Michael J Dul & Assoc Inc

Not to be trusted! After discussion with a friend who used Michael Dul in the past, we realized he pulled the same scheme on both of us!\r \r He only wants to do large projects (>100k). When he discusses your plans with you, he will decide in his mind that he does not want to do the work, but doesn't want to waste his time. Lets say your budget is 20k. He will spend 20 minutes on a computer designing a plan that cannot be budgeted for less than 5 times that. He'll charge a few grand for his work and leave you with nothing! \r \r He did it to me. He did it to my friend. We both live in Birmingham, we are both professionals. I've done a ton of work on my house over the years, and have never felt this ripped off. Knowing what I know now, I would never have paid him. \r \r Do yourself a favor and ask around. Do not just go by his references. He is known for this. \r \r At the very least, if you are crazy enough to use him, protect yourself. Make payment contingent on a plan that you will actually use. \r more

This company supervised work at my neighbors. They tore up my flower thick bed of perennial day lillies and it look like they replanted the bulbs in the neighbors yard. I mentioned it to Dul and nothing was repaired. more

Used them on a very large project. Very good initial design although somewhat inflexible vis-a-vis changes: took owner's request a bit like a personal offense if discrepant from the design. Brought in generally good contractors but seemed unethical in negotations - was comfortable passing on 25-30% cost overrun-type bills due to amounts being missestimated. Interestingly, the firm's compensation is tied to the construction cost of the project. So as we started running into issues due to their initial quantities being too low, they and the contractor made more money while we were left to foot the bill...Although the design was good, I would just not be comfortable using them again or recommending them to someone else. Pros: Professional Appereancea and good design Cons: Unprofessional dealings with contractors; understimated quantities resulting in severe cost overruns more