The MZO Group

Do NOT use MZO Group for your architecture needs. They owe me over $ 7000 and have cost me upwards of $ 50,000 because of a freshman mistake. They charged over $ 7000 for plans for my home renovation. I hired the contractors and the first phase began, all with MZO approval. Then, when we applied for the permit for the second phase, which was the main phase, we were stopped dead in our tracks. MZO had failed to check the setbacks. This is an unconscionable beginner’s error, according to every architect and contractor I have asked since then. The city inspector refused to let us proceed. MZO advised suing the city (!), but of course, it’s something I was told to pursue on my own. My opinion is that slapping the city inspector with a lawsuit is not going to lubricate the wheels of permitting and inspection when I have to go back to him, whether I win or lose. So, I had to stop all work for many months and redo the plans (with another firm), wasting so much time and most of the work done in the first phase (hence the $ 50,000 hole in the budget). My personal feelings are mixed: I thought I had a good relationship with the main architect. At first, when I asked for a goodwill refund of just the architect’s fee, so that we could part on good terms, they seemed to oblige. But then they started to ignore my requests. There has been no word from them in a long time, despite repeated attempts to merely get the architect’s fee back. I don’t know what to say about them — maybe this was a fluke error? Since then, maybe they learned to check setbacks? Maybe you should look at their nice website and think you’ll get lucky? All I can say is that I got burned in a way I have never been burned before. So, for that, MZO gets the lowest possible grade from me.