I thought that moving back home to Texas,"Keeping Austin Weird", was going to be from afar. As a real estate investor, I deal with many residential and commercial entities. I am truly baffled.
I hired Amy to remodel a midrange home (if it was a car, it would be an Acura) for my personal home. I was upfront in saying that I did not want to price this home out of the market when/if I sell. She stated that "I would not be doing my job if I didn't". Great.
I met with her team the day after I closed to get things started as I had 3 months before I would move into the home. They were truly adorable and knowledgeable and said all the right things. I was so excited to have found them.
After two weeks, I contacted her to check in and she stated she had a surprise, hang in there. After no word, 4 weeks later, I told her I need something... a plan, some numbers... something... She sent me a few quotes and one was for painting about 3/4 of the interior of the home and the cost was ab $23K. When I expressed my concern and explained that I just paid less to paint the INSIDE and OUTSIEE of a larger home in SoCal (La Jolla), she said prices were not much less in Austin,-- comparable-- and I should expect that (she really said that).
The next day, she sent me a design and quote for a "simple , courtyard" for my pet(s) for $35-$40K. It was WAY OVERKILL for what I told her I wanted. I decided to get some second quotes, so I could have peace of mind and know that Amy was looking after my best interest. I scheduled quotes for 2 stone workers for a courtyard and 3 Austin painters, 2 by way of suggestion and one random with good credentials. The highest quote came back at 1/3 of Jameson's price on the paint and less than ¼ for the court yard. Okay, fine...
I told her that we were on different pages about this project, to please wrap it up as I would not be using her services. She sent me a bill for $5K, with no itemization. Just a bill and said she would return my house key and documents after I paid her bill. Ha! That's it. I feel as if I'm missing something BIG here but, apparently no. K read more