RACCINI DESIGN ASSOC INC

In addition to the three contractors that my wife and I selected to bid on the project, Christina had two contractors bid on the process which was a nice value add. We also had her bring a junior architect to help layout the floor plan which was another $2000. During the initial stages of the project, Christina and her architect were quite helpful in laying out an initial floor layout and lighting plan. Once the plans were finalized, she also took the lead on screening the contractors who were bidding. This was a somewhat rocky process ? one of the contractors essentially quit the process. He alleged that Christina was unreasonable and out to take advantage of us. Christina countered that he was rude and not up to par from a quality standpoint. At the time, it was difficult to assess who was in the wrong. Since selecting a contractor (we utilized one of the contractors that Christina introduced to the process), things have moved relatively quickly. The contractor selected has been easy to work with. Christina has recommended a number of items for our renovation including the flooring, tiles, bar, bookshelves, fireplaces, lighting, and bathroom fixtures. While she has certainly added a lot of value to the project, we've definitely encountered some challenges as well. The first issue was that we had clearly indicated during the design process that we disliked large recessed lights because of their dated look. Much to our chagrin she did not communicate this to the contractor and we ended up with 6? recessed lighting cans. The second issue was that we agreed to purchase natural stone tile from Christina for our bathroom and to flank both sides of a see-through fireplace we added. The stone was very expensive, ranging from $17 - $30 sq ft plus taxes and freight. After purchasing and receiving the stone, Christina informed us that the stone we purchased was actually only enough for one side of the fireplace. She also informed us that she had miscalculated the square footage for the bathroom and that we needed to purchase more stone from her. Because of the significant cost involved, we decided to only purchase the remaining bathroom stone and pass on the rest. It was very disappointing that we spent so much on stone but then did not receive what we were led to believe we would. The third issue was that Christina's initial budget called for $2500 in accent lighting. When we received the detailed invoice for the lighting she was proposing the amount had increased to over $5200. We decided to do some research and found out that we could obtain all of the exact same lights on our own for $2600. We didn't want to go around Christina because she had invested time and energy into selecting the lights so we brought the discrepancy to her attention and asked if she had any suggestions on how we could find a solution that worked for both of us. I explained that we were willing to pay a premium for her advice and assistance, but that a 100% premium was not reasonable. Despite a number of contentious phone conversations, we were not able to reach an agreement. The most recent issue we have encountered relates to the flooring we purchased from her. It was supposed to be a Mohawk product produced in North Carolina. When the floor arrived, it was actually a Chinese made variant. We informed her of the discrepancy. She tried to assert that it's a superior product which is quite hard to fathom given that: 1) It's by an unknown manufacturer (vs the floor we agreed to which is made by Mohawk) 2) It's made in China (vs North Carolina for the Mohawk floor) 3) Has a shorter warranty (vs the lifetime warranty of the Mohawk floor) 4) Retails for $1.29/sqft on the internet (vs. $3.39 for the Mohawk floor) Christina certainly has a great eye for design and was a great help during the contractor selection process. However, there were a number of instances where additional communication and attention to detail on her behalf would have benefited the project. More importantly, she intentionally provided inaccurate information to us on numerous occasions which completely shattered our trust in her. At no point has she even attempted to correct or even apologize for the errors she made. We do not recommend you utilize her for any project.