HDR's work on our house looks good, especially in photos. That said, we would absolutely never work with them again, and we would urge others to avoid this firm. Throughout our nine-month remodel, they lied to us, condescended to us, forced us to figure out design problems on our own, and failed to respect our time and design priorities. Here are a few examples.
*They attempt to hide their mistakes.*
HDR built a wall that deviated from plan by five inches. Eager to collaborate on a solution, we pointed out this mistake and underwent repeated gaslighting - there was no deviation, we were told. When we measured and annotated plans to demonstrate the discrepancy, Chris (the CEO) told us that "the wall had to be there" and that we had approved the wall's position during an electrical walkthrough. None of this was legally or spatially accurate. At no point previously had they discussed this change from plan with us. Either they knew about it and chose not to tell us, or they made a significant error without noticing. In other words, they were either negligent, or lying.
Throughout the process, Chris frequently asserted that various dubious designs just "had to be," even though when we asked specific questions, we always found other solutions. At one point, Chris introduced a new design they'd come up with by asserting that a utility closet "could only be" in the middle of a living room--a particularly startling assertion, since our architectural plans, and the eventual build, located it elsewhere.
*They lied repeatedly, particularly when behind schedule.*
We left our rental and went out of town toward the end of the project. During this time, HDR ceased all work on our house and failed to attend progress meetings and installation meetings that we had scheduled for appliance. When we asked for updates, HDR repeatedly assured us everything was on schedule. When we emailed two weeks in advance to ask if we could again occupy the house on our return, they assured us in writing that the house would be ready. We arrived back at our house on a Friday at 2 pm. When we checked in with HDR, we were told "someone can talk to you at 9 am on Monday."
*They are not attentive to details--and attempt to charge for their own inattention.*
We thought, for example, that HDR would match the trim in the new build to existing trim. They did not. (Same goes for hinges, door knobs, etc.) When we pointed the discrepancy in trim out between two adjacent doors, HDR refused to redo their work without a $1K change order. Only when we pointed out that matching the trim was specifically listed in our contract did they match it.
The list could go on! They frequently missed project meetings, were unprepared for key milestone meetings, showed little regard for green building practices, and did limited (and often strange!) design work on late-stage design problems. We love to collaborate repeatedly with our carpenter, handyman, and others, but we could never work with HDR again.
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