small firm with growth opportunities - Architectural Professional Parikh Stevens Architects Employee Review

Parikh Stevens is a firm that offers competitive wages, and rewards hard work. The owner provides flexibility with schedule, and gives opportunities and responsibility for growth on projects. You get the benefit of the culture and flexibility of a small firm, while still gaining experience on a variety of large projects seen in larger firms. You will have the ability to work on all aspects of a project from early conception, to meeting with clients, to construction administration. Mr Parikh is an expert at the code and can provide an understanding on applying it throughout a project and within the construction documents.

Parking at the office can be a challenge

The office is informal; the hours are relaxed. Despite being a small firm, the projects are large, so most employees work on only 2 projects at a time.

Pay is about 25% below market. Benefits are limited. The owner has a authoritative style, condescending attitude and gaslighting strategy when concerns are brought to his attention. This is true with employees, consultants and (amazingly) even clients. A frequent pattern is: employee/consultant/client asks to be included in x. They are told that, of course that is an option, however, they have not taken adequate initiative, and that is why they are not included. The current projects are uninspired, cookie-cutter and conservative. Owner preemptively and extensively value engineers projects with an eye only to the developer’s pocketbook. There is little consideration for the quality of the space and the end user. The community involvement stages of pre-design have forgone conclusions which manage community expectations rather than truly eliciting input and consideration. Traditionally, small firms give employees a wide range of responsibilities as well as significant personal and professional growth opportunities. But due to the large size of the projects at Parikh Stevens and the owner’s leadership style, this is not the case. Projects occur in silos, without inter office discussion or communication. Consequently, collaboration among colleagues is strained and competitive. The overall office atmosphere shifts between unfriendly and competitive. Employees develop an abused person mentality the longer they stay. That said, the current employees are extremely talented, loyal, and hard-working. I, personally, would hire any of them without pause.