Archetype Design & Construction

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• By Rob K.

  December 5, 2022

  Retaining Wall

  $100,000

  I agree with Tina K with their review. We had a retaining wall that needed to be completed. This occurred during 2021-early 2022. There was a subcontractor that was referred to us based in NYC. However, they were using Reema's Home Improvement Number as a way to work on the project. Reema assured that they were more than competent to complete. This should have been a first warning for us, but because my folks could communicate with these guys we went ahead.

  There was an obstacle that during construction, however, the engineer told them how to work through it and to follow the plans that he provided. However, their subcontractor continued to undermine the engineer and stated that there was concern about the angle and depth-how it was a safety issue. This was addressed by the engineer, yet they still decided to not follow the plan fully. Instead of excavating to the depth of the plan, they didn't dig deep enough. They called the inspector and did not disclose their concern about angle and depth, which the inspector was unaware of and approved them to continue. This was extremely unethical and the went and filled for the foundation.

  Second inspection came and they failed them. The subcontractors then said we had to pay for them to essentially start the project over. Unfortunately we had our hands tied and it would have been difficult to arrange another contractor.

  While this whole situation occurred Reema was not responsive.

  The project was completed, however with and extra 50k above what was quoted. We are in the process of trying to serve them, either Reema or the subcontractors. However, they have not responded. If they felt that nothing was wrong, they would go ahead and respond to the subpoena.

  The subcontractors was Jinglin Yan and Yudeng (Donald) Pan. They have a phone number of 646-667-6809 or 607-229-4748. The address on their card is 136-21 Roosevelt Ave, ste 201, Flushing, NY 11354.

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• By Tina K.

  January 18, 2021

  Kitchen Remodel

  $9,000

  My husband and I have had a terrible experience with Home Improvement Contractor Archetype Design & Construction (NJ 13VH10903200), and they owe us a return on our deposit for abandoning the project without completing any part of the project.

  In summary, we hired Archetype Design & Construction on 6/17/2020 for a Kitchen Remodel project in Jersey City with the following components: getting municipal permits approved, vendor coordination/ finalizing kitchen layout, rough work, inspection approval and installation. The complaint we have against Archetype Design & Construction is that while they took nearly 25% of the entire project cost ($2000), 7 months later as of 1/18/2021 NO PART of the work within the scope of the contract has been completed, and worse yet, Archetype Design & Construction is not returning any communication despite multiple attempts over the last 4-5 weeks. During the course of the first 6 months where there was communication - albeit inconsistent at times - Archetype Design & Construction provided wrong information that rendered initial plans useless, not up to municipal code, negatively effecting the project.

  Archetype Design & Construction (led by Reema Hoshan and Mohammad "Moe" Hoshan) took our money and abandoned the project without any communication or money back on our deposit despite multiple requests to refund the money. We filed a formal complaint against the company via NJ Department of Consumer Affairs and will be filing a formal complaint with the Bergen County offices, as well as Fair Lawn where they are based out of.

  In detail, there were several problematic experiences with Archetype Design & Construction:
  Lack of ownership/ follow-through on contractual requirements
  • The contract we signed clearly stipulates that the scope of the Kitchen Remodel includes demo, labor, construction material for install, install and “coordinating vendors, permits and layout”. Archetype Design & Construction started off coordinating these as they should have upon signing and paying 25% of project costs up front in June 2020 (which now we realize was a mistake). However, starting August 2020, Reema Hoshan started claiming it is not within their scope to coordinate the vendor to work on the layout and advised us to find our own vendors to complete the layout. After a couple of email exchanges/ meetings, we thought we clarified that it is in fact within their scope of work to do so, per the contract. However, Archetype Design & Construction (Reema Hoshan) continued to neglect their responsibilities and contractual requirements. We ended up giving up and doing most of this work ourselves.

  Lack of attention to detail/ accuracy
  • The reason why we went with Archetype Design & Construction was based on a few good reviews, as well as the fact that the main company staff – Reema Hoshan – claimed she has an architectural background and knowledge of historical buildings/ projects. However, over the course of the project, it was clear that the company does not know what they are doing, and furthermore provided wrong guidance/ information. 1) they did not measure the kitchen properly, including a protruding wall which rendered the initial kitchen layout useless to place a refrigeration that can function without the door hitting the mantle/ wall – this was despite 2-3 requests to consider the protruding wall/ mantle in their measurements. We finally had to do the layout ourselves. Due to this, we had to cancel all the appliances we purchased. They still did not come up with a solution. 2) they provided us the wrong information for the hallway clearance – stating that given there will be an island, we do not have to meet any standard minimum corridor clearance. We asked for the company to verify this repeatedly and was told the design with 30-32” clearance is up to code. This was false. We reached out to the building department ourselves, and found out very easily that we must meet a minimum of 36” clearance.

  Lack of communication
  • Leading up to the contract signing and payment of deposit, as well as the first several weeks, Archetype Design & Construction was responsive – both consistent and timely. However, over time there was a major breakdown in communication, including the latest radio silence of about 4 weeks. We requested via text, phone, email to get in touch with us and requested for the company to refund our deposit if they are abandoning the project/ terminating the contract, but we still have not heard back.

  If Archetype Design & Construction is not only unwilling to do the work that’s within the scope of the contract, provides false information which negatively impacts the design, does not respond in a consistent/ reliable manner, it is unclear how they are in business and how they are still holding their license.

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