Farris Design Group

In the twenty-five
years of designing buildings, I have never represented
myself as an architect. I am strictly a building designer.
Of the five
weeks and a days of my business relationship with the *** nearly two
weeks of that time, I was waiting on the client and their builder to make
decisions about their homeThis gave me essentially three weeks to work on
their project, not the six weeks that Mrs*** has stated in her claim
On the
afternoon of February 11, 2016, I had my initial meeting with the
***s. At the time, I indicated that
the client would receive their floor plan draft in a week and a half at the
soonest
On the
morning of February 17th, I received a text from Mrs***
inquiring about the status of her floor plan.
I reminded her that it typically takes one and a half weeks and it had
only been three and a half days.
On February
22nd, Mrs*** checked in with me
On February
24th, I sent the ***’s a draft of the floor plan. Mrs*** replied that she was happy with
the draft
On February
25th, the ***s requested changes to the plan.
On March 1st,
I sent her the requested changes. Some
of the changes the ***s requested had consequences they didn’t foresee and
they were upset with the results. Mrs
*** phoned me with the issues of the changes that were made and I sent her
another draft with the new changes within two hours. Once again they were very happy with work
they had received
On March 7th,
I was made aware of a meeting the ***’s had with their builder in regards
to the numerous sets of steps they wanted. The addition of the steps made the project
too pricey and so they asked me to remove the steps from the plans.
I sent the
revised floor plan to the ***s the next day and they came back with a small change to
the master bedroom entrance, and they were waiting on the builder with the
added costs
My office
was closed on March 14th, Mrs*** emailed us that afternoon to
let us know the builders price was good so they could continueI sent the
progress invoice on March 15th.
The ***s dropped off their payment that night
On March 21st
Mrs *** asked about the progress of her elevation. I told her I had a few things in front of her
project and I it was policy to process projects as they are received. There were no other plan changes from the
builder pricing, so I made the previously requested change and sent the revised
floor plan to her. Shortly thereafter, I
heard from another designer that Mrs*** had called him about doing her
plans. I told him I would send them the CAD file and he was to offer them a discount off his feeAfter concluding my phone call
with him, I emailed the ***s informing them I was terminating our business
relationship. I wanted their address so
that I could mail them a check for reimbursement for the progress invoice I also emailed them the CAD file of their
plans. The CAD file is the property of
Farris Design Group, our price for the addition of the CAD file starts at $500. I
gave them the file in good faith and was under no obligation to give it to
them. I didn’t charge them for it nor did
I ask for anything in return
I have
documentations to back everything I have listed in this letter and have
attached everything in my email

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my dispute.
Please enter your reason(s) for rejecting the business response below.
Regards,
[redacted]
[redacted] has given the Revdex.com false statements and inaccurate timelines and conversations that took place between us. That is simply unacceptable and unprofessional. She included what made her look good and what was to her advantage.[redacted] never informed us that she wasn't an architect. She omitted the fact that she's just a "building designer", and unlicensed and incapable of doing our blue print.[redacted] claimed to you (the Revdex.com) that 2 out of the 5 weeks she worked with us was spent WAITING on us and the builder- that's a LIE! She said she was only left with 3 weeks to complete our floor plan- LIE! (The only time she had to wait was March 8-14 while we were waiting on the builder's price for our house. I've included proof.)We met [redacted] on Feb. 11, which is when we paid her $550 to do step 1 of our house blue print, which is the interior floor plan. She informed us that it takes a week and a half to get done. I texted [redacted] on Feb. 17 asking if the floor plan was done. It wasn't ready yet. [redacted] told you (the Revdex.com) that it had only been 3 days when I asked if the floor plan was done- that's a LIE! Feb. 11-17 was already a week! (I included attached proof.) I texted her again on Feb. 22 asking if it was done, again it still wasn't ready. Finally, on Feb. 24 (2 weeks total) [redacted] emailed me the floor plan at 11 pm. I never told her it was perfect or that we were completely happy with it. After receiving the floor plan on Feb. 24, I texted her Feb. 25 in the morning letting her know that changes needed to be made. (I've attached proof.)[redacted] didn't listen to our changes at all and completely changed the house exterior and did her own thing. The day we met her (Feb.11) I showed her specific pictures of what we wanted the house to look like. I let her know that we weren't happy with the changes she made and she fixed them.On March 6, our builder informed us that some details of our house would be costly so I immediately let [redacted] know that we needed to make certain changes to the floor plan. These simple changes required removing steps.On March 8, I informed [redacted] that we were waiting to find out the builder's price for our house and I also asked her to move the placement of the master bedroom door.From March 8-14, I didn't hear back from [redacted] about the minor change. She was "out of the office" on March 14.On March 15, I texted her AGAIN asking if she made the minor change to the master bedroom door. She informed me that she was very busy and had to stop accepting new clients because she couldn't keep up with work. She gave me the excuse that she hadn't fixed the floor plan because she was waiting to see if there were anymore changes. (I had already told her that we were good to move onto step 2. I've attached proof.)On March 21, I texted her again asking if she could send me the fixed floor plan. She said she wouldn't fix the floor plan (which is step 1 and was already paid for) until she moved into step 2, which is the house elevations. Step 2 required $600 but [redacted] hadn't finished step 1 that we already paid for. She said our floor plan would go in her "queue" with all her other clients and that several big jobs were in front of ours, some requiring 8-10 hours! (I've attached proof.) Let me reiterate that on March 8, we were satisfied with the floor plan and ready to move onto step 2 (once the minor door placement change was made.) So from March 8-21 [redacted] had made ZERO progress on our floor plan and still hadn't moved onto step 2.She worked with us from Feb. 11- March 21. That's a total of 5 weeks and 4 days. We were running out of time and needing to start building our house ASAP. So on March 21, I talked to a different "designer" company and wanted him to take over and finish our blue print since [redacted] had just told me (through text) that she wouldn't be working on the elevations anytime soon. So he called [redacted] and she LIED to him and said that she had ALREADY STARTED WORKING ON OUR ELEVATIONS! She refused to hand our floor plan over to him and after she got off the phone with him, she emailed me terminating our business relationship and sent me the CAD file. The CAD file was part of what we paid for so far in the process. She didn't give us a $500 CAD file free. She DID NOT reimburse us the $550 that we wasted on trusting her to do a job that she's incapable of.

I did not make statements, my time line is based on our day
work week and I included the dates in my previous reply so the timeline would
be clearI also included documentation to back up my statements with my
previous reply
The afternoon of March to the late morning of March is 1/
business daysI also mentioned in my previous response that we did not provide
a first draft until the 24th, I was not hiding itI also never stated she said
"it was perfect or that we were completely
happy with it", to use Mrs[redacted] wordsHer exact response was "You did
an amazing job! I love how you were able to make it to where the closets
don't take away from the bedrooms' square footage! I will talk to my husband
and call you in the morningI think there are a few minor changes that we need
to make, but nothing huge(I'm so excited!!!) (copied exactly from the previously attached
email)As far as Mrs[redacted] assertion that I misstated conversations, I
honestly have no idea what she is referring toI backed up the time line and
statements with actual dates, texts and emails.
I am
attaching our agreement, and photos of our signs, none of which indicated we
are other than building designersI have designed hundreds of homes for happy
clients
As
indicated previously
I know Mrs
[redacted] believes that we just made whatever plan changes we wantedThat is
just not the caseAs I explained to her(on
the phone), that was the way the changes she requested would work outShe
didn't like it, so we sent more
changes within a couple of hours. (I have attached images of the time of the voicemail, the time of my return call, the time I returned the call and made the change, and a pdf of the email of the revised plan.) It is not always possible to work things
out just the way the clients request, there are clearances and space
requirements that need to be consideredEvery exterior wall change affects the
roof layout, which affects the exterior appearance of a home
Her reply to
the changes
"Thank you for working so hard on our blue print!! We
really appreciate it! I'm calling the builder nowWe are very excited and love
this new floor plan! " Text from Mrs[redacted] March 2nd
The [redacted]
had a floor plan to take to the builder on March 2. Removing the steps was a result of the
[redacted] conversation with their builderOn March they requested the master
entrance change and stated they were " just waiting on the builder's
price quote to continue on with the blue print."( see
attached email)The [redacted] gave the go ahead by email at 8pm on Sunday
March Our office took March 14th off for a one day Spring BreakWe received
payment the evening of the 15. From the
2nd to the 15th is almost two weeks, as I stated previously
Any of our clients are welcome to take as long as they wish
reviewing their project, with or without their builderSome take a few days,
others take monthsWhen clients come back to release their project to move
forward we work them in with other projects that are in various stages. I told Mrs[redacted] we had a "few"
projects in front of hers( see previous text attachment) Few is a small
number by definitionI indeed said we had tasks from 1-hours to 8-hours
Even at four at hours that is only
two days workNothing insurmountable
Typically when a client is waiting on pricing, we wait to
make any requested changes all at onceWhich actually saves the clients money
& just makes senseFortunately the budget came in where the [redacted]
wanted and no additional changes were needed.
Regardless whether it is
weeks business days, or weeks days, which are equivalent, It was still
out of our hands from March to March That is why I included the actual dates
in this and the original response
On March 21, Mrs[redacted] called [redacted] Drafting, Mr[redacted] and
I have a friendly relationship, as I do with other designers I come acrossI did not tell him we were working on the
Front Elevation, nor did I decline to hand over the floor planTo the contrary
It is my understanding, I have no proof, that Mr[redacted] was willing to give
the [redacted] a discount because I sent the CAD fileAccording to our
agreement, the CAD file is the property of [redacted] Design Group and is available
to the client for an additional fee, the client has no right to the CAD file,
only to any printed material and the pdfI offered the CAD file simply so that
the [redacted] could move on with whatever designer they chose
Note: that Mrs [redacted] also filed a complaint
against Mr[redacted]
Almost all of our projects
are Custom Designs, not something picked off a shelf, creating a design
requires a significant amount of timeIt can be hours or hours to come up
with the right solution at any phase of a projectAlmost all of our new clients
are referrals from past and current clients
We provided the [redacted] with a floor plan, and a CAD file which
exceeds the $the [redacted] paidWe ended our agreement due to the
[redacted] contacting another designer to complete their projectAll our clients
are important to us, we work each project in the order we receive the go ahead ,and
progress payment from the clientUnfortunately, We cannot stop what we are
doing for one client when another is ready to move forward
I wish the [redacted] the best of luck and happiness in their new
home
Best Regards, Susan Farris

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my dispute.
Please enter your reason(s) for rejecting the business response below.
Regards,
[redacted]
This woman is just going to keep lying so I'm done wasting my time. She twisted everything to try and make herself seem "innocent", as if she was a pleasure to work with. I DID file a complaint against Ms. [redacted] AND [redacted] Drafting because they are both horrible "building designers". I've made sure that everyone I know in a wide range of cities knows which "building designers" to pick and who to stay FAR away from. That's the important thing. So that no one else makes the same mistake we did. The third place we picked (that finished our ENTIRE blue print in less than a week!!) was amazing and friendly and we have recommended them to everyone we know. (And we know a lot of people.)