NEWS / UPDATES

2020/06/30 - Caller ID spoofing

Recently we received reports that there are scammers using our office number 604-283-7984 to spoof their caller ID, and place fraudulent phone calls to people in the neighbourhood with ill intent.

We have reported the incidents to law enforcement but it's unlikely police could catch the culprit in today's digital era.

We, however, at Pragmatic Homes, can guarantee you that:

  1. We do not, and will never, make unsolicited calls. We NEVER call people to sell our service. People call us if they need our service. No exceptions. So if you got a call that appears to be from our number, and you have no idea who we are, it ain't us. It's some bastards pretending to be us.

  2. We don't use robots to make calls. If you pick up a call coming from our number, and its a robot voice (or recording) on the other end, it ain't us.

  3. Our business is limited to within the Metro Vancouver area only, in BC, Canada. If the caller (scammer) is asking for anything to do outside of Metro Vancouver, it ain't us.

We apologize if you reached us because a scammer had called you faking our number, and we totally understand if you had to block us because the culprit could keep spam you repeatedly with our number plastered over the Caller ID. By all means, please do, so you may go back to your normal everyday life. Nobody wants unsolicited calls, us included. As mentioned before, we never call people to make a sale. People call us if they need our service.

So, while you're here please feel free to browse around our website, get to know what we do, and maybe in the future if you need our service, give us a call. Remember to mentioned that once-upon-a-time you had been an unfortunate victim of the tele-scammer that led you to us, and we will give you a discount. =D

Sincerely,

From all of us at Pragmatic Homes Inc.


P.S. If you're interested in reading up on "Caller ID Spoofing", bellow are some great references:

2021/03/25 - We're just your consultant. You're the one in the driver seat - The ideas are all YOURS !

This doesn't happen often, but it has occurred to me twice. One incident last year, and another just recently -- I were scolded badly by a customer because the 1st draft of the house plan that I presented to the customer wasn't what he/she had in mind at all. I was being yelled in face "the worst designer ever".

In these two incidents there was 1 thing in common -- Both of the customers had in their mindset that a "Designer" is like an artist, who's supposed to come up with a fantastic house plan that just hits the bulls eye of their dream home, out of thin air and on the 1st try.

For the record, It did happen a few times among all my past projects. But usually it takes more than 1 shot, and requires constructive feedbacks from customers, draft after draft, to progressively morph the design into the ideal shape the customers' have in mind. So, in actuality, the design process is driven by the customers rather than by me -- Hence, it's called "custom" home design.

My job is nothing like an artist at all, but in these two incidents the customers came to me with false expectation that I were such, and demanded me to wow them with my "creativity", when they already had a preference in mind. But when I asked them for a simple sketch to help me understand better what they want, their response was like "You're the designer, so you should be the one designing. Why should I lift a finger?"

So I drew them a majestic stallion (i.e. a popular design trendy among new modern homes), but only to get throw back and yelled at. and then finally came out that they actually wanted a unicorn with wings.

Lets set aside first the practicality of even having a unicorn with wings. It's like asking me to guess what's on their mind without dropping any hints. Sure, I could work that way too, but you got to give me more guesses, and that means more time. But 90% of the time the customers are like "I want the plan ASAP, so I can start building my house right away."

Well, if you want your plan fast, then work with me. Don't leave me hanging in the air guessing what's on your mind. I'm not an artist here to entertain you. I'm just one of the many subtrades in the construction industry involved in building houses, who happens to be the 1st contact a customer gets in touch with.

If it's the title "designer" that gives people the false perception, then call me a "drafter" if you like. But personally I find it more fitting to use the title "consultant", as I find myself spending more time explaining Building Codes and local Bylaws to customers than I spend on drafting plans.

To tell you the truth, the process of designing a custom house plan is far from entertaining. In fact, it's a frustrating experience. Most started out with a dream to build a palace on their land, and I had to tell them "No, you can not." because Building Codes and local bylaws have this and that restrictions, etc.

So the actual design process is often frustrating for you, the customer, because half of your glamorous ideas got tossed out due to incompliance with codes and bylaws. And it's stressful for me, the design consultant, because every time I said "No" to a customers' idea, they vent out their frustrations on me.

But to look on the bright side. If after going through the whole grueling design process and finally you reach the final version of your house plan, please be proud and go tell all your friends "I design the house myself!" The ideas are all yours, so you deserve to be the Designer 100%. All credits to you, and I'm happy to just remain a nameless consultant.

So, to close it off, why can't you have an unicorn with wings? Because pigs don't fly, and mezzanine can't cantilever out 8' without support underneath. Be practical, be Pragmatic!

2023/01/08 - How bundling architectural & structural designs together with us can save you $$$

We offer exceptional services and quality products, and our team is comprised of renowned experts in the industry with gazillion years of experience, and yada yada yada... We can go on and on with the same boring sales pitch like the others, but who cares?

So lets forget about all those, and cut to the chase of what ordinary home owners feel matter the most -- Cost.

There's always others out there who can do the same for less, so why choose us?

Because we can save you $$$. How so?

To apply for a Building Permit, you need to have an Architectural Plan and also a Structural Plan. It's true there are others out there who can provide you with either plan. So to get the best deal, you can shop around town, and get the cheapest designer to do the Architectural Plan for you, and also the cheapest engineer to do the Structural Plan as well.

So far so good, until your plan get rejected by the municipal Plan Checker during the permit review. No big deal, just get your designer to revise the Architectural Plan. While you may argue (and win without having to pay extra) that its the designer's fault his plan got rejected, we bet 100% certain that your engineer will not do the structural plan revision for free -- Because it's not his fault! So you end up having to pay extra to your engineer to revise the Structural Plan, so that it can match the revised Architectural Plan.

How much are we talking about? To give you an ideal, we provide pure structural design service too, and our engineer charges $750 and up per revision, depends on the complexity of the changes.

Now imagine, if your house plan was unfortunately rejected a few more times during the permit review -- these revision costs can add up...

BUT if you choose us, we do both your Architectural Plan and the Structural Plan. If either of our plans got rejected by the Plan Checker, and end up having to revise either/both to match, we eat the designer/engineer revision costs in-house. That is -- Zero cost to our customers for any plan revisions*.

-----------------------

我们有最好的团队提供最好的服务 等等... 的推销行话都先省略,直接讲重点就是 - 选择我们可以替您省钱!

申请建筑许可需要俩种图 - 建筑图 和 结构图。两种图都有人画,但会同时画两种的却不多。最省钱的做法,是找全城最便宜的设计师来画建筑图,和全城最便宜的工程师来画结构图。

精打细算,乃致富之道。如能一帆风顺,实为良策。

但凡事有万一,不巧您的建筑图在市府审批的时候发现有 不合规定处,需要修改。因为自己的设计疏失,负责点的设计师就不跟您收改图的费用。建筑图改了,结构图得跟着改,但我们敢打包票您的工程师一定会跟您收额外改图的费用 - 因为错不在他。

这费用大约多少?本公司也有提供 纯结构设计的服务。这类情况,我们的工程师每次改图至少$750起跳,看复杂情况可能更多。

万一图纸在审批的过程多被打回几次,改图的费用叠加起来也会不少。

假如换做是由本公司一起承包您的建筑图和结构图,如有市府审批发现不合规定,一切改图费用由本公司承担,绝不多花客人您一毛钱。*


*Except if the plan revision was requested by the customer after permit submission. In such case, we do charge extra. As we always advise our customers, it's 10-times harder to make design changes once it's submitted for permit, and often it will delay the permit review process, and end up taking at least twice as long. So, take your time to review the plan before submission. Don't rush!