ComplaintsforThe Lane Group Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  11/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We have experienced the great misfortune of hiring ** ******* **** of The Lane Group as an architect. Unfortunately, we have found that **** lacks moral character, did not align his work with our needs, and engaged in abusive and deceptive pricing practices. We provided a simple goal to renovate a large bedroom into two bedrooms. The architect did not provide any guidance on cost of what he was designing and ended up designing something so far above budget that he suggested we not even bother moving forward. He was more interested in what we could spend than what we wanted. He said he was unable to provide any estimates before beginning work and never asked our budget, but after about 6 weeks provided those estimates. After meetings detailing our budget which he acknowledges in writing he continued to work on his vision of our remodel instead of adjusting towards our budget. He never once offered any attempt to fix things, an apology, or even acknowledging that we are unhappy with his work.

  Business response

  12/12/2022

  Good afternoon Ms. ********:
  Attached please find correspondence from Mr. ****. 
  Thank you. 
  

  
  

  Customer response

  12/14/2022

  We have experienced the great misfortune of hiring ** ******* **** of The Lane Group as an architect.  In August, we decided that we would like to remodel our outdated upstairs guest suite. **** took it upon himself to research various architects and settled on **** Lane of the Lane Group. **** decided to go with the Lane Group because initially **** was very informative, experienced, personable, and able to provide us almost immediately with a sketch. We were not experienced with renovations and looked to hire someone to help us accomplish our goal and control costs. We believed we hired a professional that was a master in the area to guide us in the right direction. He is a good businessman and knows how to attract customers. We did find it interesting that the other architects we had investigated charged a flat rate and **** didn’t. We also knew ****** costs wouldn’t exceed 20% of the construction costs and had suspected those costs to be $80-85K from our other conversations and estimates. **** had never asked for a budget, but we assumed as worked progressed that would come up, we were clearly mistaken. Unfortunately, we have found that **** lacks moral character, did not align his work with our needs, and engaged in abusive and deceptive pricing practices.
  We first reached out to **** on 8/15 to inquire about their services and later had a phone call on 8/19 and an in-person visit on 8/22.   On the night of 8/31 we provided a verbal agreement to move forward with work followed by a written agreement on 9/1 and a $5,000.00 retainer check.  
  Within the first week (after the first invoice we received), we became concerned.  Prior to our agreement to move forward on 9/1, **** had billed us for 2.5 hours and another architect had 8 billable hours.  When asked about this, **** said he had a good feeling we’d choose them, so they decided to start work. We also questioned why each email exchanged with **** was a minimum of ½ hour billable charge at $185 per hour.  Please see the emails we received dated 8/24, 8/29, 8/30, and 8/31. All his responses were short and charged at $92.50 per email.  He also looked to increase the scope of the work with things such as item 3 of the contract to run A/C to an unrelated bathroom.
  On 9/23 we received a second invoice, and our concerns grew.  After gathering our thoughts, we replied to **** on 9/25 with some questions about the invoice. We let him know that although a budget had not been mentioned or asked about, we were suspecting the entire remodel (architect fees included) to cost $80,000-$85,000 and we were beginning to get quite concerned about the costs we were spending with him and the fact that he was continually finding more expensive design ideas for the space and increasing the cost. We let him know that we came up with this number because our downstairs at three times the size of the upstairs had been remodeled three and a half years prior at three times that cost ($250K).  We therefore assumed to have a comparable remodel of the upstairs; it would align with the same cost structure. We knew all the things **** was doing and charging were taking away from our $80-85K budget. 
  On 9/26 we received a shocking reply that did not sit well with us. Because of our budget, **** simply wanted to walk away from the project.  In this email, he can finally provide an estimate for the first time: He stated, “First, the Garage Apartment is 919 Square Feet, so I do not think you will make all the improvements with two full bathrooms and change the windows for less than $100 per square foot.  I think this project is estimated to be a min. of $175 per square foot.”  We were quite confused to be given estimates for the first time nearly 6 weeks after he had started work.  These numbers were now double our budget.  Why was he not able to provide these figures at the beginning?  He claims he has experience doing this type of work and certainly he could have made this calculation much earlier in the process and saved us all a lot of heartache and trouble. It appears his main goal was to increase costs to increase his fees. 
  **** had informed us that it wouldn’t be possible to provide an estimate for the work to be done before beginning and he provided no other indications of cost.  Given his use of percentage of cost fee structure, where he agrees to do work at an hourly rate of $185 for himself and various other rates for his employees capping at 20% of the work done, we had assumed his cost to be around $16,000-$17,000 at the most.  Please see his email from 8/30: “The percentage gives you an idea of the max.  We charge at our hourly rates”.  We did the simple math of $17,000/.2 = $85,000 for maximum project cost and that was acceptable.
  At this time, we felt very betrayed that he had never asked what our budget was, and he certainly had to have some idea.  If it was so important, why didn’t he ask us?  Why was he unable to provide an estimate at the beginning when we were making our decision?   We had reached out to a few other contacts such as the ************ *** ******* for help with how to proceed with the deteriorating relationship. We did learn that **** was one of the few architects to charge an hourly rate for such a small job, but, unfortunately, we decided to move forward with **** because we were already so financially invested. A lot of work had been done and we didn’t want to start from scratch with someone else when we were already over $10K in with him. We also thought that there wouldn’t be too many more charges since we already had sketches that met our satisfaction. 
  After further consideration, we set up a meeting on 10/5 in person to review the situation.  Surprisingly this meeting went very well. We were happy to discuss things in person. We had some items of the remodel moved to “bid items” to try and keep things within our now $140K budget. This way we could decide to have them done now or later when we got bids from the different contractors. We finally felt as though we were now all on the same page. We agreed upon a $140,000 budget and we all left the meeting feeling that our vision of the job was doable for this amount. 
  Please see the email sent on 10/10 from The Lane Group after that meeting where **** acknowledges that our budget for the project is $140K.  We felt a sense of relief to finally be on target but were nervous with the expanded budget since we initially were looking to spend under $90K.  We mistakenly assumed it would be better to try and finish work with The Lane Group instead of starting over with a new architect.  The only suggestion **** offered is that he can do additional work to make some of the items Bid Items.
  It is the period after that meeting on 10/5 where we feel that **** moves from simply being disconnected from our goal to abusing the contract for extra billable hours.  At this point we’ve had multiple email and in-person conversations, and he has written to acknowledge our budget.  However, he continued to work on his vision of our remodel without offering any changes to reduce costs and stay within our budget. 
  He and his employees continued to work and incur additional billable charges. Honestly, we aren’t completely sure of what many of the charges were for. Nothing on the designs looked any different to us, yet somehow, they were working 40+ hours on them a week! We received another bill for $9,000. 
  Shortly after, on 10/26, we had another in-person meeting. He and his wife came over and showed us all the things they had picked out for our upstairs to match with the style of the downstairs. His wife proposed several items we didn’t really care for that were seemingly unnecessary and expensive.  We found out that instead of working to help bring the project within our budget we had now been paying his wife to do things like pick out $600 light fixtures for the bathrooms.  They proceeded to show us items varying from paint color, cabinet handles, faucets, tile, counter tops, etc. He never asked if we wanted these things done, but just did them which was part of the $9,000 charge. This is something that we could have saved money on. Not only was his wife charging us $100 an hour to find and match these items, but she was also picking out top of the line products. They would say how what they picked out was so much nicer than the things we have downstairs. We would be completely happy with items to match our downstairs (which is what we requested), but he told us, “Those are cheap ones from **** *****, we need something nicer.” We never indicated we wanted to upgrade the guest area to be “much nicer” than the rest of our home. When they left that evening, we paid him the $9,000 we owed him. In addition, since we were concerned with how the fees were piling up with him, we wanted to confirm that he understood our $140K budget was to include him. He seemed astonished. We were just as shocked because we couldn’t understand how he would not think our budget was to include him. A budget is what you want to spend for the entire job, not part of it! 
  Please refer to ****** email from 10/27 (the morning after we met with him and gave him a $9,000 check that was already cashed). “I have attached my base bid cost estimate that I created this morning.  This estimate for the work is $172,386.82 without any of the (5) Bid Items.  As we were leaving yesterday, you said you also wanted the $140,000.00 budget goal to include our fees, which is a change from our previous understanding.”  The prior evening of 10/26 during the in-person meeting we had a suspicion that although we had agreed upon a budget it was not being adhered to.  Even without the misunderstanding about his fees being included in our budget, his quote for the design that he has made is $172K for the work to be done which is over the agreed upon budget. Also, this $172K doesn’t even account for a full remodel! In this same email, he again told us that he would advise us to walk away. He said it would be a waste of the contractors’ time because there was no way this job could be done within our budget.  “I suggest not bidding to three contractors but selecting *** ******* or **** ***** to work toward an acceptable cost; then, you negotiate an agreement. It would be unfair to the three contractors to waste their time with the current scope of work, knowing that the budget is much lower.”  Why is he so concerned with the contractors instead of his clients?  Is it because it’s his fees he is really concerned with?
  After all work stopped on 10/27, we notified **** on 11/7 that we were not satisfied with what had been done and all work should cease.  We still want the remodel done, but we no longer wanted to work with him. Please see our reply and request for returned funds in the 11/7 email. 
  He replied to us on 11/9. Rather than an attempt to fix it, an apology, or even acknowledging that we were unhappy he proceeds to explain why we should be satisfied with his work and still be able to use it. In addition, this email contained another bill in which **** stated he would be keeping our $5,000 retainer check and was seeking an additional $1,000 to cover the work that was done 10/19-10/27.
  He goes on further to finally acknowledge in his 11/9 email that there are ways to reduce the costs.  Although we have severed all ties with him at this point to cut our losses, perhaps out of sense of guilt **** goes on to propose 8 ways to reduce cost by approximately $30K.  Why is it only after we have parted ways that he is able to tell us ways to reduce the cost of his design and bring it in line with our goal?
  Perhaps it is because the design that **** made was his vision.  We provided a very simple goal for our renovation project.  We never asked for new doors, new floors, built in cabinets, premium hardware, ultimate windows, expensive light fixtures, etc.  The architect never provided any estimate on the costs or even options available to us.  The only one of the items he mentioned which we did ask for (closet doors) we never knew there was any cost difference, and he seems to hold that against us in his email.  We simply were never given a choice or voice on most of these decisions and were quite ignorant of the differences.  We hired an architect for help with things like this and simply never received it.  We are certain that this is not the typical experience one has when engaging a professional architect. The few items we were consulted on like hardware became simply not worth it.  As per item E in his email it is noted that changing hardware can save $480.  However, given the hourly rate the architect would charge to change the hardware we felt that asking for a change to less expensive hardware would cost us more in the end.  Also, why is the architect going out and picking out our hardware without consulting us? He never indicated that he was going to make these decisions for us.  We would have much preferred to choose our own things on our own time and not pay their hourly rate.
  His lack of moral character is displayed in not caring about our opinion of the work done and his disregard for cost or meeting our objectives.  His attitude is he is the only person with the ability to decide how our project should look, and what it will cost, in complete disregard for our goals and clearly expressed budget. His pricing practices are deceptive and abusive. He did not provide any guidance until almost 6 weeks after we started talking.  He actively moved forward with premium design elements not noting cost or alternatives although he clearly knew he was well above budget. 
  We are asking, as mentioned in our 11/7 email to **** to be refunded for all work done after the 10/5 meeting.  After this point he no longer had any excuse to not work towards our budget, yet he continued to move forward with his vision instead of ours.
  We’ve found resources for someone in our situation to be quite lacking and hope you will be able to help.  We’ve noted issues all along our dealings with the architect many of which are documented in writing via emails we can provide.  We’ve reached out to local *** *******, other professional contacts, lawyers, as well as the architect himself to try and seek resolution.

   

  Hello ********,
  
  Please see the attached accusation from the Lane Group's lawyer indicating that pursuing a claim with the Better Business Bureau is equivalent to defamation.  Are we not protected in sharing our experiences with you to try and help others avoid them?  They seem to be quite zealous about trying to have us withdraw our claim.   
  

  
  

  
  

  Customer response

  12/21/2022

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

   Complaint: ********

  I am rejecting this response because:

  The attachment from the business does not propose anything.  This is just a letter from their lawyer accusing us of being in the wrong by bringing a claim to the Better Business Bureau. 

  Regards,

  **** *****

  Business response

  01/05/2023

  ********,
  
  I've attached our response below for the case number referenced above. Please let me know if you have yet to receive it or have any questions. 
  
  Sincerely
  
  ** ******* ****
  President
  The Lane Group, Inc
  

  
  

  Customer response

  01/10/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

   Complaint: ********

  I am rejecting this response because:

  There is no offer in this response for us to accept.
  
  We don’t really see what purpose the Better Business Bureau is serving.  This seems to be more of a he said / she said.  We are unhappy with the work provided by the firm and don’t see what purpose it serves to have to keep going back and forth.  His responses make it very clear that he did not provide the services and knowledge that we were looking for when we hired an architect.
  
  We first talked to the firm on 8/15/22 and signed a contact on 8/31/22.    We were never given any estimates for the work to be done until we brought it up in the 9/25/22 email.  We don’t find it helpful that **** keeps mentioning industry standards but wouldn’t share that information with us prior to signing a contract.   The agreed upon budget was $140,000.  All of this is held in writing.  
  
  If there is a point to this then we are happy to go line by line through the responses provided to us and reply, however that doesn’t seem to be the case.  We are not interested in negotiating further work from a man or company in whom we have absolutely no trust.

  Regards,

  **** *****

  Customer response

  01/15/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

   Complaint: ********

  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  There is no offer in this response for us to accept.
  
  The issue has not changed regarding our view of abusive and deceptive pricing practices by the architect and his responses do nothing to dispel that nor do they offer any resolution.
  
  We first talked to the firm on 8/15/22 and signed a contact on 8/31/22. We were never given any estimates for the cost of work to be done until we brought it up in the 9/25/22 email.  We don’t find it helpful that **** keeps mentioning industry standards but wouldn’t share that information with us prior to signing a contract or even during the initial weeks. We had asked what to expect the project to cost but had been told that it was unrealistic for him to be able to provide any estimates before beginning work. 
  
  Our complaint focuses on the period after 10/5/22, when we had all agreed upon a $140,000 budget and **** acknowledges this budget in writing.  After that time instead of doing any work to help move his designs towards our budget, for example, he has his wife pick out high end fixtures against our wishes and against what was in the contract.  We aren’t really sure what they did to incur all those charges, but we are still left with incomplete blueprints and the need to hire another architect to proceed.  Please see our earlier messages for a detailed timeline and synopsis of our complaint.
  
  We hired an architect because we aren’t familiar with construction and believed we would benefit from his help and expertise, not be ridiculed for hiring him.  It’s quite a telling characteristic to see how he views his clients.  His responses make it very clear that he did not provide the services and knowledge that we were looking for when we hired an architect.
  
  The comment about us paying the invoices is quite confusing.  We certainly would be much happier if we had not paid and would have our retainer refunded.  In fact we’ve written and suggested as much.   We paid **** during a 10/26 meeting and the morning after cashing that final check is when he writes to us with an estimate of the work done.  We made it known that we are unhappy with all work done after that 10/5 meeting and if they would refund those costs we would not enter a complaint.
  
  During that time period he did $14,330 worth of work with zero intent to hold to the budget we had all agreed to.  It is deceptive to agree to a budget in writing as **** did and then later discuss how unrealistic it is.  The architect could have avoided all of this by not agreeing to that budget and informing us of everything he is saying now at that time. 

  Regards,

  **** *****

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