Rugged Gentleman Design

We hired Paul Speed, owner of Rugged Gentleman Design, in April to do custom cabinetry work in our newly purchased home in Park City. We agreed on a set of deliverables (cabinets, closets, bookshelves, benches) and a price for each for completion by July 4th, prior to our move-in later that month. On June 26, Paul informed us that he could not complete the work until end-September. We asked him then whether he could foresee any circumstance that would cause the timeline to slip further or impact the budget. He answered no. On July 23, Paul sent us a new cost list for the deliverables amounting to a total increase of 44% over the original pricing and told us he could deliver only half the elements of the project by end-September and the rest, maybe, by November or December. Moreover, he informed us that he’d begun work on some of the pieces so we didn’t have the choice of declining those items at the higher prices. As unreasonable and unprofessional as this was, we worked with Paul to agree a reduced scope of work and higher prices for the remaining items (33% in aggregate). On August 14, Paul failed to appear on a scheduled call on the status of the work. That’s when we learned that he had abandoned the project. He stopped returning our calls, texts, and emails. He took $51,517.22 of our money and completed not a single one of the agreed deliverables. Do NOT hire Paul Speed, Rugged Gentleman Design, or any business he may subsequently form.