What is written in your contract in regards to pricing discrepancies from spec to actual purchase costs?

The contract doesn't reference pricing discrepancies. I have extensive email correspondence between ID, builder, us saying the importance of being on budget and all on the same page. And all parties repeatedly saying they understand and that selections would meet our expectations.

What reason is the designer giving you for the discrepancies?

Unfortunately, we had a similar experience but fortunately caught it earlier. I have been checking each material as it has been selected and could put the brakes on when thinks got out of control. I’ve found our ID is fantastic when it comes to overall design, but being budget conscious just doesn’t seem to be her strength. (For example, we had discussed using basic, comparatively inexpensive tile for our daughter’s bathroom; the ID was ready to select a before handmade Ann Sacks tile before I caught it). In our case we decided that the value she added to big picture design was worth it, and we have taken a bigger role in tracking material costs.

For the rare non-cognoscenti in these parts, the Gilt Collection Ann Sacks field tiles now range from —-US$248-US$284 sf retail. Perhaps best custom-framed and used as decor highlights.

I have found architects to often be as clueless with regards to such mundane matters as price.

It seems to me that there are people who live in a designing world and then the rest of us who live in the real world with real budgets. We are also building a home and it feels like the builder and subs all seem to think the money is unlimited. Hang in there. You have to take control and do the research yourself unfortunately.

Worthy - Thanks for the explanation. I live in Portland where Ann Sacks is pretty well known, being local, so I forget others may not know it as well. These weren’t quite that bad, but the websites said something like, “starting at $53 per sq. ft.,” (for white hex floor tile!) at which point I decided we could forgo the exact estimate.

What does your contract say about costs and selections? You need to talk to your ID and have a discussion with her/him about the situation.

Even with caring and dedicated design professionals, they are not in the same position as builders and specialty contractors when it comes to day-to-day materials and labor prices.

The best cost control strategy is pretty much what it's always been: pay a design professional and a builder/general contractor/specialty contractor to work with you to manage design and prices.

Good luck on your project!

We had similar experience with our ID. She spec'd a few things and they were out of our price range despite me telling her we were on a tight budget.

One example, although this one was actually a small difference but it just illustrates that we 'shopped' at different places. She spec'd a hexagon dot tile from Dal-Tile for our guest bath that sold for ~$10/sq. foot. She purchased a sample from Dal-tile and gave us the address of the show room where we could order it. I found the exact same tile at Home Depot (manufactured from Dal-Tile) for $2.99/sq. foot. Compared the two side by side and could find no difference at all.

Others were a simple gray 12x24" porcelain tile for our laundry and mudroom. Spec'd at The Tile Shop for $12.99/sq. foot. I found something very similar for $1.19/sq. foot at Floor and Decor. It looks fantastic and she couldn't believe I found something so similar for so cheap.

We ended up parting ways earlier than planned because of continued budget discrepancies. We really liked her and the things she was picking out, but quickly realized her previous clients lived in a much richer world.

This is totally unacceptable. A big part of a designer's job is to be very respectful of the client's budget. No surprises is my motto. If we decide "mutually" we have to have something that is over budget in an area, we look for reductions in areas that aren't as critical to the overall design concepts. But it takes work to keep this recorded and under control. I keep detailed records of all purchase prices and report to the client on a regular basis. But I also just keep a mental record too, so I can warn very early on of budget stresses. I did take over a project that went off the rails in this manner and it was so frustrating for the client so I can appreciate the distress. It turned out that while the "firm" had a good reputation, they put a rookie on the job and she was kind of repeating things from photos and books from school and it was a disaster. But we got it back on tract and in the end they felt it turned out better. The builder actually stepped in and paid for my services since the original referral was from him. Lesson learned for all. Sorry you are experiencing this, but better to find out now and adjust even though it is a real pain. You might want to get with the company the designer works for and discuss some compensation for your time and trouble. If she/he is an independent person, then it is harder. Wishing you better things. I do a lot of high end homes, and I love Ann Sacks designs and products, but even high end clients have budgets and her things don't fit in to many designs. Too many other choices that can be fine in the overall scheme of things.

This is NOT acceptable practice. Insist that the designer take responsibility for their mistake. They should either re-do your plans within your previously agreed budget or refund your money. Period. Any other response from the designer means they are profoundly unprofessional and it is time for small claims court. Stand up for yourself!

Our spec book was given to us in May 2017. We then went through budgeting and caught bigger items like flooring and quartz by August 2017 with the builder. Our demo started in October but it has taken till now for us to really get to the point where fixtures, millwork etc are being looked at again. So yes a chunk of time has passed. And that could/should account for minimal changes, a few hundred here or there, but that is all. We are also noticing some things missing on the spec book that are now clearly needed so then that is an additional item that needs to be added that wasn't there before. We are catching the overages before anything is bought because we do need to sign off on it all. My issue is that I don't think we should be having to catch so many overages. I am totally fine with labour changing or minor fluctuations in product. But huge changes or missed things that aren't cheap are extremely frustrating to handle. In retrospect yes we should have gone through the spec book with a fine tooth comb ourselves but even that is somewhat impossible to do as designers/builders/GC etc get pricing the average person doesn't. We hired someone heavily recommended to us to do the ID and never expected we would need to micromanage her ability to stay on budget. That seems entirely within the reasonable scope of an ID's job.

So sorry to hear this. If the ID is worth anything, and value their reputation, they should make it right! Stand your ground. (retired ID.) Good Luck.

Jannicone you have summarized my feelings precisely.