Matt W Stevens Landscape Architect LLC

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: This response from Matt Stevens highlights our concernsMainly, you can see that there is no accepting of responsibility for the difficulties encountered in this transactionWhat is clear is that Matt is unwilling to see the other side of the present scenarioWhen we originally contracted with Matt Stevens, we chose him because we thought he was experienced in designing outdoor kitchens and looked to him as the professional who could best design what we were looking for, keeping practicality and esthetics in mindThe agreement was that he was going to provide us with a formal design and bids for the construction of the kitchen so he could see it through to its competition, which he did not. First, he did design us a kitchen, which we trusted from his "experience" and "professional status" would be ideal for our patio and needsHowever, when he completed the plans he did not provide us with a single bidOnce we sought out and received our first bid from a contractor it was clear Matt Stevens did not design a kitchen that was practical or could be built without many tweaks to the plan and expensive changes to the structure of our homeWhen we contacted Matt Stevens to express our concerns for the current plan, his response was unhelpful and defensiveHe essentially provided a list of his resume, but offered no resolution for the problem or concern for our disappointmentWe then decided to seek out more contractors to see if any of them could build out the kitchen Matt Stevens designed for us (contractors total)We showed each of them the plan he designed and they all independently said the same thing: "This is not a practical design." Again, Matt Stevens did not provide any resolution or concern for his design and was defensive. What needs to be understood is that throughout the entire design process with Matt Stevens, we were relying on his expertiseHe seemed to be caught off guard that we were dissatisfied after all was said and done, but we were just as surprised and disappointed that the plan Matt Stevens provided was not one that any contractor supported or thought was practicalWhen we told him the plan "looked good!" on July 19th as he stated, we thought it did look good, because we were unaware of all the problems pointed out by the contractors. The realities that we have encountered since beginning construction are that Matt Stevens did not account for gas line placement, electricity or the accurate measurements of items that he was given by us to be installedUltimately we paid him $for a plan that he did not follow through on with any bids and no one has agreed to completeHe offered no solutions or change to his plans to accommodate these concernsHe only offered a discount of $and has been highly defensive along the waySince we have stepped away from this process disappointed and disillusioned we also have concerns that he is misrepresenting time spent on our planAs we reviewed his time sheet we noticed he accounted for more time at out house than was spent thereHe counted his drive time to and from our house, which was never told to us up frontWe also consulted other professionals in his line of work who looked at his plan and said there was no way he spent the time he is claiming he spent on this amount of workAll of this leads us to believe he inflated his hours spent on our project. Ultimately after our experience we do not trust Matt Stevens' characterWe feel that he is unwilling to acknowledge our perspective, and he could not offer any solutions to the project other than refunding a very small portion of our moneyWe definitely would have loved to resolve this allHowever, even when we reached a resolution that was ultimately just us settling for since he wouldn't offer anything else, he ultimately did not follow through as he said he was going to doWe are so unhappy that we have made a formal complaint to his licensing board as well as this Revdex.com complaint and he is still defensive and not at all concerned with our satisfaction of his design.Regards,*** ***
Regards,
*** ***

September 23, 2015 [redacted], DR Specialist Revdex.com Corporate...

Office 1005 La Posada Drive Austin, Texas 78752 Re: Owner Response to Complaint #[redacted] Thank you for the opportunity to provide background on the above referenced complaint. The clients signed a contract for the amount of $1,250, based on an estimated number of hours that would be needed to design an outdoor kitchen/front & back porch enhancements, in collaboration with the two of them. The contract was signed on 6.1.15. This included developing a plan in AutoCAD with an exclusion of additional services such as bidding or supervising construction. The invoice was paid by the clients in four incremental payments of $312.50 each between June 4th and July 23rd. At the clients' request, I later completed additional revisions at no charge, after the final payment, as late as August 12th. Our original plan, though not stipulated in the contract, was to obtain bids to share with the client for the completion of the work. This often takes some time, and the client had a short timetable, so I later suggested they work directly with a contractor, to expedite the process. The contractor contacted mentioned that they would do things differently and that they draft plans as part of their installation price. Specifically, the contractor thought it convenient to move the kitchen grill closer to a gas line stub out near the house. In previously discussing the L-shaped kitchen design/layout, we had talked about a usable work space that would still allow for pedestrian access to the side and back yard areas, a decision made collaboratively with the clients. This was the reason behind the particular grill location utilized. I take exception to the statement of not providing modifications when contractors deemed the plan to be unrealistic, as this was never requested of me. I never heard of an issue with electrical tie-in. I also never heard of any problems with measurements. Any information I had on dimensions of particular appliances I had received from the clients, who reviewed the final plan prior to payment. I encouraged the client to obtain additional bids, and I provided him with direct contact information for the contractors I had reached out to previously, in case that would be helpful; apparently the clients didn't receive a response. On August 21st, the client asked me for an accounting of the hours I had spent on the project, asking for a refund for any hours not spent. I concurred with the request, documenting 15 hours vs. the 10 hours in the contract and 2 meetings vs. the 1 meeting in the contract. The contract did stipulate allowance for charges above the time estimated, which I never invoiced despite the additional modifications made. The client questioned 2 hours of travel time related to the meetings, despite an overage of hours and meetings stipulated in the contract. I developed six iterations of the plan in AutoCAD, saving seven iterations (with an additional option) to PDF, between the dates of 6.11.15 and 8.12.15, with copies on hand.
On August 30th, I heard from the client again, stating that he wanted to proceed with reporting me to the Texas Board of Landscape Architects. He also said he and his wife did not wish to go this route and for me to let them know if I was willing to discuss any other options for resolution. Since the hours spent had been brought up previously and the request for a refund, I did offer for his consideration a 20% refund in the amount of $250 — not because the hours hadn't been spent, but simply as a token of good faith, if that would be agreeable in lieu of his formal complaint.
The client replied on September 1 st indicating he would be willing to accept such an offer — but then on that same date, I received an e-mail indicating a review on my [redacted] account. This was a very negative review and mentioned inflating hours, charging for travel time, being untrustworthy, etc. I was shocked to see this, having just offered but not yet sent a partial refund voluntarily, as a token of good will.
On September llth, I heard from the client, inquiring about this aforementioned possible payment. I mentioned my shock at the [redacted] review — and even then, I offered once again to still send this offered payment, but I did ask that he no longer post or file complaints on the matter. He responded by stating he did intend to provide others with knowledge of his experience. He then said that if a full refund of $1,250 were to be made, he would be happy to take down negative reviews and not post any more — and that he planned to move forward with a board complaint if he didn't receive a check. I responded by saying there would not be a refund.
I am very sorry indeed for the clients' perception of the matter, failing to see my good will and best intentions in providing my service to them. This may be a case of buyers' remorse, as the clients came across a contractor who would provide a free design. I'm sorry I didn't know of that option for them in advance. Nevertheless, my time was spent in producing a design at their direction. After receiving one of the last copies sent on July 19th, they stated, "Looks good to us!" I did try to extend an olive branch to end on a better note, but we see this quite differently.