bekins – President/Owner at Bekins

Client

“Wayne has fantastic vision and instant ideas that bring concepts to life before your eyes.”

From LinkedIn.com


B. Smith

Client

“Wayne Visbeen is an incredible architect and person! Watching him draw our dreams out on paper was a magical experience. We can not wait to begin this amazing journey together!!!”

From Houzz.com


Maureen Bernhagen – Marketing at Good Dog! Biscuits & Treats

Client

“Wayne and his juicy pen (as he called it) put to paper had the ability to translate my creative dream for a cosmetic department into a perfect vision in a nano-second! His super natural design talent, combined with amazing architectural skills made my job exciting, fun and rewarding. Wayne truly understands retail and how to deliver the product to the customer in extraordinarily functional and fashionable ways! Working with Wayne was one of the highlights of my career in visual merchandising!”

From LinkedIn.com


Sakshi Katiyal

Client

“We hired Visbeen Architects for doing our Dream house . We are a family of 10 people based out of India and a Hindu family ,we knew designing our 30000 sq. ft. house will definitely be a trouble for any architect because for varied choices of family members and on top of that following Vastu which actually binds a designer to show his creativity because of various factors of do’s and don’ts , but even after so many regulations Mr Wayne showed his creativity and not only satisfied everybody but surprised everybody with his amazing designing skills and creativity . I simply loved the layouts and hopefully our house will turn as great as we imagined .. thanks a lot Wayne and Angela.

I wish you lot of success and happiness for future.. love sakshi katiyal”

From Houzz.com


Amit Gangal

Colleague

“We are Delhi, India based Architects and our clients wanted to design Their Dream Villa of 30000 sq ft in French architecture. We researched a lot after lot of discussions finalized Visbeen Architects over many big names.

We had a good 4 day workshop with Them and i must say From the minute Wayne started putting lines on the paper it was a mesmerizing and one of its kind experience in terms of design and understanding of local Bye-laws and Vastu (Ancient Indian science for Home design).

Whole team of my office and Client along with their family thoroughly enjoyed his style of Live designing and Wayne was very patient, professional and creative throughout the design process.

By the end of last day our client was highly satisfied with the designs of their Future Home and we strongly recommend Visbeen Architects for your home designs.”

From Houzz.com


Newman Construction

Colleague

“Project is progressing nicely, all the trusses are up and most of the roof is sheathed. Everything is lining up according to the plans and the Building Inspector praised the quality of the plans during plan review. Good Job!”

From Houzz.com


b_bieri

Client

“Wayne Visbeen spent an afternoon at our home sketching remolding ideas.. Wayne’s experience and talent were on full display for over two hours. His probing questions, active listening, brainstorming, and then bringing multitudes of concepts to life though clarifying sketches made for an incredible afternoon. I know many of Wayne’s concepts will become permanent during our remodel. He also opened up our thought process to a new array of possibilities. Finally, Wayne’s personality and humor made the whole process a joy and when we look at our finished home we will fondly remember the afternoon spent with Visbeen.”

From Houzz.com


r_a_berger

Client

“We interviewed four notable architects in Chicago who all said the same thing: ‘Hire me first, then I’ll start designing.’ We didn’t go for that, so they each offered a rough take of our vision for a modern house with glass: One came back French Country, another this box thing. The guy we bought our Chicago condo from who had done projects with Wayne said, ‘Call him.’

What struck us first was his portfolio. Unlike the others’ designs, his 20 were all different. I said, ‘You don’t have a style, Wayne,’ and he said, ‘Yes, I do…Whatever the client wants.’

Wayne really listened, then did a wonderful job incorporating what we wanted into our base plan, so much so that after five years here now when guests ask, ‘What would you do different?’ we still say, ‘Nothing.’ As a licensed architect and registered interior designer, Wayne actually designed our home from the inside out, factoring in furnishings; our house was built around how we wanted to live in it. When we moved in, we knew where everything would go, and that it would fit.

Wayne’s price was half of what the Chicago architects charged, but he was twice as good!”

From Houzz.com


Jay DeKleine

Colleague

“We are a custom home builder and developer of high end condominiums in the West Michigan area who recently employed Visbeen Architects for a new project launching 2016. Their vision, attention to details and in depth designs are of the highest level we have seen in the business.”

From Houzz.com


Rex M Rogers – President at SAT-7 USA

Client

“Wayne Visbeen is a rare combination of outstanding professionalism: creative architectural talent, and personal dynamism: affable personality, vision, integrity. At the time we worked together, I was president of a small but growing university that needed campus master planning, aesthetic improvement in the physical plant, and an identity. Wayne’s work with us was exactly what we needed and his passion and enthusiasm for not only his product but for us was refreshing. I highly recommend Wayne and his architectural firm without hesitation or reservation.”

From LinkedIn.com


Greg Gorman

Colleague

“Wayne Visbeen, Visbeen associates is one of the most talented individuals in the industry that I have had the pleasure of working with for MANY YEARS on retail projects and more.

His contribution to the industry is PRICELESS!

Wayne has the keen ability to create what first doesn’t exist, and what others will likely never consider possible!

I highly recommend his firm for any architectural project, anywhere, anytime”

From Houzz.com


Doug Fagerstrom – President and CEO at Marketing Ministries

Colleague

“Wayne is an extraordinary leader, business professional and outstanding public servant. His love for people, his family and God make him one of the most well rounded creative influencers I have known. I would never hesitate to partner, embrace a business endeavor or share my life with Wayne. He is the best!”

From LinkedIn.com


Jeff Schreur – Vice President at Collier International

Client

“Wayne is a creative architect – He has a unique ability to listen to a client and immediately transfer the client’s vision to a napkin!”

From LinkedIn.com


Laura Helliwell

Potential Client

“We have purchased a lot and are planning on building a home on what will be close to a shoestring budget, but we are determined. We saw a house in the same town and there it was on the internet while we were looking for plans, and it was designed by Visbeen Architects, so we thought we’d ask about their plans. We set up a consultation, and the Visbeens could not have been kinder or more gracious in welcoming us into their beautiful new space, explaining the process, giving us several different options, addressing very specific concerns and wish-lists, and going over costs. Wayne spent an enormous amount of his valuable time with us, for which we could not be more grateful. We have lots of time before we are ready to build, but no matter what we decide, it cannot change our review. It was an incredibly interesting, informative and enjoyable consultation, and we can only imagine working with these people could be nothing but an absolute adventure, in the best way possible. If you are planning a new home or a redesign, we cannot recommend Wayne and Angela Visbeen highly enough.”

From Houzz.com


Darcy Winer

Client

“We worked with Wayne through the live design process to “build” our future home. We were impressed by the amount of time he took with us to ask questions, explain things, to offer suggestions, etc. to ensure we get our dream home. We are so happy that we came from Baltimore to Grand Rapids to work with him and his exceptional team for our forever home in South Carolina. We can’t wait!”

From Houzz.com


Kyle Meyers

Client

“Wayne is truly an artist as well as a technically solid architect. He and Angela made my wife an I so at ease that we know we are in great hands. We traveled all the way from Seattle to East Grand Rapids for the experience of working with Wayne and we were “over-the-top” impressed by their professionalism and their hospitality. We cannot wait for the vision we shared to come to life in Wayne’s design of our new home.”

From Houzz.com


Bret West

Client

“First, my wife found a set of set of plans on eplans that Wayne had drawn. She was in love with the house and contacted Visbeen and talked to Holly to see about viewing the Georgetown plan that had been built in Palmetto Bluff but that house had been sold. She told my wife that another design “the Eleanor” which was similar to the Georgetown was able to be viewed. Our Family traveled to South Carolina to view the Eleanor and that got us on fire!

We then contacted Visbeen and talked to Angela to schedule a Meeting and Greet and discuss a custom version of the Georgetown plan. We drove 12 hours to Grand Rapids to talk about our dream home. We arrived at 8am and Wayne Visbeen met us at the door and took us back to get started. That’s when the magic began. I have been interacting with Architects and Engineers for 25 years as a Contractor performing work for the NCDOT, and have never been impressed like I was with Wayne. He is at the top of his career (In my opinion), and can sketch out an idea faster than you can think it. Needless to say, we hired him as our guy. The staff there was polite, accommodating and on “Q”. Did I mention that we drug our 18,16, and 14 year old kids along? Our kids got involved too and 6 hours later, our Dream Home was well under way. You heard right….6 hours. They worked Sketching, brainstorming, and printing CAD drawings (preliminary drawings) for our project. we took a 1.5 hours break in-between meetings and asked a few locals about Visbeen, and everyone replied by saying, and I quote “Wayne and his team are brilliant and know what they are doing”.

We are on on the way back home to North Carolina now and stopped to eat a bite, so I thought I’d take a moment to share my experience. After reading over my review I figure you might think I got paid to write this?!? If you have a project large or small I sincerely encourage you to sit down with them to discuss…..end game is you’ll have your architect and a team that will make you feel confident you are on your way to a successful project. You want more details, message me and I will respond. I will try to update this as our home is under construction.”

From Houzz.com


John Lowery – President at Applied Imaging

Client

“Wayne is the most gifted designer we have ever worked with. His ability to take ideas and quickly commit them to paper is unparalleled. We contracted with Wayne to design our cottage remodel on Lake Michigan. The result was a traditional Lake Michigan cottage with details inside and out which give the home a warm relaxed feeling. We have used Wayne for home design as well as office design. You’ll be amazed with his expertise and creativity.”

From LinkedIn.com


James Lyle

Client

“Having bought a dilapidated property in a beautiful position on the Maine coast, I eventually decided to demolish it and build a new house. I interviewed 12 architects and eventually chose Visbeen. I loved Wayne’s energy and vision. He has great ideas and an ability to work in a number of different idioms. He understands what it is to work with a budget, and to listens to what you want as client, while being able to develop and expand on those wishes.

While this is definitely Wayne’s practice, but he has a great team around him on interior design and construction. They can take you through the whole process to move in. I have visited them in Grand Rapids and Chicago and they have a very professional operation. I have found the whole team responsive and easy to work with. They also helped me choose a general contractor have also worked seamlessly with them since. I have built three houses from scratch and renovated many more. I am half-way through construction. We are on time and on budget. This is the best experience I have had.”

From Houzz.com


jananay1110

Client

“My husband and I have worked with a number of architects and builders over the years that are great but none compare to the creative genius of Wayne Visbeen and his incredible, super friendly staff! Wayne, with a simple black marker, free hand draws as you pour out your dreams of a perfect house until you both say “Nailed it”! Paul Fikse turns these drawings into architectural plans that bring your dream to reality! Love these guys, powerhouse talent!!!”

From Houzz.com


Kathy Christ

Client

“My wife and I have been dreaming about designing and building our retirement home in Michigan for several years. We have spent summers at our existing “cottage” for almost 30 years and are now ready to make it our full time residence. We have been involved with a few large remodeling projects in the past and have found them quite painful. I was hoping to do it differently this time, but was still struggling with the whole process of planning a demolition, designing the perfect space on a small narrow lot and getting the whole project off the ground.

We really liked a particular small house on the lake and somehow by accident heard that Wayne Visbeen was the Architect. This led me to their website, and he exactly described the experience I was going through. So I was very intrigued with the process he and his group used, as it seemed so much different than anything I had experienced before. We set up an appointment to meet with him in Grand Rapids.

Today we spent about 2 and 1/2 hours with Wayne and Jeff. The process was absolutely amazing, and exactly what we were hoping it would be. With unbelievable enthusiasm for our relatively small project, we accomplished more in that small amount of time, than we had in the past 6 months. In retrospect I don’t think we ever gave him our wish list. All we had was a survey of the lot, the existing house location and the lines where we could legally build. We just talked and had pleasant conversation, and the whole time he was sketching. Two and a half hours later we were well on our way to designing the house we have been dreaming about. We have preliminary sketches of the front and rear elevations, a floor plan, and a 3D sketch of the kitchen, dining room and living area. It all came to life before our eyes in what seemed to be a very fun, exciting and effortless process.

So we hired Visbeen Architects on the spot to guide us along the way to building our new home. We look forward to the rest of the planning and design process, and ultimately to a new home on the lake. We found the process to be exactly as he described it on the web site, only it is better to experience it yourself in real time. Very impressive! Actually AMAZING! We are very excited.”

From Houzz.com


annareh

Client

“Wayne’s vision for our home was incredible! We are doing a major remodel. His amazing talent was on full display, as great idea after great idea just kept coming. Each room, as well as the exterior, was transformed into its full potential, with ‘wow factor’ to spare! The ease with which he brought those ideas to life in drawings, right before our eyes, was remarkable. Wayne was funny and very nice. We wanted the best, and we got it with Wayne. We are grateful to have had the experience!”

From Houzz.com


Randy Prichard

Client

“Wayne’s gift is unique to his profession. Most recently I had an idea for a small cottage retreat. Literally, in a matter of time over lunch, Wayne grasped my quaint drawing and conceptualized it into elevations and interior views. It was masterful; a thing of beauty. Visit his website. That’s really the way it happens.”

From Houzz.com


Rosemary

Client

“Today, after years of dreaming about our retirement home, we met with Wayne Visbeen and his wonderful staff. More than an architect, Wayne is a mind reader-a magician; perceptive and conscientious of aesthetic design, good building practices, budgetary and square footage concerns. As we talked, Wayne drew and we occasionally pulled out a few pictures we had brought along (because we were concerned that we could not put into words what we saw in our mind’s eye). In hind site, I am not sure the pictures were all that necessary, but I was still glad that I took them along, just in case…. At the same time we had lots of back and forth dialog, yet somehow staying on track. As his pen flew over the paper, our dreams were translated into our home, more perfect than we could have imagined-even after our years of thought, discussions, internet searches, sketching and drawing. In two hours Wayne brought it all together right before our eyes. Not only the interior, but also the exterior. Now, as he emphasized, this was just the beginning. So, if this is the start, how thrilled will we be with the finished product? Off the charts, I am sure, there are no doubts.

Also, what we thought was impossible-Wayne, with much kindness and humor, brought us to common ground, listening to our individual and mutual input, with great insight and wisdom. We both left knowing that our wants, needs and concerns were heard and respected.

The time we spent today was truly one of the highlights of my life and we left with the confidence that we are in good hands with Wayne and his competent staff.

We are beyond grateful!”

From Houzz.com


myscudderjr

Client

“Wayne Visbeen is as good as architects get. He designed our family lake home in northern Indiana on Dallas Lake, and we could not be happier. We had a large piece of wooded land that required a lot of careful thinking about the siting, size, and design of the home and landscaping. From Wayne’s initial sketches–done live in front of me with a black pen and remarkable creativity and speed–to his final construction prints, he and his team were pros and a delight to work with. If you’re building a new house on a lake and looking for a gold-plated architect, you cannot do better than Wayne.”

From Houzz.com


Bekins

Client

“Visbeen Associates have great vision and unique perspectives that bring a challenging project to a beautiful end. We are very pleased with what Visbeen has accomplished for us!”

From Houzz.com


Bob Dykstra – Founder at NextWork

Client

“I have been a commercial real estate developer for over 30 years and have found Wayne to be the most creative designer I have ever worked with. He has the ability to understand your needs and develop a great design solution faster and better than anyone I have worked with.”

From LinkedIn.com


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