Feb 2006 - First meeting well received, hired them to design a large renovation to turn a 1400 sq ft bungalow into a 3600 sq ft 2 story house. Quoted a reasonable 1.25/ sq ft of final design drawings provided. They requested and received payment of $1000 to start.
Final design was for 2850 sq ft home. Final drawings very slow to pull from this design house. First good set of interim drawings received early June - they requested and received $1500 interim payment. What was thought to be final drawings received mid-July with several follow-up calls from me. They requested and received a payment of $1770. Late July assured that the final drawings I was handed were complete and that the building department had said the drawings were acceptable and complete - this turned out to be untrue. The building department requires HVAC drawings and signed engineering drawings for the Truss'. Phase 2 requested and received the final payment based on the assurance that it was a sure thing that the building department would accept the drawings - of $951.
They hired a HVAC design house and dropped off a set of HVAC drawings Sept 22. However these drawings would have meant ripping out the entire Duct system in the existing portion of the house - they did not recognize that this is not a totally new house but has systems in place! Their instructions to the HVAC house were wrong - Phase 2 told HVAC Design Services to route all ductwork any way they wanted! I it is Nov and I still have no HVAC drawings. I did finally receive signed Engineered Truss drawings.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $5,200.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- I was concentrating on references for prospective Contractors, not the designer. I looked for and found a designer that I would work with. After interviewing 3 I hired this one. I should have insisted on several good references at least - my stupid mistake.