From Triple Seven.
Visbeen Architects
We were recently provided with the opportunity to attend a video conference with Wayne Visbeen…A ‘Virtual’ meeting, to discuss the design of our dream home.
We had originally planned to visit personally with Wayne and his wife Angela Visbeen, of Visbeen Architects, at their office in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. We’d planned to make the trip, from the East Coast of Canada to their office, but due to the recent pandemic, those plans were quashed. In some respects, as we later came to find out, this was perhaps a lucky happenstance, as it saved us four days of travel along with return airfare, first to Toronto and then to on Detroit, two days of car rental and possibly four nights stay in a hotel.
While there have been a multitude of favorable reviews written about the fine attributes that Wayne and his firm continue to offer to clients, suffice it to say, that in this respect, we were not disappointed. Within
three short hours, Wayne gave us the warm, charismatic welcome and personal service for which he is known. Indeed, throughout our meeting, we felt as if we were his most important clients.
For the purposes of this review, we will narrow our comments to the process of the “Virtual” meeting.
The format used by Wayne is one that has become immensely popular of late… Zoom…
Downloading and installing the program onto our computer was simple. Then, a day or so ahead, via email, we were sent an invitation to attend a Zoom meeting, at a particular date and time. As promised, the meeting began right on schedule.
On our end of the virtual meeting, was a 27-inch wide-screen monitor and a simple web cam that we had mounted above the screen… My wife and I sat next to each other at a desk and as the meeting began, we were greeted with a full view of Wayne, sitting at his desk. The picture quality was excellent… As far as we were concerned, we were in the same room sitting across from Wayne in his office in East Grand Rapids.
After a few minutes of exchanging pleasantries, we quickly got down to the business of discussing our dream home. Wayne showed us various plans and ideas, as he switched his camera view back and forth from our view of him, to one in which we saw his hands and his work surface, as he capably sketched various ideas regarding our design. As the meeting progressed, Wayne deftly brought my wife’s and my considerably divergent ideas of home plans together and after about two hours, a much clearer picture began to emerge of a design that we both loved.
Throughout the virtual meeting, My wife and I were oblivious to the fact that we weren’t in the same room and were amazed and how, through Wayne’s patient coaching, we were able to come up with the final plan, upon which we both agreed.
The last hour or so of our virtual meeting, was spent carving out many of the details of what we hope will eventually become the final blueprint of our dream home.
As our three-hour virtual meeting drew to a close, we were left with a satisfying feeling of knowing that our encounter had been a success. Though we hadn’t met in person, for all intents and
purposes, we were able to derive most of the benefits of an in-person meeting, all from the comfort of our own home and without the additional expense of traveling to and from
Michigan.
We were very satisfied the virtual meeting and wouldn’t hesitate to meet this way again…It was money well spent!
