Our Experience in Detail Page 7

9/14/2011

On 9/14/2011 without hearing anything from Peter from almost 3 weeks I sent him the following email with no response.

Peter,

We have a number of concerns in relation to how the kitchen renovation has gone thus far.

1. Both Erika and I are in a fog as to what our budget is on materials up to this point for any items other than when we went and picked out the wood flooring as to which you told us to keep it between $2-4 a sq. ft. This was one of the reasons I was asking for an itemized list so that both parties had clear understanding of what the budget was and how we can plan and pick out the items we would most be happy with without any confusion. When I asked you about having a buffer so we wouldn’t go over budget, you said there was a buffer built in. I don’t see any buffer in anything.b. In regards to the living room you had stated that it would be $2,610 for everything, yet when it came to needing the quarter round you were wanting to charge an additional extra $500. Which I think is outrageously expensive. So what does the word “everything” mean to you? That is part of the flooring, is it not? An itemized invoice or estimate would have clearly stated what we would be getting for $2610 but as of right now it looks like $2610 only got the floor put down and not everything. The flooring looks unfinished and we noticed several areas throughout were there are gaps.
2. The cabinet guys came over and showed us samples and said they would come back with the stain examples we wanted but we have never heard anything back from them. You even stated that you would be by with samples before anything got made and in the last email we received you wrote that the cabinets would be here in about two and a half weeks. But as of yet we have not seen any samples.
3. In regards to the flooring for the kitchen, I am hearing that our budget is now .50 – 1.50 a sq. ft. which again I believe is outrageously low. Have you not seen the pictures of what we wanted? Given this new development I am concerned your budget is not going to be in line with anything we want going forward without substantial up charges. Travertine alone is more than double what you are budgeting for. So can I go with the assumption that everything you budgeted going forward falls in line with this type of estimating? I thought I had made this clear at the beginning in our conversation in this regard to making sure you were on the same page as us and we would get a loan that met the expectations of what we wanted. Going forward I can only assume now that everything we will want will be a considerable up charge.
4. We went up to the Dal-Tile and met with Memo, as you instructed, thinking he would point us in the right direction as to what we should be looking for. Memo was caught off guard and had no idea where to point us to. Furthermore, this helped again lead me to believe that you are not communicating well with us or with your suppliers.
   1. Going thru the granite we now understand there are six different levels of granite. We can only assume that you only budgeted for level 1? I recall you making the point on how great your granite prices were and that you could get a good deal. Giving off the impression that you do this a lot, yet when we got to Dal-Tile we had zero guidance from Memo. Giving the impression that this was the first time you had ever done this.
   2. We didn’t see level 1 granite we liked.
5. In regards to the dropping a new circuit in the kitchen, again $1500 is outrageous, I called an electrician and got a quote of $250-$300 for a new circuit but he stressed to me that I could pull of the existing circuit for puck lights and they wouldn’t pull more than 2 amps. So going forward are all your prices marked up 500%? How can we trust you now going forward with anything?
   1. I am doing this exact thing in my attic above the garage myself to put a light and plug in
   2. So why would I not hire an electrician and pay $300 rather than have you do it for $1500, I would need my head checked.

How do we move forward and get the kitchen done with any expectation level based on your original estimate? Because it seems apparent to us that you lowballed everything to get the job, but once we signed the contact you could make up the difference as the project progresses. All these concerns support the argument that your estimating are not in line with what we want. And that everything we are going to want is does not fall within the estimate of the $26,100.

Up to this point the only thing we have gotten done is the floor in the living room and even that has an up charge. We talked about travertine since day 1 and that is an upcharge. The granite, clearly if we don’t like level 1, that is an upcharge. Electrical for puck lights, upcharge.

So clearly everything we are wanting has an upcharge. At this point it does not seem that you can deliver what we want based on your original estimate. Since it seems that your original estimate does not take into consideration any of the things we were wanting. How can we have faith that we can get anything done and that it is not going to cost us another $5000.

If you wish to call me on my cell phone- xxx-xxx-xxxx or home phone xxx-xxx-xxxx to discuss our concerns.