Legal Question in Business Law in Florida

My wife and I are in the process of designing a custom floor plan to be built. We hired an independent company that works hand in hand with the builder we are looking to build with. My wife and I did not sign formal documents however; we did receive the email with regards to the process and fees, which is listed below. We have since run into issues related to attention to detail, are floor plan change requests are not all being added to the floor plan, the designer is adding things we didn't approve, designer is deleting items on the floor plan and forgetting to re add them. The designer last week stated he was going to start charging us more, we pushed back in an email and it wasn't brought up again. We have since gotten a new floor plan revision with items deleted off and items not added from 3 different requests.

We no longer trust the designer in his capability to design our home and everything we want in it. What do I need to do to dissolve our agreement?

email for process and funds

It was good to meet you and your wife. I love to work with people on their new homes.

The drafting/design process starts with my creating a preliminary design based on our discussions. I take a $2,000 deposit to start. These drawings contain the floor plan, all four elevations and the site plan. Basic idea here is to keep changing this preliminary design until you are satisfied that it meets your needs. It doesn’t really matter how many times I need to change the drawings. We want to get it as right as possible at this point.

Once you decide that this is probably the design, I start to draw the “Bid Set”. It is at this point that you pay the balance of the drafting fee. This set contains the floor plans, foundation plans, electrical plans, all four elevations, roof plan, site plan, and all of the detail plans. It is basically a complete set of plans but missing engineering. This set is sufficient for all of the subs and suppliers to make their estimates and bids to Belvedere. The Engineering and permit set is the final set that I do. By engineering, I mean that I calculate all of the hardware to secure the home against environmental conditions, hurricanes, etc. I then submit this set to our outside engineer for review. Once he is satisfied, he signs and seals the plans and they can then be submitted to Hillsborough County for issuance of a building permit.

There are other times when potentially I have to change the plans. This is usually driven by a client request for a change. I do not make a charge for this.

The $1.25 is inclusive of all of the drawings and design process ( the deposit is included in the $1.25 under roof) - there is no other charge from me for plans, blueprints, etc. Yes, you get plenty of sets during the process. Normally at the end of any meeting between us, I will give you the latest set to take with you. I will also provide a PDF set if requested.


Asked on 2/10/21, 5:28 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Frank Natoli Natoli-Legal, LLC

This needs to be properly parsed out.

I suggest that you consult with a lawyer in private and discuss your best course of action in more detail. You can start by calling around to several for a free phone consultation, get some insights then pick the best fit to work with.

If you would like to discuss further over a free phone consult, feel free to contact me anytime that is convenient.

Our firm is now referred by the American Bar Association (see under the New York section): http://www.americanbar.org/groups/delivery_legal_services/resources/programs_to_help_those_with_moderate_income.html

Kind regards,

Frank

www.LanternLegal.com

866-871-8655

[email protected]

DISCLAIMER: this is not intended to be specific legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. No attorney-client relationship is formed on the basis of this posting.

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Answered on 2/10/21, 7:25 am


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