CJ Home Plans

Review: CJ Home Plans, [redacted], was contracted to develop a set of residential house plans, per request of the builder (who is his good friend). Once design was agreed upon, the contractor was to develop an estimate for building the house. The agreement was set up based upon ~2500-2600 sq ft and [redacted] was given a draft document to base the design upon, which fell within this sq ft limit. Estimated contract value was ~$3000, divided into 3 phases of equal amounts. He was given $1000 to start the project. He took it upon himself to revise the design according to his own opinion and did not listen to instructions. This required extensive iterations of the draft plans. He also did not include the sq ft of the plans on each revision, and when he finally produced a set of draft plans that were in alignment with the original draft, he had increased the total sq ft to 3375. This required yet another revision which reduced it to 2771 sq ft. [redacted] billed me for $500 for Phase 2 work. When his preferred builder finally admitted that he could not build the house within the budget, I directed [redacted] to stop all work on the plans due to needing to find another builder. I intended to cancel the agreement with CJ Home Plans but he insisted that I owed an additional $500 for completion of Phase 2 design. Since [redacted] was so difficult to work with, I asked an associate, [redacted], to work with [redacted] to finish Phase 2 design and reduce the sq ft to 2500. [redacted] refused to work with him & questioned his credentials. He insists I owe him for completion of Phase 2 because his contract states he will be paid for the full amount of the phase, no matter its completion status, even if I choose to cancel the project. However, he is in violation of the agreement for refusing to complete the plans & states he will not work with anyone besides his preferred builder.Desired Settlement: The plans from [redacted] cannot be used & are unfinished. Revisions need to be made to correct his mistakes & reduce sq ft to ~2500. [redacted] refuses to work with my associate, [redacted], to finish the plans and states he will not work with anyone he does not already know (specifically his preferred builder). I request a full refund of $1500 due to unfinished plans, his refusal to work with us, refusal to provide files for a new drafter to use, and the excessive time required to have him design plans according to the original draft diagram provided to him.

Business

Response:

1. Customer states:

CJ Home Plans, [redacted], was contracted to develop a set of residential house plans, per request of the builder (who is his good friend).

Salesperson response:

The builder referred me to the customer as someone to consider for hiring to do the customer's new home design and construction plans. At the end of our initial meeting to discuss the project, I told the customer that my estimated fee to complete her home design and prepare the home construction plans was $3,075.00 and that I would require a down payment of $1,000.00 and for my Agreement to be signed before I would begin work on the customer's project. The customer agreed to hire me to complete the design of her new home and prepare the construction plans for that new home at the conclusion of said initial meeting. The customer signed the CJ Home Plans AGREEMENT - Home Design and Drafting Services and gave me a check for the down payment. My estimate was based upon the customer's plan sizes as follows: house - 2,600

sq.ft.; garage - 800 sq.ft.; front porch - 100 sq.ft.; and rear deck - 200 sq.ft.

I know and have worked with the builder the customer chose to build her new home. He likes to use the home plans that I prepare because of the detail I put into the plans. When possible, he recommends me to his prospective customers. This is how I came to be introduced to the customer.

2. Customer states:

Once design was agreed upon, the contractor was to develop an estimate for building the house.

Salesperson response:

Agreed - once the customer agreed to the design, the contractor prepared an estimate of what it would cost to build the customer's new home based on her "agreed to design".

3. Customer states:

The agreement was set up based upon ~2500-2600 sq ft and [redacted] was given a draft document to base the

design upon, which fell within this sq ft limit.

Salesperson response:

As stated in the salesperson response in number 1 above, my fee estimate was based upon the figures provided to me by the customer and as noted for the other components of my estimate (including garage, porch and deck). When I calculated my fee estimate, I attempted to use the customer's drawings of the new home design but in the end I just used her area for the house in my estimate. I told the customer in that meeting that I base my fees on outside dimensions of a home. The customer did not provide those on her drawings - there were only room sizes from which to try to come up with a total area. I told the customer that in my design and drafting agreement there is a provision for adjusting up or down my final fee based upon the final footprint size of the new home. I told her that based upon building her home with ICF walls, that I expected the size of her home to increase since the ICF walls are thicker than conventional wood framed walls. I cannot agree that the initial drawing provided by the customer was actually a 2500 to 2600 sq.ft. Home. I never had a chance to actually finish the intial first draft of that plan because the customer changed the plan to one that had the garage intersecting the home at an angle, thereby increasing the square footage of the new home.

4. Customer states:

Estimated contract value was ~$3000, divided into 3 phases of equal amounts. He was given $1000 to start the project.

Salesperson response:

The estimated contract value was $3,075.00, not approximately $3,000.00. This was clearly noted in the contract in the Designer's Fee section. The contract is divided up into 3 phases. Phase I was for $1,000.00 and entailed the design work that was done in developing the initial conceptual design floor plans, project model and elevation views as needed. Phase II was for $1,000.00 and was for the continuation of work to edit the initial conceptual floor plan layout and design per the Owners' ordered changes up to the point where the Owners give the Designer approval to proceed to complete the detailing of the plan set. Phase III was for $1,075.00 and entails the detailing, annotating, adding structural design, etc. to complete the construction plans. All payments are required in the contract to be paid within 10 days of receipt of the Designer's invoice. The agreement provided, in the event that Phase II work extends beyond 30 days, that the Designer, at his discretion, could request the Phase II payment be split in two equal portions.

5. Customer states:

He took it upon himself to revise the design according to his own opinion and did not listen to instructions. This required extensive iterations of the draft plans.

Salesperson response:

I totally disagree with this assertion. As a home designer who has completed dozens of new home designs in the Pacific Northwest, Wisconsin and Virginia, I have seen many times that a customer requests something or a change in the plans that just doesn't make a lot of sense. For example, the initial design of the customer's new home included an elevation change of several steps down to go from the main entry into the den. The customer wanted double French doors into the den. My initial design had the den ceiling height set so that she could have the double French doors. The customer than proceeded to request that I lower the ceiling height of the den and adjacent dropped rooms to 8', which resulting in me telling her that she wouldn't be able to have her French doors unless they were shortened as there was only 75" or so of space for the 80" standard height French doors. It is my job as a home designer to fix these sorts of issues so that a home is build-able and will function properly. With each revision I did at the request of my customer, I provided detailed comments about the requested changes that were made, and in some cases a recommendation of what I thought was a better solution. Not only that, I provided numerous 3D camera views of the current design, both interior and exterior, showing how the home looked with the new changes. In some instances, the customer was providing me sketches that, when actually implemented into the plans, didn't make sense from a structural point of view - she had no understanding as to why or how the home would have to be built structurally so that all the loads would be supported. Some changes requested just didn't fit well so I made adjustments to those specific areas that what would work. That is what home designers do in such cases. Such deviations made by a designer are not cast in stone - they are for the customer to review to approve to disapprove. This assertion by the customer is totally out of order and without merit.

6. Customer states:

He also did not include the sq ft of the plans on each revision, and when he finally produced a set of draft plans that were in alignment with the original draft, he had increased the total sq ft to 3375. This required yet another revision which reduced it to 2771 sq ft.

Salesperson response:

I don't always include the square footage of plans I do with each revision. When the customer requested an update on the square footage of the plans, I provided it. The customer seems to be alleging that I am responsible for making the footprint of her new home larger yet her own requests indicate otherwise. In one instance in particular, the customer specifically requested that I make the plans bigger - bumping out the living room and kitchen wall by 3', increasing the square footage of the main level by almost 100 sq. ft. In another instance she requested that I bump out the the wall(s) on the 2nd story which increased the area as well. Generally, the design the customer switched to caused a noticeable increase in plan areas. The customer started with a plan with square corners that didn't have much wasted space in hallways etc. When initial design was changed to the angled plan, a considerable amount of additional area was added to match her design drawings.

7. Customer states:

[redacted] billed me for $500 for Phase 2 work.

Salesperson response:

I billed the customer for 1V of the Phase II work as a progress payment because of the length of time that it was taking to complete Phase II. The invoice was paid by the customer.

8. Customer states:

When his preferred builder finally admitted that he could not build the house within the budget, I directed [redacted] to stop all work on the plans due to needing to find another builder. I intended to cancel the agreement with CJ Home Plans but he insisted that I owed an additional $500 for completion of Phase 2 design.

Salesperson response:

The customer picked the builder, not me! I may have never met the customer if she hadn't first selected HER builder.

The builder presented the customer with his estimated cost to build which was approximately $111,000 over the customers $325,000 budget, which included a swimming pool that reportedly was going to cost $30,000 or so to install. From the very first meeting with the customer, she was told that some things she included in her design would result in increased construction costs. For example, she was advised that the more corners in her plan, the higher the cost to build. She was told that steeper and complex roof designs are more costly to build.

The customer did in fact cancel our design agreement on June 14, 2013 and I quote her exactly:

Ms far as the design agreement and design of the house, this project is cancelled and there is no final completion."

It doesn't get any plainer than that. And in the same paragraph in which she made the above statement, she also said:

"Basically, I wasted money on these plans. It's unfortunate, because I don't like wasting $1,500 for something I cannot use, but that's where we're at. If I can find a builder who uses an architect with the same program, then at least I haven't wasted the entire $1,500. It wasn't a waste in the sense that you did as much as you could with what I asked for, but I have to do major revisions with another builder and pay for his drafter to finish the plans."

Is this an admission that she wasted money on these plans because she cancelled the agreement? At least she admitted that "It wasn't a waste in the sense that you [me] did as much as you [I] could with what I asked for, ...". And my customer wants me to reimburse her for all the work I did for her?

The customer does in fact, per our written and signed agreement, owe me an additional $500.00 which was due me within 10 days of cancellation. In the Termination or Suspension of Agreement clause is the following language:

The Owners may terminate or suspend this Agreement upon written notice. The Designer shall be compensated for all time expended to date for hourly services, plus reasonable time to document the state of work, and for the full price for fixed fee services for the phase(s) of the work that is in progress, regardless of the stage of completion for that phase, at the time of notice of such termination.

The customer does owe me an additional $500.00 plus any late payment penalties.

The Acceptance of Terms and Conditions section on the signature page of our Agreement reads:

The Parties of this Agreement by their signatures affixed below hereby agree to all the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

The customer's signature is directly below this clause along with the date of 12-21-12 which she included.

9. Customer states:

Since [redacted] was so difficult to work with, I asked an associate, [redacted], to work with [redacted] to finish Phase 2 design and reduce the sq ft to 2500. [redacted] refused to work with him & questioned his credentials.

He insists I owe him for completion of Phase 2 because his contract states he will be paid for the full amount of the phase, no matter its completion status, even if I choose to cancel the project. However, he is in violation of the agreement for refusing to complete the plans & states he will not work with anyone besides his preferred builder.

Salesperson response:

Not once over the course of work I did for the customer, did she ever tell me that I was so difficult to work with. This is pure nonsense. If I was so difficult to work with, as a Project Manager at her place of employment, I am sure she would have found a way to tell me so while work was progressing on her plans.

On July 1, 2013, after the customer canceled the agreement, I received a phone call from a person who said his name was [redacted] (?) and that he was friends with the customer's family and that they had asked him to call me to find out what it would take to get their home plans completed so they could get a permit and build the home. He said he did some construction work and that he was from Cheney, WA. This person told me the customer(s) were happy with the plans and just want to get them completed. The person said the customer(s) may have bitten off more than they could chew, that he was calling me as a peace maker. I told him that I wanted to get paid for the work I had already done. He continued to pressure me about what it would take to get the plans done. I reiterated that I wanted to get paid for the work I had already done. I then told him that the customer had canceled our agreement and to tell the customer that she would need to call me if she wanted to discuss this issue.

For the customer to assert that ... he [I] am in violation of the agreement for refusing to complete the plans" is utterly ridiculous when the I had no further obligation to complete the plans when the customer canceled the agreement.

I work with other builders all the time. The customer's preferred builder [at least until she found out she couldn't afford to have him build her home] happens to be one I work with a lot, but that builder has been involved in only about 10 projects I have designed.

Customer's Desired Settlement:

The plans from [redacted] cannot be used & are unfinished. Revisions need to be made to correct his mistakes & reduce sq ft to ~2500. [redacted] refuses to work with my associate, [redacted], to finish the plans and states he will not work with anyone he does not already know (specifically his preferred builder). I request a full refund of $1500 due to unfinished plans, his refusal to work with us, refusal to provide files for a new drafter to use, and the excessive time required to have him design plans according to the original draft diagram provided to him.

Salesperson's response:

The plans are indeed unfinished - the customer canceled the agreement before the final phase (Phase III) even was started Revisions may definitely need to be made to the customer's design to get the plan areas down to something that fits the customer's budget. I know the plan areas will be less with a "square-cornerd" design. This is not the design the customer had me working on.

I have no agreement with my former customer any more since it was canceled by her. If the customer wanted to continue with the project, it was up to her to contact me to discuss this. Since I no longer had an agreement, I didn't think it was appropriate for me to be discussing this project with someone whom I had never met nor had any knowledge of nor prior dealings with.

I work with other builders all the time. For the customer to complain that I only will work with my preferred builder is not true.

There are no provisions in the agreement between the customer (former) and me for reimbursement of all amounts paid if the customer cancels the agreement. In fact, the customer has violated the agreement by refusing to pay the $500.00 balance of the Phase II fee amount. By the customer canceling the agreement,

I no longer had any work to do.

The design agreement in the Construction Plan Set clause specifies that:

"The Designer will provide a .pdf file of the construction plans as work progresses on the design and a .pdf file of the final plan set to the Owners upon completion of the plans, either sent via email or provided on a CD-ROM disk."

I have complied with this clause of the agreement with each update, including the last update, that .pdf files have been emailed to the customer. The customer should be able to easily give a copy of any of the .pdf files to another drafter. If the customer is going to resort to going back to the "original draft diagram" of her design, then a new drafter will have to start from scratch as I never did finish that initial design because the customer (on 1-10-2013) told me to hold off, that she changed the plan before I could send the initial draft of the original draft diagram. I have no record or saved file for the customer's original draft diagram because she opted to go with a different design.

Salesperson's Demands:

1. That the Revdex.com rule that this complaint has no merit, is frivolous and is nothing more than a smear campaign on my name and my business.

2. That the Revdex.com remove all records of this complaint from the public record.

3. The the Revdex.com demand that the customer abide by the law by paying me the amounts owed pursuant to our signed written agreement.

4. That the Revdex.com demand that the customer's husband cease and desist all communications with the customer's initial preferred builder [On the evening of 7/16/13 said husband of customer called the builder during his family time threatening to sue, using foul language, and acting like a fool. This sort of behavior is totally uncalled for. The builder had no part in the design and drafting agreement with the customer and is not a party to any dispute alleged in this complaint.