At first, I was so excited to use Steve Brimer. He was recommended to me by someone that had some minor work done by him and felt he was very honest. I loved the pictures of his work and really wanted to use him. He told me it would cost me $2,500 for the design itself and said it was not included in the price of the job. I hastily decided to pay that because I believed, based on his pictures, that I was going to get something really beautiful. We had already met and discussed that I had a $50,000 budget, not a penny more. He was great and told me that he should work with a $45,000 budget then since things always went over budget here and there.
During that first meeting, Steve asked me for my must haves. I told him my must haves was a new patio, a new BBQ and a fire pit. We also talked about moving the air conditioner at his suggestion. I asked for a ballpark of what each piece would cost and he felt comfortable taking the job at my budget.
So, he started the design process. It took a couple of months of meeting a couple of times to finally get the design down. AT NO TIME DURING THE ENTIRE DESIGN PROCESS, did Stve say that something was going to put us over budget.
So, we met for our budget meeting. I was excited because I really wanted to get the work started and asked him if the work could be done before Summer was over. I thought we would have completed this process way before.
Steve came over with his "estimate" and it was $90,000. What the hell!!! I gave him a budget of no more than $50,000. He apologized that he missed the mark. I told him there was no way this was happening. He continued to apologize and said he would go back to the drawing board and come up with something that was still going to be exciting but at my budget. But, he told me I might have to just get a stand alone BBQ and maybe a stand alone firepit and do propane and not do a gas line. SO ALL MY MUST HAVES I WOULD NOT BE GETTING. That wasn't going to work for me either.
I wrote him the next day and told him that I did not feel comfortable with what was happening and did not feel he could do the job at my budget. But, we set up a meeting for the next week in the hopes he would redo the design and come in within my budget.
The day before we were supposed to meet he told me he had to talk to me. He said he could not do the job at the price I wanted and that I should just use him as the architect and to go out and find another contractor to do his design at the cost I was asking for. I told him NO. I told Steve that I didn't want an architect. I hired a contractor to redo my backyard and he could not do it. I told him it was not fair that he has taken $1,200 from me and now he couldn't do the job. He said he worked hard on the plans and I was paying him for those plans. But, the plans were for a job that was costing $90,000. Again, he never told me that he was going over budget during the planning process.
He angrily asked me if I wanted my money back and I said yes. He said fine and hung up on me. Well, I never have seen my money. It has been a few weeks. I told him I was going to take him to Small Claims Court to get my money back. He told me I was going to get it but he has been busy. Well, I gave him another week to get me the money. Still no money. So, now I am taking him to Small Claims Court.
I would not recommend Brimer Design Construction unless you are wealthy and your budget does not matter. I feel I was scammed by Mr. Brimer as I am a single mother. He takes the money for a design that he knows full well he can never do. If I wanted an architect, I would have hired one. I believed in Mr. Brimer and he let me down and now I am out $1,200. Well, I have the text from him saying he was going to give me back my money so that is all I need for the courts. read more