K.J. & Associates – Kenneth Chan, Principal

Wow. This guy truly is a piece of sh… work. He arrived late to every appointment we had, with the exception of one… at which he actually arrived early, took the measurements he needed, and left before we arrived. When we did get there (on time) he refused to return to meet with us.
Here’s the kicker though: There were some minor alterations I wanted drawn, which he said were code violations… Even after I, personally got approval for them by the city planner over the phone. According to Chan, I must not have been clear and the city planner must not have understood my requests. He insisted that I set up I meeting between the three of us – the planner, himself, and me. Fine. Not a problem. So I did.
I met with the planner on time, who made a remark about my architect being late (which was slightly embarrassing for me). In the meantime, it took the two of us about fifteen minutes to review the plans, eliminate unnecessary doors, and check and double check safety and code violations. In the end, I was given of-course-you-can-don’t-be-silly approvals across the board. I asked that the planner pass along instructions to Chan when he arrived.
Five minutes after leaving, Chan called me and asked if I was there yet. I explained that I had been there, I’d already worked the modifications out with the planner, and now I was gone. He started to give me grief for not waiting for him. «Why did you want me to come all the way here to meet with you if you’re just going to leave?!»
How dare you. First of all, I didn’t care to meet with you at all; it was you that insisted, because I (obviously) can’t communicate clearly. Secondly, you were the one that was late and therefore missed the meeting. Lastly, if I recall correctly, the one time you actually arrived early for a meeting, you left before we could get there – and we were ON effing TIME. Did you return as we requested? I think not.
This guy is beyond difficult to work with; his logic is completely skewed, he refuses to listen, and will in turn, accuse you of not being able to communicate effectively. He will show up late, or way early, if he can escape having to face you. If you are in search of a decent architect who is interested in working WITH you to meet YOUR needs, keep on searching. This is not the guy.

I wish there’s such thing as «zero star» because Kenneth Chan deserves nothing. Avoid hiring Kenneth Chan to be your architect!!! He’s unprofessional and full of lies/​excuses/​non-​senses. Too bad I didn’t read KB’s comment before making my decision on hiring an architect. I was in the exact same situation as KB. I paid Kenneth Chan in full for my house drawing but failed to draft up a contract. Ken was referred by a church friend who insisted Ken is trust-​worthy and no need for contract. He sounded nice BEFORE we paid him in full. He also promised to do any necessary changes to the drawing if needed. Now, when we actually need changes, he refused to pick up our calls. The city refused to let my contractor to do the work until the drawing is updated. We couldn’t find him any where! In addition, the measurements on Ken’s drawing were off alot that my contractor couldn’t even follow the exact measurements specified by him. For example, Ken blindly removed the walls in the drawing without considering the structural issue. When my contractor knocked down the walls specified by his drawing, the kitchen ceiling almost fell. We did bring it up to Ken earlier that there might be potential structure problem but he didn’t think so. We had been trying to get a hold of him for over two weeks but he failed to return call. When I asked my friend (who referred him to us) to contact him, he did pick up but made up some non-​sense excuse yet refused to update our drawing nor talked to us. We ended up paying extra $ 700 to hire another architect to redo the drawing so that the city let us continue the project. Final words: Don’t hire Kenneth Chan as your architect or you will regret for the rest of your life.

Unbelievable! I’ve learned my lesson … always get a contract and never finish payments before the permits are signed off.
Ken took over a job on my house from an architect that was too slow getting the work done. He quoted me a fee to finish the work. He said it included any kinds of future changes if the permiting process required it.
We didn’t have a contract. He has such a nice personality when you meet him, it’s easy to trust his shake of the hand.
He showed up with the completed drawings and asked for full payment. I made the mistake of paying him the full amount.
During construction, we made lots of changes. Some of the changes were for aesthetic purposes. Some were required for permitting purposes. Without keeping any money in reserve and with the permits almost complete, we had no leverage to get him to do anything without further payment.
So, he showed up again with his drawings asking for his $ 500 right away. We refused to pay on the spot because we learned our lesson. He actually had our construction team pay him before they could get drawing. He’s that cheap. He needs his $ 500 right away. We’re two weeks from permitting approval. But he can’t wait.
So, it turns out that the original drawings ddidn’t reference something in our 3R report for condo conversion. It was his mistake. He needed to include both kitchens in his drawings. He didn’t. We even told him about the drawings not having the second kitchen waayyy back when he gave us the first drawings. He said, no problem. It will still pass.
Now, it’s going to take another $ 700 for another permit to get the opther kitchen approved to the 3R report. He’s not interested in paying for it.
Even now when we call him, he’s not interested in answering the phone. He has our payment. He answered us very rudly when we called inquiring about the most recent problem. He said, «I’m not a 24 hour service.» Apparently, he doesn’t offer much service at all.
Addtionally, his drawings didn’t include where pipes were supposed to go during some of the construction process. So, my construction people put some heater pipes in places the city didn’t like. They fixed the problem, but we’ve now got some holes going to the outside that could have been avoided.
Unbelievable!