Studio Cleary Landscape Architecture

An unhappy experience that a client takes the time to write about deserves to be addressed. A bad review always contains at least some kernels of truth, and to the reviewer, is a legitimate complaint. I’d like to acknowledge the miscommunication he describes which I have to ultimately take responsibility for; correct some inaccuracies; and most importantly, fill in the story with significant information which the reviewer chose to leave out, most notably the delay caused by not providing necessary legal information to allow me to proceed designing.

Because this reviewer waited, inexplicably, a full year before writing this, I had to refresh my memory of the project, sifting through its paper & digital files. They contain much email correspondence, detailed base measurement drawings, loose sketches in plan & perspective form, notes from our 2-1/2 hour onsite consultation, research notes on some potential material choices, and finished Conceptual Design drawings & supporting info --- the main part of which, the Conceptual Landscape Master Plan, I did in fact send the client at the last promised date --- and other perspective presentation drawings & written descriptions that were nearly finished but needed several hours more to be in a format I feel is necessary before sharing. I describe all this because the reviewer gives the grossly mistaken impression that nothing was accomplished on their project. Also, I am just as perplexed after carefully rereading all my emails as I first was at the charge of being “resentful and rude”, because I believe any reasonable person reading them would agree they contain nothing of the sort.

A successful project requires a very collaborative & trusting approach among all parties from client to architect to contractors; if the client is adversarial from the start, and doesn’t think their architect has their best interest at heart, it is difficult to take the necessary time to do the job they deserve. My first mistake, in hindsight, was in not politely declining this project by the end of our consultation. When the husband arrived home an hour late for our early-evening site meeting, I was somewhat taken aback by a strong vibe of distrust and skepticism, especially in comparison to the wife‘s lovely and agreeable personality with whom I had solely dealt with up to that point. But it was more understandable when he disclosed that they’d spent, amazingly, an entire year unsuccessfully looking for any landscape professionals they were satisfied with. That should have been my first red flag. However, I patiently went back over all the territory we’d covered for his benefit, and by the end of our meeting felt like he’d warmed to me.

I realize it’s human nature to hear what we want to hear: I set an unrealistic expectation for them by declaring that I could deliver a Conceptual design within about two weeks, but I did not emphasize enough the caveats that (1) this was at the very busiest time of year for both design & construction supervision, well into the spring season; and (2) I could not do much substantial design without being provided a legal boundary survey. Having that survey isn’t a matter of convenience for the architect; their HOA would not approve any design without it, and more importantly, if I design based on faulty assumptions I open my firm up to legal liability. (You might be surprised how much contention a single tree, fence section or retaining wall can cause near a property line, as was the case with their property, when its ownership is unclear.) We ended the meeting with the understanding that they might be able to find their own copy of the survey before I came back to measure, but not finding it, they acted promptly to hire a surveyor to produce a new one. Unfortunately, as my project timeline shows, the time it took for that survey to be completed and sent to us was a little more than five weeks, after numerous times checking in with them to ask about its progress.

So as to not slow down the project too much, I returned within about a week to measure their property and large home from scratch, at twice the effort, to at least get a start on the process. In rereading my emails, I realize my miscommunication #2 was in giving them a confusing impression that when I said I was “working on their Plan” they didn’t understand I could only do the barest of preliminary tasks without that survey. In the meantime, I had to proceed with other new clients’ projects, who did have all the info needed to begin theirs. Once received, I then DID design their entire property, sending it in less time than the survey’s 5+ week wait: a bit less than four weeks. It became apparent, however, that the client somehow expected their complete Master Plan to be completed the very next day. In hindsight I should have politely but firmly stood my ground in avoiding any specific delivery date, instead assuring them that it would be complete as soon as possible. But feeling strongly coerced into making specific deadline promises, against my better judgement I did so more than once without realistically allowing for other commitments, personal & to other projects. These missed self-imposed deadlines are what the cllent accurately refers to.

In summary, I invested approx. 31 hours in their project, or about 77% of the Set Fee we agreed upon to complete the design; the 1/3rd retainer covered less than half those hours. Yet the client demanded I turn over all the work I’d done AND return all his retainer except for $50 (eventually amended to a less-unreasonable $250). My reply was that I simply could not spend nearly one week’s worth of man-hours for that amount of compensation. I offered, and still do, to complete the little bit remaining so that they could have a complete and usable design package for our agreed-upon fee, minus $125 for their aggravation.

It’s ultimately up to the service provider to manage their clients’ expectations. I did not do so with this client, and regret their disappointment.