Downsized to a different part of the state, and much smaller house. Intent was to put an addition on one side of the house, as well as the rear; garage, shop, master bedroom/bath, great room, bonus room. Approximately doubling the size of the house. (Downsize, then upsize!)
Retained an architect based on a solid rec. Current house is 40 years old in a 3200 home woodsy/lakes community established about 50 years ago. In the late 70's, additional land was deeded to each lakefront homeowner so each homeowner was responsible for the shoreline.
Fast forward to today. Architect drew up initial concept drawings and we loved them. Just a few tweaks needed. Started lining up a few trades, maybe break ground in a month or 6 weeks!! Stupid me...
On his own, he then contacted zoning officer's secretary. Secretary then gave him the OLD land drawings from before the additional shoreline property was deeded to owners. So our lot appeared on paper to be 25% smaller, as well as the setbacks being incorrect (rear of the house had an additional 50 feet of space in the new deed reducing any possibility of setback encroachment to zero). Architect then redesigns the whole rear of the house in the concept drawings to reflect our perceived encroachment without telling me one word of any of this problem.
One month goes by, staying in contact with him with a few texts on progress status. No mention of redesign or issues. We get new concept drawings and they were radically different, almost everything he changed, we hated. Next day I get an invoice for $8k for the redesign and zoning changes.
He knows I am a contractor (cabinetmaker/kitchens), while I am not a civil engineer or architect, I can speak the language. All he had to do was say, "we have a problem", or "help me figure this out".
Did he do work? Yes. Was he at fault for bad info passed to him? No. But to do a redesign where it wasn't needed, without saying a word for one month, then billing me for every minute....infuriating.
(You're up next, Vaughn...always enjoy your stories)
Retained an architect based on a solid rec. Current house is 40 years old in a 3200 home woodsy/lakes community established about 50 years ago. In the late 70's, additional land was deeded to each lakefront homeowner so each homeowner was responsible for the shoreline.
Fast forward to today. Architect drew up initial concept drawings and we loved them. Just a few tweaks needed. Started lining up a few trades, maybe break ground in a month or 6 weeks!! Stupid me...
On his own, he then contacted zoning officer's secretary. Secretary then gave him the OLD land drawings from before the additional shoreline property was deeded to owners. So our lot appeared on paper to be 25% smaller, as well as the setbacks being incorrect (rear of the house had an additional 50 feet of space in the new deed reducing any possibility of setback encroachment to zero). Architect then redesigns the whole rear of the house in the concept drawings to reflect our perceived encroachment without telling me one word of any of this problem.
One month goes by, staying in contact with him with a few texts on progress status. No mention of redesign or issues. We get new concept drawings and they were radically different, almost everything he changed, we hated. Next day I get an invoice for $8k for the redesign and zoning changes.
He knows I am a contractor (cabinetmaker/kitchens), while I am not a civil engineer or architect, I can speak the language. All he had to do was say, "we have a problem", or "help me figure this out".
Did he do work? Yes. Was he at fault for bad info passed to him? No. But to do a redesign where it wasn't needed, without saying a word for one month, then billing me for every minute....infuriating.
(You're up next, Vaughn...always enjoy your stories)
