Domain Interiors LLC

We first encountered Domain Interiors in 2010 through their work in a large Oklahoma City showhome and liked their work that we saw there. When we were ready to remodel our kitchen we wanted to get some professional guidance on design and colors, and contacted Kristi Forhan of DI to see if their services might be an option for us. In my initial call to Kristi I described this as a fairly small kitchen remodel project. I explained that we had workers available to do most of the actual work, but were looking for help with design, material selection and colors. Since my wife and I had not hired interior designers before, I did my best to clarify the basis on which they were expecting to be paid so that my serving as our own general contractor wouldn't be unfair to them if they were expecting commissions or other compensation. Kristi assured me that they worked on an hourly basis of $65 per hour, and that we could use them for as little or as much as we wanted -- from initial design to complete turnkey construction. Their initial consultation fee for a two hour meeting was $150, to which we agreed. At the initial meeting we shared our remodeling objectives, including our $15,000 total project budget. They brainstormed some initial ideas which we liked. They confirmed the $65 hourly basis for proceeding with plans, and with our approval they left to develop the plans for presentation the following week. At our meeting the following week they presented a selection of granite for countertops, tile samples for floors and backsplash, carpet samples, fabric samples for drapes, and their box of paint samples. They also presented their bill for $897.50 for their services to date, which included their initial consultation plus 5.5 hours to shop for tile, fabric and granite selections, 2.5 hours to shop for carpet, 1.0 hours to select paint and pull pricing and 2.5 hours for our follow-up consultation. They also presented an estimate of costs -- handwritten on two sheets of notebook paper -- that showed category total costs for granite, carpet, curtains and tile. These estimates were higher than we had intially planned, which gave us concern that we were going to exceed our budget. On top of these items, we still had to consider significant costs such as replacement of appliances, carpentry, painting, lighting and electrical work, plumbing fixtures and plumbing labor -- none of which had been yet selected by them or included in their cost estimates. My wife and I liked most of their design ideas but were quickly becoming concerned about budget. If we continued with their services for further definition of the various elements their fees would limit our budget available for actual remodeling, so we decided to take their ideas and flesh out the rest of the plans on our own, with the understanding that we could call them for further assistance if we encountered issues where we wanted to pay for additional advice or other services. At our request they provided the local source of the granite sample they had selected so I could contact the granite source to arrange templating and get our work moving forward. We paid DI's bill in full at the end of the meeting and thanked Kristi and Heidi for their work and ideas. The next day I contacted the granite supplier and arranged a visit at their site to view and approve the granite selection, make a few modifications in the original measurements and plans, and arrange for a templating schedule. Much to my surprise, I was informed by the granite source that since DI had first contacted them on our behalf they could only provide updated cost estimates and scheduling through DI. I explained that we had paid DI an hourly rate for their design but that we were doing the contracting ourselves. The granite rep said she would contact DI to get their permission to release the revised estimate directly to us. Several days later, after following up with both the granite source and DI, I finally received a revised estimated granite cost from DI with an explanation from Kristi that if we wanted to use the source for the granite they had selected for us, we could only do it through them -- paying what we estimated was a markup to DI of about $2,000. My wife and I were now very concerned about what kind of a relationship we had entered into -- where we paid for a design service that we could not implement without being held hostage by DI to implement it. This also raised concerns in our minds about conflicts of interest that may exist -- was DI making recommendations that were strictly in our best interest, or were they making recommendations that would result in the greatest commissions or potential income to them -- a perception of potential conflict that we couldn't ignore. I called Kristi to express our concerns. Kristi and Heidi agreed to meet with us again so that we could discuss our concerns face to face. At this third meeting, Kristi and Heidi expressed that we were free to use any sources for granite and other materials that we wanted, but if we wanted to use the sources from which they had selected the samples for our job we would need to pay them and yes, they marked up those products and services -- it's how they planned to make most of their money. Needless to say, my wife and I were livid with this news during our third and now final meeting. As we realized that we were at an impasse, I asked for the specs on the other materials of our design such as the paint colors. Imagine our further surprise and disappointment when their response, even though they had billed us for 1.0 hours to "select paint and pull pricing," that they couldn't select the paint until after the granite, tiles and lighting were installed so they could see everything with the proper perspective. That was the final nail in the coffin of our relationship -- all sense of their integrity was gone from us.