Choosing my designer - part I

There was no way I was going to do this all by myself. Not even the design. So I looked for a company I could hire that would help me with the designs and then project manage the work - including hiring contractors.

Initially I went with Design Expo. Starting in April, I was assigned a designer and off we went. Things started off well. While not the speediest of workers, the designer had some great ideas. Meanwhile, I was introduced to the site manager and the Lead contractor and we had a site inspection. Things were going well. We'd planned a October start and were on track to have everything ready to order cabinets in time. Cabinets are the long pole in a remodel - they take 2 months from ordering to delivery.

In June, things went bad. Design Expo closed down the Palo Alto store and transferred my designer to the San Jose store. She was not happy and on the 3rd of July resigned.

Mid July I met with my newly assigned designer. She needed a month to clear some of her workload before starting on my job. Fine. I'll wait. I called her a month later to schedule an appointment. My call wasn't returned. After several calls over the week weren't returned I called Expo's central customer support center and lit the blue touchpaper and stood well back. The following day both the store manager and the design center manager called me. I scheduled a conference with both of them. After they reassured me that they wanted my business and would "do what it took", I left with the promise of a new designer to be assigned. One that could spend the time.

Two weeks later I received a phone call from the design center manage declining my business. Her group had been decimated by resignations and the workload had doubled with referrals from the closed Palo Alto store.

Shit.

It's now mid August and I'm back where I started.