People assume using a seasoned professional will cost them more money. Let me describe a recent situation I came across in my business.
The client is a son of one of my clients for whom I have done extensive residential work, including putting an elevator into their home, creating a new bathroom out of a walk in closet, as well as commercial design.
The son is taking over their business shortly and wanted to buy an older fixer-upper in the area near the parents’ business. Rather than calling someone he knew that did quality work for his folks, he used his realtor’s recommendation.
Needless to say, $40,000 LATER, $9000.00 spent just on drywall which needs to come down because the electrician is not finished with his rough work, and of course, nothing is permitted. The drywall was done in a smooth finish which is nice, but will need to be redone to allow for electrical and heating and air vents. The electrician was not even licensed. Frustrating, I know…
When I brought the structural engineer she basically closed down the job for safety purposes. So where did the money go? Well, $10,000.00 went to the architect, a small portion to the plumber and the rest to the contractor.
Now I am a part of this project. I had to let the contractor go, and the only thing I asked of him was to clean up his trash in the client’s garage that goes from floor to ceiling. Yes, he agreed, however it was never done.
A 20 foot beam was installed in the ceiling after a bearing wall was taken down and now it looks as if the beam might be causing sagging of the roof. Before taking down any wall it is imperative to know if it is load bearing and how to shore it up. You don’t want to suddenly have the roof or second story falling down.
No materials were ordered, nor cabinets. The house is gutted and now we had to bring in a structural engineer to do calculations on the beam and other footings.
Was this a great learning experience for my 30 something client? Absolutely and should be an eye opener for everyone thinking of doing any kind of construction or design.
I know price sometimes scare people, but what is even scarier is spending money and getting nothing in return. Now we have to start from square one to check everything that has been done and probably re-do a lot.
Here’s the even sadder part; if done right this job could have cost a fraction of what it will now cost.
We at Eileen Gould Design and Construction bring so much to the table with design, with plans, with shopping time and implementing the project all within your budget.
So, I say again, “You Can’t avoid not to hire us”.
