Architectural Exterior Design

We were referred to Architectural Exterior Design by another roofing contractor, since they are one of the few who deal with membrane roofs. They were prompt, scheduling a walk-through for the next business day and arrived on time for said appointment. They took the time to walk me through the issues found, and gave me a reasonable quote to fix without pressuring me to act at that moment. When they came to fix the issue, they were again quick, prompt, and courteous. I will definitely call them again next time I have a roofing issue.

I needed a full roof replacement and engaged with 5 businesses in Virginia Beach to get a quote; AED was one of 3 vendors that took the time to reply to my inquiry on their website. Their quote was priced in the middle of the three, and I'm very VERY glad I selected AED to do the work. I believe I received the best possible materials at my desired price point and quality workmanship offered by a trustworthy vendor. If you'd like to know more, please read my explanation below to understand my experience with the other 2 vendors and why I chose AED to do a full roof replacement for my home:

1) The cheaper quote was for virtually identical materials with the exception of the architectural shingles, and was $900 less than AED. The contractor who gave me that quote was at my house for all of 10 minutes, walked all over my roof (which I later realized is entirely unnecessary for quoting a roof) and did not explain any of the service at all. He came out, climbed a ladder, climbed down and then looked at me and said, "I've got what I need, I'll email you my number." Needless to say, that left nothing but a bad taste in my mouth.

2) The more expensive quote from another vendor who came out and provided a thorough explanation of the process and materials, which ended up being IDENTICAL to the materials offered by AED. This vendor wanted $2000 MORE to do the work with identical materials and and identical guarantee & warranty period from the manufacturer. Although they did present themselves professionally at my property during the initial visit, I received a follow-up sales call about 7 days later from a different person, offering me a discount on materials below the quoted price if I would agree to have another in-home sales appointment. Since I already had their quote and an explanation of the work to be performed, I asked her why the additional home visit was necessary since this would require me taking time away from work to be there. I asked if she could simply tell me what the revised quote was to do the job and she insisted that it was impossible to tell without sending someone back to my house in-person. I asked if she could ballpark the % of discount so I could do the math myself, and she became somewhat irate and accused me of "not wanting to save money." I told her I would gladly accept a lower price for the quote I already had (which had required 60 minutes of my time away from work) over the phone, but she was unwilling to offer me a discount verbally and became verbally abusive. I had to hang up on her to end the conversation and immediately threw that quote in the trash.

36 hours later I had AED at my house offering me an identical roof with identical materials and warranty for $2k less than their competitor. I signed the check on-the-spot.

The point of this long-winded story is that on the path to a roof replacement, you will meet vendors that are hasty and potentially unscrupulous, as well as high-pressure salespeople who will try to sell you a product above market rate because they don't think you'll go through the trouble to get multiple quotes from multiple businesses.

ABSOLUTELY DO GET MULTIPLE QUOTES, but if you're anything like me, you'll end up getting the work done by AED ;-)

The roofing job was excellent! Price, workmanship and timely completion. when the job was completed (only one day), the cleanup left no sign of any residual trash whatsoever. The recycle dumpster was also removed the following day. We are totally pleased with the job performed!

I dealt with Dwayne. He was punctual (unlike other companies I got proposals from) and very professional. The whole proposal presentation was well prepared. They do give Military Discount. He returned all my phone calls in timely manner. The crew showed up on time, very polite. Roof was done by 1600 the same day. They made sure everything was cleaned up including any scuffs on siding. I was nothing but pleased with them. I would strongly recommend them to my friends based on my experience.

Approximately two years ago architectural exterior design put a new roof and siding on our home. Last week a small section of siding came off during the storm. Architecture exterior design came over immediately when I called and repaired it at no cost! It’s nice knowing after two years I am still a valued customer. Thank you guys!

AED roofing replaced a roof on our rental property in Virginia Beach this past spring. They did an outstanding job, they were very helpful with providing samples to choose from and gave a fair estimate. The work was started and completed on dates quoted. The crew did an excellent job on the clean up. They also helped us on our current home with the replacement of gutters, also another pleasant experience. Ryan Merritt the owner is very professional and friendly. This company is highly recommended from our family to yours!

I am one of four owners of a large, three story condominium building located in Virginia Beach, Virginia near the Chesapeake Bay. During the past 9 years Ryan Merritt’s Architectural Exterior Design Roofing & Siding (AED) was awarded 3 major and multiple minor repair/renovation projects for our building:
- Hurricane Irene damage roof repair involving the replacement of all shingles and skylights. $33,150.00
- Hurricane Irene damage involving repair/restoration to living quarters. $5,500.
- EIFS repair,sealing, and refinishing: $26,447

The multiple other projects included roof repair prior to replacement, identifying and repairing a roof leak, adding an attic vent, and exterior painting.

I first met Ryan when I was interviewing roofing contractors in 2009 to repair a challenging and aging cedar shake shingle roof. Most of the contractors wanted to replace the shingles, but few wanted to repair the roof. One of the contractors wanted to do the repair on a hand-shake basis. A few others boasted membership in the Better Business Bureau. Due diligence showed that they were not only not BBB approved, but rather were the subject of BBB complaints. Most would not provide a warranty. Ryan Merritt took the job with the goal of establishing a relationship with the condo. He subsequently performed repair work under the warranty, without question, after shingle loss from a Nor’easter.

After Hurricane Irene compromised the roof In 2011, AED was awarded a contract to replace the shakes with with GAF/ELK lifetime shingles with a 130 mph wind rating, and to replace the skylights. AED was also awarded a contract to repair interior damage from the storm.

One distinct advantage in dealing with AED is that contracts were prepared on a word processor and thus were easily tailored to address each of our projects. In addition correspondence and billing were exchanged by email.

Over the years we have come to know the members of AED’s workforce. They are professional and personable. I recommend Ryan Merritt and AED without reservation. Ryan and his employees take pride in their work. Ryan is a man of his word.

Our experience with AED was outstanding. From the first time we discussed our options until the job was completed we were overly satisfied every step of the way. The roofing crew and the siding crews were professional and the work they did was everything we expected and then some. Whatever questions we had were always answered and explained in great detail. I would highly recommend AED to friends and family looking to have work completed. My wife and I are extremely happy with the work they did on our home.

I have to update my review. Few days after installation of my new roof, shingles on one of the edges got raised upwards forming a large gap about 2 inch wide and a foot long. You can see there is nothing holding them down in that spot. No adhesive or nail or anything at all. I called and spoke to Ryan about this and got an instant push back from him. He didn't even look at the area but automatically assumed Its not their fault but my house fault.
While replacement was going on no one once mentioned any troubles with that specific area. When I questioned it with him he said they didn't see there was a problem. And when I asked them to fix it they said I have to sign a service agreement for additional $250 for them to come and fix it as the roof is 100 % correct. I offered to send pictures of that shingles gap and he agreed. Once he received pictures where you can clearly see that large gap he continued blaming the house, the metal and everything else but the work they performed. Instead of actually owning the problem and at least coming to look at it first before assuming it's not their fault, he just argued about This not being their fault. This gap is a potential for water leaks not to say it looks horrible.
Conversation ended with him saying he will stop by next week for free but he won't fix it as he doesn't think it's his problem.
He kept on telling me it will settle and roof will relax but the problem is as longer I wait as bigger that issue becomes as this gap doesn't go away on it's own and only getting worth.
This needs to be fixed asap before any additional damages occurred to my house due to any potential heavy rains.
If only Ryan were to be willing to actually own their warranty and look at the gap and fix it, it could be a great experience but now it turns into a nightmare.

So I don't know what to say here. I do wish I didn't have to go through so much problem to file for, I'm sure, quick fix on brand new roof. Now I feel uneasy about any potential future issues. What if it's going to leak somewhere at some point? Will they tell me that's my ceilings fault and not the Roof's?
I wish it was easy to handle issues with their company as we all human and make mistakes.

When I bought a 1907 Colonial, I had dreams of remodeling it into a more modern house nestled in old charm. Those dreams were quickly diminished as I pulled more fascia and siding off. Ryan was able to give me reasonable solutions to structural issues. The end result was seamless and ended up looking better than I imagined.

We got a quote from them, but when it came time to do the work the amount was 8x more than the quote. We still got the work done by them, however. When the job was completed, there was an area that wasn't fully glued down. We asked them to come back and make sure that area was glued properly. A week after we asked someone to come out, They finally scheduled a time. After being an hour late from our appointment, the guy showed up without any tools and said he would call in 30 minutes. I'm not sure what the point of even showing up was... After another hour and no call, we called the company. He came back out shortly after to do the work. When he finished the area was glued down, but now we have a lovely cut in the siding and brown glue -I'm assuming?- smeared along the siding as well. Waste of time, waste of money. Would never recommend!

Curious to see that a lot of the bad reviews that I saw for this company not too long ago are gone now, including mine. DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY! You are going to regret it if you do. Ryan the owner, has no regards for the customer, the treatment I received from him was unacceptable. They are going to be nice to you until you disagree with them. I work in a customer service related profession so I know what is to deal with difficult customers and is why I always try to be an easy going customer. Which is why I was so surprised at how I was treated. They were irresponsible and just plain unprofessional. Horrible customer service, do not recommend.

Perfect roofing experience. Top of the line products, no corners cut, and the entire process clearly explained. AED let me know what to expect every step of the way and lived up to every promise. The crew was excellent and they cleaned up after themselves immaculately. I found AED on the internet, trusted that they had everything figured out and decided to go with them. They weren't the lowest quote that I got, but they were competitive. My new roof looks absolutely perfect. I plan on using AED again to do some vinyl work on my house. Great contractor to work with.

Had my roof replaced with AED. Ryan gave great customer service. I was a little worried when he came to do the initial presentation. He had brochures and went over a lot of information. But I was really supposed that his estimate was right in line with some of the other contractors I had come out. I chose AED because of Ryan's customer service. Looking forward to using him again for some other projects around the house.

My husband and I had our roof replaced a couple of years ago and we are completely satisfied with the entire experience. We have referred several of our neighbors, friends and family to this company. We are senior citizens in our upper seventies and feel the price was very fair with the senior discount. Everyone at this company was very professional, courteous and informative. When choosing the proper shingle and color for our home, they were very helpful in this area. It is comforting to us to know that we have such a great warranty with our roof that we never have to worry. We are looking forward to having other areas of work done at our home in the near future with Architectural Exterior Design.

If you expect a professional and skilled job, you don’t want to contract Architectural Exterior Design (AED). We contracted to have a front porch roof extended, a new roof with ridge vents, gutters with gutter guard, and a new front porch torn out and redone. We were told that the house would look amazing. The roof was installed somewhat satisfactorily; however, they did not let us know about a problem that caused an area in the roof to have a hump and refused to correct because it wasn’t their problem. The porch roof extension was completed with warped construction materials and materials that they picked out which were not satisfactory. For the front porch, we were told that we would be able to pick out the brick that would best match the house; however, that didn’t happen. Once the satisfactory brick was finally ordered, the brick work was sloppy and with uneven mortar joints and didn’t slope away from the house as stated in the contract. We were told that it was perfect and it was just an optical illusion. The gutters were installed and leaked. The gutter guard that was installed had been used previously on someone else’s home. We were told that it had only been on the other person’s home for a day. The contract did not state that used materials would be utilized and with the amount of money paid for the job, all materials should have been new. Their fix for the gutters that leaked was to gob on a clear sealant on the outside of the gutter and gob on black sealant on the inside. There were still leaks. Needless to say, our home did not look amazing like they said. My neighbors even commented that the work looked better if you look at the home from a distance (out in the street). We trusted and had faith in the company to do a professional job. What a big mistake that we are still paying for.

These guys are very professional. They take the time to explain every detail of the process and why they use certain products and procedures. I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out.

Very reliable company. I have used them for multiple upgrades to my rental properties. Excellent quality work on siding, roofs, and windows. I will continue to use them and recommend them to anyone who needs similar work.

My husband and I went with this company for our window replacements in our current home, and we were so pleased with the quality of work that we have decided to have them put the roof on our new home in the end of November. The owners both Ryan and Wendy were super personable and both provided excellent customer service. I would definitely recommend this company to everyone I know!

awful customer service. I hired them (Ryan) to do my siding and windows and really regret it. Shady way to do business. Business try to take advantage of customer (me) and add extra cost to the project without consulting with owner (me). I had several contractors coming out to give me estimates. They were not the cheapest one but I choose them because they made me believe they were the best. I feel like a fool now. They are terrible and I would not recommend them to anyone I know.