In short, do not hire Ward 5 Design for project management as they will charge you an arm and a leg…read morefor the materials. They are mean and not trustworthy. I regret so much hiring them. Below is the details...
Ward 5 Design told me and stated in their proposal that their project management fee includes full trade discount access to their retail partners as they make sure I am getting the best price. Therefore, I hired them for full service at a rate of over $12,000, which includes design and project management.
I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the material invoice at around $32,000 from Ward 5 Design. Thank god for google, I was able to find a lot of the same materials online at a much cheaper price. Ward 5 Design's price for some items are 73% more than the price for the same items you can find on Signature Hardware and build.com. Ward 5 Design charges a 10% shipping and handling fee on top of everything, which makes the 73% to 90% and Signature Hardware and build.com offer FREE shipping.
I asked Ward 5 Design about the high price on the materials, they told me they will never honored any trade discount, instead they will charge a slight markup. I was so disappointed and mad that I was deceived by them. Because I did not want to overpay for all the materials, I decide to do the procurement myself (despite I am super busy). As a result, I was able to get better upgrades with the money saved. Ward 5 Design told me I have $4,233 outstanding in design/management fees, but they can reduce this to $2,500 (reduction of $1,733) as I am handling the procurement. And they will continue to do weekly site visits for 6 weeks with the contractor.
Eventually, I decided to terminate the contract with Ward 5 Design because they did not effectively manage the project after I handled the procurement. No one from Ward 5 Design reached out to me to check on the status of procurement or any changes to the design plan. They also failed to notice a mistake by the contractor in the shower.
Ward 5 Design told me that I still owed them $2,500 upon termination of the contract despite the fact that they would not perform the remaining 6 site visits. The contract required me to pay service provided up to date and a 10% termination fee. The 10% termination fee was $1,269.50, in which I was happy to pay. I asked for detailed evidence to support the $2,500 outstanding charge, but Ward 5 Design did not provide any. Instead, they insisted on charging me $2,500 and threatened to forward the full bill at $4,233 to collections and filing a mechanics lien against me if I did not pay $2,500 in 10 days. Under such threat, I paid $2,500 by the due date. I tried to get some refund back by filing a complaint with Better Business Bureau, but of course I failed to get any money back.
Ward 5 Design responded to the compliant saying I had buyer's remorse and did not explain the lie of trade discount and instead charge huge markup on materials. This is not the way to treat their clients. I was very disappointed. I will not give Ward 5 Design any future business and will not recommend them to anyone.