Distinctive Design Homes LLC

Thank Robert, we appreciate every review, even the not so good ones and we intend to learn from them and make the process better moving forward. In your situation I believe you describe things pretty correct, except that there cannot be any dishonesty when the agreement is in writing up front. As a practice, I did tell you we do not "charge" for any estimate. In your projects case with the larger projects that clients bring to us with no prints and no scope, there are a lot of hours that go into bidding and follow up to create scopes and budgets along with full bids from trades. In these types of jobs, we collect a retainer up front as a deposit to apply to the job. Here is an exert from the actual agreement you signed:

" This retainer agreement is executed to begin the design and budget phase of the proposed project for Owner(s) listed above. The agreed upon retainer of $xxxx.xx will be deposited into the general account for Distinctive Design Homes (herein after referred to as “Contractor”) and shall be intended as a show of good faith from the Owner(s) to work with the Contractor on this project. Retainer shall be applied to the overall project total after blue print and design work is completed and the project scope is finalized, allowing the Contractor to put a final contract amount in writing. Overall budget target is: $xxx,xxx.xx, but is only an estimate, and will be finalized after prints and scope are complete. Blueprint design and Architectural documents are understood by the Owner(s) to be an additional cost, paid as invoices are submitted from the Architect to Distinctive Design Homes or paid directly to the Architect, depending on each situation. These invoices are due upon receipt. In the event that the Owner(s) decide to use another Contractor after Construction drawings and scopes are completed, it is agreed that Distinctive Design Homes could invoice for the time applied to the job and withhold this amount from the retainer, refunding any balance left over. Time for this is billed at $80.00 per hour, not to exceed the full retainer amount. After final project amount is compiled, a separate, new project contract shall be drafted and executed detailing are job specific information. "

As you can see, there is nothing confusing or dishonest about this agreement. We ONLY use this agreement on custom built homes, and large additions that have no plans and no specs or scope. Since we have to create them for the client to get an accurate bid, I do not feel there is anything dishonest or wrong with saying that if you do not like the final price or go with someone else, we can withhold payment at the agreed upon rate so we are not out for all the hours invested. I also cant help it if you feel that I did not invest those hours, when I did.

The scope doubled, exactly as you stated, but not because of my direction, it was because of you adding to it with the Architect. It is not my role to tell you how to design your project, its my role to price it when you hand me complete prints to bid. Thats exactly what I did. I also do not think its unreasonable that the price went up by 30% when you self admit that the scope doubled in size. Although I am not happy that you are not happy, we did nothing dishonest, or out of contact from what was in writing. We thank you for the opportunity and wish you the best with the project, and should you need us, we will be here ready to assist.