What Happens When an Architect Criticizes Your ADU Builder's Plans? (An Architect's Verdict After the Tour)

By Buz Artiano, BuildX | August 2026

Watch: He Said "I Don't Like Your ADU Plan." Then Buz Invited Him on the Show. Stephen Chung Architect

You're looking at a builder's ADU plans, but something just really feels off. These are standard models and a trained architect would be appalled by them. If a real architect wouldn't put a name on this, it probably can't be trusted. You're absolutely right to have concerns about this. An architect actually wrote to us about this very issue before he'd ever even seen a finished ADU.

My name is Buz Artiano, founder of BuildX. We design and build ADUs all over Massachusetts, but most of our projects have been on the South Shore and in Plymouth County. We have built more than 800 homes, dozens of them are ADUs, and we do all of the design, permitting, and construction ourselves. That means we know why a lot of projects in Massachusetts stall, from by-right permitting to septic evaluation to lot-coverage limits. We make sure you know all this before you sign anything.

So when an architect emailed us to say he didn't like one of our plans, we didn't argue with him. We invited him to tour a finished BuildX ADU on camera and tell our audience exactly what he thought. His name is Stephen Chung, he is a talented architect, and he is not a BuildX client and we didn't pay him to say any of this. What he has to say after he did the tour will tell you more than we ever could.

What Did the Architect Actually Say After He Toured the Build?

Basically, he changed his mind about the product, but still felt the same about the plan. Stephen Chung had sent a harsh initial reaction. In his words, "I opened it quickly, looked at the plan, didn't like it, and just kind of dashed off a quick, don't like the plan." That's where it all started, and we're not going to hide it.

Then he walked through a finished BuildX ADU. What he had to say afterward was still a critique, but he then added "still don't love the plan, but, but I liked the end product." He went further by saying "I looked at some of the projects and some of the products and I think it's, I think it's a great idea. I think it's... I'm glad someone's doing it and doing it seriously."

Notice that he didn't take back his words just to be polite, and he didn't pretend the drawing was all of a sudden perfect just because he liked the model. He saw the plan on paper differently from the building he walked through, and the building earned his respect. For a buyer thinking about using a builder's standard plans, that's kind of the whole thing.

Why Would a Builder Invite a Critic on Camera?

Because a paid testimonial doesn't tell you as much as a skeptic's real reaction. Anyone can publish the best of what people are saying about them. But only a few confident builders will hand the microphone to a trained architect who just told them, in writing, that he didn't like their work.

When Chung sent that first note, it would have been easy to get defensive or ignore it. But instead we asked him what he didn't like about the plan. Chung noticed that, and it is part of the reason he came to see our work. In his words, "I looked more carefully at it and I, I did respect and appreciate that you actually didn't take it like, I don't know that way you probably should have, but you just sort of said, you know what, what... don't you like about it? Tell me." He also felt he owed us a fair hearing once invited: "when you invited me to come talk to you about this, I said, of course I have to, I owe it to you... but I am interested in the subject."

Our view on this is the same one we bring to every client disagreement. As we told him on the show, "that's how some of the best relationships start. So hopefully this is the beginning of a good relationship and in all seriousness, I appreciate your feedback. I respect the architects and what they do." A builder who won't listen to notes or critiques probably isn't someone you want managing all the decisions that building an ADU requires.

Are a Builder's Standard Plans Actually Good Design?

If you've looked at a builder's plan set and assumed an architect wouldn't like it, you're asking the same question as Stephen Chung asked us in writing before he ever saw a finished unit. So it's worth answering directly, because the word "standard" is actually very misleading.

Our plans aren't random stock drawings that we got off a shelf. We keep 14 ADU models published on our website, running from X6 through X15. We skipped X13 for the same reason a lot of buildings skip a thirteenth floor. The models we showcase are always changing. We say "these plans, and they're always iterating on the website. Like they all just got updated recently or last month from customer feedback and from meetings. And some of my best interactions are with clients and they come up with great ideas and then I implement them in the next model."

That actually matters more than it sounds, and it's something that you only learn from building a whole lot of these ADUs. A plan that's been built many times has already had the expensive mistakes designed out of it. Before ADUs, we built more than 600 homes in subdivisions using only three or four floorplans that had been refined and perfected, and still every time we built one there was something to fix like a framing detail, a sightline, a spot where people kept bumping into the layout. A blank-sheet custom drawing has not been tested or tweaked or fixed that way. It looks finished on paper, then gets tested on the job site for the first time during your build, at your expense if anything isn't right. A standard plan has already been through all that and mistakes have been designed out of it. It's not a shortcut, it's good design. Doing it this way is cheaper and a much more reliable way to build. It's also why an architect can dislike one of our drawings, but then still like the finished ADU.

Should You Show Your Builder's Plans to an Architect?

Yes, and a good builder won't have any problems with that. We invited one to critique ours on video. A second set of professional eyes is definitely something we would recommend before you make a commitment to an ADU. The only way that will backfire is if you misread what an architect's critique actually tells you.

A critique of a drawing is still a critique. It's not an opinion on the finished building, because the two are not the same thing. When Chung said "still don't love the plan, but I liked the end product", he made that clear. If you take a builder's plans to an architect and hear objections, that's just useful input you can use for your planning. It doesn't mean the home will be poorly built. The only way you can get a solid opinion is by walking through a completed unit, which is exactly what made Chung go from a critic to loving the product.

We build from our own plans, but that doesn't mean that an architect is unnecessary. If your goal is a one-of-a-kind architectural statement and the design process itself is the point of the project, hiring an architect might be better for you than using our models, and we'll be the first ones to tell you that. Our particular method of doing things is best for a family that wants a proven, refined unit built on a real budget and a strict timeline. If that's you, our plans are a starting point that even a skeptical architect toured and loved.

Judge the Finished Product the Way the Architect Did

Stephen Chung didn't gain respect for BuildX from a drawing. He decided it after he walked through a finished ADU and saw everything with his own eyes. That is the same standard we would want you to hold us to. The plans are where a project starts. The finished product is what you should be judging.