Distinctive Designs

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• Anonymous

  July 2, 2016

  I would strongly recommend considering an alternative contractor to achieve your design and remodeling needs. We are currently in the final phases of ending our relationship with Distinctive Designs Inc and are looking forward to putting the entire horrible experience behind us. Things started out routine and seemingly fine, and if you look online at sites like BBB and Houzz, the reviews for this business are all great. We know now that BBB ratings are a sham (see this TIME Magazine article to discuss - http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/why-the-better-business-bureau-should-give-itself-a-bad-grade/) and that many sites like Houzz actively remove negative ratings about their paying customers so that their paying designers/builders have nothing but 5-star ratings.

  So, what was the problem with our experience? Well, to be brief, there was consistent poor communication, lack of attention to detail, last minute poor quality preparation prior to our face to face meetings, lack of timely follow-up for important issues, and a gross over-representation of the actual time spent on our project. Unfortunately, none of this was apparent until we put down 10% on our project to initiate planning and design. Over the following 4 months there was a paucity of real progress made, and when our second estimate came in nearly 70% higher than our initial estimate (which we already thought was at the high end of the range that we expected... but went with anyway, as we thought we were dealing with a competent firm) I started pushing to look into the details of the quote. What exactly were we supposed to be paying for? This is when things went from bad to worse, and when the true colors of Travis Parrish (owner) came out... He got extremely evasive and refused to dig into the details behind the numbers with us. He actually went so far as to state (on the phone and in writing) about our request to look into specifics of his quotes that he's "never been asked to show to any of my clients in 15 years of doing this kind of work" (a direct quote from one of his meandering grammatically incorrect emails). Now, I cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is a false statement... but, you be the judge. And please keep in mind, that this was after he indicated that part of the reason that his second quote came in nearly 70% higher than the original was because he made a $29,700 accounting error (i.e., he had two kitchen pendant lights erroneously listed in his spreadsheet at $15,000 a piece rather than $150 a piece). I mean really? He blows up our quote by nearly $100K, admits to a nearly $30K accounting error, takes 16 days (rather than 16 hours) to get us a revised quote (after we removed a ton of details that he added that we never requested), and he does not think it reasonable that his customers want to double check the numbers to make sure that everything makes sense...seriously? If that's the type of quality and customer service you're looking for for your next high-end bath or kitchen remodel, by all means, hire Distinctive Designs Inc. If you think you deserve better... move on right now.

  Ultimately, we ended our relationship with Travis Parrish and Distinctive Designs Inc. I've posted another review on Yelp (as they are known for maintaining the integrity of their posts and do not allow businesses to remove negative reviews), and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it has already received similar comments in a follow-up review from someone who unfortunately had a similar (albeit less painful) experience (to read their review, follow this link - http://www.yelp.com/biz/distinctive-designs-greensboro).

  At this time I'm exhausted by the lingering relationship with Distinctive Designs Inc. When I fired them, Travis Parrish made it clear that he thought he was the victim, and that he was "losing money" on this deal. Hard to believe given that he has nearly $15K of our money (for a large high-end basement remodel), and given the average designer fees in Greensboro, NC range from $25-75 per hour and the fact that I (with NO experience in architecture or design) was able to loosely replicate the schematics and 3D renderings of our basement in a matter of 5 hours with a fabulous consumer product (https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/home-designer-pro/). Hysterically, when I brought this up to Mr. Parrish at a recent meeting in person, he got in my face and repeatedly told me, "you stole my design" and "you copied me!" Newsflash Travis... it is MY basement, the only thing I used off your design was the measurements (which by the way were off by as much as 24" in some rooms... and I've now corrected), and I've paid handsomely for that very limited design you submitted to us (I did not steal it, and I would not copy it, as it lacked imagination).

  While he's finally agreed to refund a substantial portion of our money, it is less than we'd hoped for and less than we deserve.

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