TU MU DESIGN STUDIO

My husband and I consulted the Owner/Operator (“O/O”) of Tu Mu Design/Synthesis Construction, Inc. (“TM/S”) for substantial cosmetic changes to the interior of our home. After spending half a day in our home (an inordinate amount of time for the work we wanted done) and during the course of our discussions, the O/O informed us that if we hired him as the architect (Tu Mu Design), it would be to our benefit, monetarily, to also hire him as the contractor (Synthesis Construction, Inc.). He also informed us that his wife was the bookkeeper for both his businesses. Get the picture? Triple dipping for every facet of work they would be doing if they were hired without a system of checks and balances. Moving forward, and after our initial personal interview, my husband and I had subsequent questions but were unable to connect with the O/O personally. We called and left numerous messages, but to no avail. Finally, and after about 10 days, we emailed our inquiries. By the way, we were charged substantially for this email correspondence. After throwing around some ideas and providing input to Tu Mu, we were presented with four conceptual drawings, to the tune of $800/each, one of which we did not request. We were also only given one original drawing even though we paid for 4 drawings. The other three were black and white photocopies. Moving forward and hoping things would improve, we met to finalize what we wanted, we signed a contract whereupon the O/O promised to send copies, we shook hands and we were told that work would begin the following week Monday.TM/S did not show up the following week, the week after that or the week after that. In fact, TM/S was incommunicado for three weeks. We were wondering if we dreamt that we signed a contract and shook hands to seal a deal. When we finally made phone contact, the O/O nonchalantly explained that he took a vacation to visit relatives. Uneasy about his hiatus, we asked for copies of the contract, and we were denied. At that time, we also discussed non-payment of the unauthorized architectural conceptual drawing Tu Mu did. We also asked for line item descriptions of the Spartan invoices we were receiving. We were rebuked again and again. The phone call ended with the O/O of Tu Mu/Synthesis screaming, "PAY YOUR BILL!!!!" and hung up.Since the O/O was holding the only copy of our blueprints of our house, and other personal items, as ransom for payment, we scheduled a meeting to retrieve them, and set up a mutually agreed on a specific time to meet. When driving to the meeting, the O/O informed us that he was taking a bath; that he got his best ideas in the bath tub, and that we would have to postpone the meeting for two hours. When we finally met, we got the blueprints, but not the other personal items. We subsequently wrote a letter severing all business ties with TU Mu/Synthesis.Throughout the entire experience, we were inundated with copious amounts of invoices (to quote Tu Mu/Synthesis, "You can never have too many invoices.") and paperwork, but the actual work on the house was never forthcoming. Not a hammer was lifted; not a nail driven or removed. Nothing. And, we never received a copy of the signed contract. After getting back our blueprints, the next thing we got was a letter from Tu Mu/Synthesis’ attorney demanding payment for an unsubstantiated bill. Red Flag - During the course of conversations with the O/O, he was very verbose about a previous customer giving him carte blanche with the construction checking account. We do not recommend hiring this entity. You will be disappointed.