Costing price a total disappontment
To be honest, my husband and I are still reeling at the sticker price of the projected Reno cost for our modest 120 sq ft addition. In fact, we are pretty disappointed and feel that our $1695 investment to “talk” out our vision for the project and get a line by line costing sheet was NOT at all worth it. There were items on the cost sheet not even applicable to our project. It was so unprofessional - the line by line breakdown didn’t include our 8ft and 4ft expansion but instead our old numbers and a grossly huge ERROR of adding $30,000 of other fees from a different project whose presentation had been overwritten and put together last minute. The low to high options varied so much and the low end was still out of our budget and they admitted “no one goes for the low end”.
We feel we have grossly overpaid by for this price breakdown which we could have gotten for free from any other honest contractor. When we asked for at least part of our money back they ignored us and failed to recognize their gross errors in pricing. We also paid $450 in drawings which were not even accurate, which in most cases, your architect will provide.
We sought out Walden for their quality workmanship, honesty and transparency and didn’t get any of this. We felt it was not worth proceeding with them if they couldn’t address our concerns for the simple stuff. This costing sheet felt more like a money grab more than anything else. Learn from our mistakes: you should not have to pay so much money upfront to get so little in return.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $2,147.00
- Company Response
We are really sorry you are upset about your experience in working with us during the Feasibility Assessment. Our aim is to ensure all parties understand the financials of a potential project from a costing standpoint. Determining feasibility is the purpose of the initial assessment.
We also want to point out that we definitely did not ignore you or fail to offer a response to your concerns. When you notified us of your concern and demanded a refund, we promptly responded within three hours, the same day, where we offered the following (summarized from the original email):
"We are definitely concerned that you feel that way and would like to address it. We want to work together, so I would definitely like to arrange a call if you're open to that. If the numbers are, in fact, that far off from what you expected, we need to work out the fine details. It can require an additional meeting (or two.) We are happy to do that, we want to create a project, collaboratively, that delivers value and makes you comfortable. You said you came to us for our quality workmanship, honesty and transparency - we need to know your budget and work together so we can meet both your budget and your expectations. Please let us know if you are open to that."
You never replied to that message.
As for the measuring drawings, the $450 you paid was to a third party site measurement company. This was a direct cost from them, which you approved prior to them providing this service. If there are errors in the drawings, the measurement company would come back to correct an error.
We pride ourselves on being transparent and open with our prospective and existing clients. Sometimes our pricing isn't in line with their project budget and we don't end up working together. We wish you all the best moving forward with your project.