DESIGNHOUSE

During our review of the design, Mr. Corder failed to follow my instructions of March 17 and created a design which was not feasible.  As he and I discussed on March 17, 2010, the intent was to retain the historical character of the home since the home is from 1934 and resides in a historic section of Austin, but by removing the main hallway and one of the main walls in the kitchen, his plan failed to follow my instructions.  I communicated this during our meeting, during phone conversations following our meeting as well as in writing.  Also, I was overbilled by Mr. Corder and Designhouse?s billing practices were not in line with our agreement that 80% of the project be billed at $65/hour and 20% for oversight would be at $125/hour.  Per email dated Tue, Dec 29 at 2.44pm (and again October 27, 2010 at 12.43pm) from Jay Corder, Mr. Corder agreed that the project would be charged at 80% at $65/hour and 20% at $125 per hour.  In the initial invoice from Designhouse, for example, I was charged for $1,017.50 for 10.5 hours in design time of which 4 hours were at $125/hour ($500), 4.75 hours at $85/hour ($403.75), and 1.75 hours at $65/hour ($113.75).  Had Designhouse followed our agreement, 10.5 hours should have been split into 8.4 hours at $65/hour ($546) and 2.1 hours at $125/hour ($262.50) for a total of $808.50.  Also, I communicated these amounts were not correct but given the retainer which Mr. Corder held, I was concerned I would lose that amount if I pushed the issue too far regarding the overbilling.  After being overcharged which was against our agreement and failing to correct the design following my written instructions during April and May 2010, I contacted Mr. Corder and communicated we bring the project to a close and to send me a final statement.  Having spent $470.12 in floorplan services and $600 in landscape design services I could see that Mr. Corder?s estimate of 30-40 hours to complete our project as proposed on March 17, 2010 was not correct and that Mr. Corder was planning to bill me for significantly more than $3,500. 

On July 7, 2010, I made a final payment of $178.75 when added with my retainer brought my balance with Designhouse to zero.  With this $178.75 payment, Designhouse had charged me $2,594.50 in fees yet had not corrected the floorplan of the house, had not corrected their billing rate and had not completed the design of the garage.  Also, I am unclear where additional design time was spent after we met in April since there were no deliverables created or changes made to the plan we reviewed in April.

Overall, despite paying $2,594.50 in fees to Mr. Corder and Designhouse, I am left with a house floorplan which failed to meet the design parameters & specifications, I was overcharged for the design services, and I have yet to receive a design for the garage.  Designhouse failed to complete work as agreed, relied on improper billing practices, as well as unrealistic expectations concerning estimates of work.  I would not recommend Mr. Corder or his firm for future projects.