We employed Mr. Bianchi in 05/2021 to create drawings and a video for our front and back yards. His agreement stated that it would take him 10-12 weeks to complete the drawings, however, Mr. Bianchi did not show us the drawings until 01/2022, 32 weeks later (he did not provide digital copies until 02/2023).
At first we were patient with the pace of the project as Mr. Bianchi became unavailable from a professional capacity during the months of 08/2021 & 09/2021 due to personal reasons, and as we liked the design and schematics that were shown to us in 01/2022, we commissioned him to lead the project.
From there it took another 15 weeks for Mr. Bianchi and his contractor teams to provide us with a proposal and budget, whereas his agreement states it typically takes 4-8 weeks to occur. It was at this time that we paid him a down payment of 50%, and then we were to pay further installments when hardscaping, pool and landscaping started.
On 05/2022 our backyard was demoed, and we provided Mr. Bianchi with our HOA bylaws and asked him to submit the designs as soon as possible as our HOA can take several weeks to review submissions. Even with constant reminders Mr. Bianchi did not submit the necessary paperwork until 10/2022 (almost 7 months after our backyard was demoed). My favorite response from Mr. Bianchi in 08/2022 was: "I'm still here doing my piece. I have had a very unproductive month but chipping away at it over the weekend." The HOA approved the drawings in 12/2022.
In the HOA submission packet that Mr. Bianchi submitted, he stated that the project would be completed on 3/31/2023, at this point we were very ecstatic as we thought the project would finally be finished. However, in 02/2023 when nothing had progressed with the backyard, we confronted him regarding the March finish date, and he stated that the date was simply a "best guess" and that it was done to appease the HOA.
In 03/2023, Mr. Bianchi demanded that he be paid for the commencement of hardscaping and landscaping, neither of which had yet started. He stated that he was working with the structural engineer and that the shade structure designs would be finished by the end of 03/2023 (the City did not approve the drawings until 10/2023).
The hardscape portion of the project was completed in 04/2024, and at that time Mr. Bianchi was terminated from the project and the final payment for landscaping was withheld because landscaping had not yet commenced, and we decided not to continue with his services. That same month Mr. Bianchi took us to court to contest the final payment. The Hearing Officer found in our favor due to the many delays that were directly due to Mr. Bianchi and his inability to follow the language in his own agreement.
I have merely shared facts about our 3-year journey so you can decide for yourself if you would like to employ Bianchi design for your project.
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