SPEC Consulting - Groton, New York

Denise

We are new to both New York and to owning an old house. We wanted a structural engineer to look at some concerns we had but had no idea who to use. I found SPEC Consulting on Google and was impressed with the reviews. Gary Bush did not disappoint. He spent at least two hours at our home going from room to room, upstairs and downstairs, the basement, and outside – answering any and all questions we had. Being new to old home ownership (our home was built in the early 1800’s), it would be easy for someone to take advantage of our lack of knowledge and insist many expensive repairs needed to be done immediately. Instead, Gary was honest with his expert opinion, explaining why certain items were really of no concern as well as explaining why it was important to address others – while prioritizing those items. By the time Gary left, I felt like I knew our home better. I would not hesitate to use Gary’s services again in the future !

Simon Moll

Gary Bush and Spec Consulting provided a whole house structural drawing for our custom house project. Gary worked with our ideas and preliminary drawings and was professional, knowledgeable and a pleasure to work with. Whilst the cost may be high to have these drawings done, it invariably saved us much time and money during the project, as the builders were able to order materials off of the drawings and ultimately all the contractors (builder, plumber, electrician, HVAC, insulation and designer) could work off of the same set of drawings and not memory and being subject to miscommunication. We would highly recommend working with Gary and Spec Consulting.

kenbig1

“I’ve worked with Gary personally and professionally for over 15 years now, in both building design and new product development disciplines. Recently he has been advising me on our current home construction project - the latest of many he has assisted me with.

While a lot of people can do construction, not many really know how to, and why things should be done one way or another. I have always been able to count on Gary to provide timely and accurate info for all my questions. Not only does he provide code-specific info, but he understands the reasoning and readily explains the details. Further, with his extensive construction background, he has the hands-on, in-the-field knowledge that most designers don't have.

Having worked for and worked with Gary in many different disciplines, as well as my home renovation projects, I can attest to his knowledge, and more importantly, his insight and big picture thinking.

If you want a well thought out analysis and detailed plans, Gary has the personality, tools and experience to produce the best results possible for whatever your project is.”

Nicholas Whitt

What a great experience working with Gary. Extremely knowledgeable, and equally creative! We needed him to check the strength of a foundation. The foundation situation was pretty urgent as the excavator had the ground dug up and the foundation needed to be inspected by an Engineer. We called Gary and he was at the job sight within 10 minutes. Its worth mentioning that at this point Gary and I never met or even really consulted. So as perfect strangers he came over immediately! From that point on it was a no-brainer that Gary was the guy! Gary designed the rest of our project! He took all the stress out of our project. Friendly person and easy to work with! I would have gave him 10 stars if it was an option!

Michele Carlin

Working with SPEC Consulting to design our retirement home has been a great experience. Gary and his team were amazing!

We wanted a two-story farmhouse with a wrap around porch and a three car garage. But we needed the first floor to be ADA compliant, had a list of deed restrictions that had to be followed and needed to keep within a budget.

Gary met with us by phone, in his office and on site several times. He asked us questions. He listened to us. He and his team designed exactly what we wanted and included everything we needed in the design. He offered suggestions and alternatives when something wasn’t going to fit and he explained why. When it came time to choose windows, siding, HVAC, etc., Gary explained the pros and cons and helped us make informed and relevant decisions.

In addition to designing our home, Gary again listened to our needs and placed the house on the the building lot in an optimal position to accommodate 56 solar panels on our roof. He then performed the perc test and designed the septic system. Always forward thinking, Gary facilitated the installation of our septic system earlier than the original schedule, in anticipation of Hurricane Florence. Without that forethought, we would have been 2 additional weeks waiting for the site to be able to be excavated.

His certifications, education and experience were vital assets to the success of our project and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and benefit from his expertise.

Sadie Hall

Spec consulting are great people to work with and do great work. They put a lot of time and effort into there work. There drawings are made easy for all to read even for people with no experience in reading blueprints. I highly recommend them for any project you may have. I am an outside sales rep for a three location lumber yard and see a lot of blueprints and by far enjoy working with SPEC consulting the most. Adam Hall (Home Central)

Matthew Haney

I work as a general contractor and have worked with Gary Bush multiple times. Gary and his staff are excellent and are willing to do everything from "little" jobs like sizing a steel beam, to "big" jobs like zoning variances with 3D photo realistic modeling. Gary's team is a big help to us with site and septic designs also. I highly recommend SPEC Consulting.

Mike Powell

We hired Gary Bush from SPEC Consulting in June to design a new septic tank for us. Come September, we were still waiting on his design while we were cleaning septic tank scum off our basement floors.

Gary never made us a priority. Sometimes, I would leave him multiple messages in a week, looking for an update, and wouldn't hear back from him at all. Towards the beginning, he told me he'd be over the next day to take some measurements, and never showed up. I thought I just missed him, but when I called him two weeks later to see how the plans were coming along, he revealed that they never did the required tests, and rescheduled them.

There was even one time, near the end, when he sent me the plans, and I had to write back to correct a mistake on them -- There was one part of the plans that directly contradicted another! I'm certainly no engineer, but it was obvious to even me.

Gary tried to blame other people for this, too. He sent the plans over to the health department, and told me it could take over two weeks to hear back from them. I called the health department a week in, to see how things were going, and they said they sent the plans back to Gary within 24 hours of receiving them. "They're just inexperienced and holding us up," he told me, even though he was the one putting my system on the back burner.

The system Gary designed was very expensive. Now, I don't know much about septic systems, but what he came up with cost more than 50% than the excavator originally quoted us for. We didn't really have a choice when he finally got the plans to us -- our system was failing all over our basement floor -- so we paid the money to get our showers and toilets back in working order. The added cost would have been fine if Gary would have talked to us about our options and explained that the price would be much higher, but he never made the time to explain this to us.

Do yourself a favor and hire someone else.