ComplaintsforStudio Supernatural

• Initial Complaint

  12/27/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  Studio Supernatural, a new landscape architecture firm as of January, 2021, was hired in March, 2021 to design and oversee the remodel of our front and back yard. **** ********** the owner, was fired at the end of December 2021 for failing to fulfill his contractual obligations. **** regularly avoided responding to calls, emails or texts and made constant excuses to cover his myriad work delays. He misrepresented his relationships and either failed or refused to solicit bids from contractors, landscapers or craftsman, leaving the job of finding labor up to the client. Instead of doing a complete design for creative approval and contractor bidding, **** insisted on doing things piecemeal, making it impossible to budget and causing costs to spiral. Instead, **** insisted he'd finish the design "after the driveway" since that would be the "big ticket item." Of course, the deck ended up pricing out higher, as did the planting and irrigation- meaning **** had no concept of what things would cost or how to stay within budget, evidenced further by his choice of "very expensive plants" (per multiple landscapers I had to find). When confronted with all this EIGHT MONTHS in, **** threw out excuses that ranged from "Covid" to "It's not my job" to "Your budget was not reasonable." This might have been tolerable if Studio Supernatural's designs warranted their fee, but **** brought neither creativity, vision, nor solutions to the table. For example: When asked to hide garbage cans, his best idea was to block them with a piece of fencing, which looked ridiculous. Finding a viable solution fell, as did most things, to the clients. After nine months of frustration, it was clear **** could not complete his contract. When asked to return a portion of his fee, he refused. He claims to have done a lot of work... And yet, our front and back yard look nearly the same as when he was hired. We took a chance hiring someone just starting their own business. We won't make that mistake again.

  Business response

  06/30/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/03/21) */ I had a contract with the owners of the************* property for landscape design services. These services included documentation of existing conditions, and design for hardscape and planting elements. I made every effort to provide services in line with their stated goals and budget. Their front driveway, entry steps, side fence, rear patio, and rear stairs have been built in accordance to the designs I have provided. After the completion of these elements, the clients decided not to proceed with the planting design that was developed to their approved species palette and scope. They were not charged for these documents. And though the rest of the project is already completed, they asked me to return all money paid by them for design services. I respectfully declined to refund design fees for work that has already been built. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/03/28) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The company's response here with BBB simply fails to address the majority of the issues mentioned in my original complaint: Studio Supernatural was not hired to simply DESIGN yard services, it was hired to DESIGN, IMPLEMENT and OVERSEE the creation of a yard, as per our contract. The owner, ****, was present for ONE DAY of concrete pouring for -- according to the contractor -- half an hour. He was not present for any of the fence work (of which he wants to take credit for "designing" a straight line) and he was unable to find anyone to actually do the planting, which is when he was fired. I found someone to do the planting -- and received five bids -- within a week. Clearly, it fell to us to oversee the entire hiring and vetting process of every contractor. Studio Supernatural has zero relationships with the necessary workmen to do the job and thus misrepresented the company's ability to eventually execute their oft-delayed design. Studio Supernatural failed to complete their work in a timely manner. They were hired on March 6th, 2021. The first time we received a (still incomplete) design plan was December 15th, 2021. There is no excuse why this took 284 days. Communication was sporadic during much of this and appointment times were considered by **** as more of a suggestion. Studio Supernatural also claims we asked him to "return all money paid by them." This is a lie. I originally offered to terminate the contract and settle for a 50% refund in a November phone call but the owner refused, insisting he would up his game. When **** continued to fail to abide by his contractual obligations, we fired him and asked for 2/3rds of the money to be refunded. He refused that offer as well. This is in writing. We were charged for the documents he claims not to have charged us for, despite the fact that these documents were not done in accordance with the scope of our project. After firing Studio Supernatural and interviewing landscapers, more than one noted that ****** sizing and specific plants (of which some would have to be trucked in from *******) were far more expensive and larger than they needed to be. This proved to us that **** had no idea what things cost, which has become evident as our project's budget ballooned because of him. Lastly, Studio Supernatural's prolonged delay and unprofessional communication left us trying to finish the job during a heavily inflationary period where costs have skyrocketed from our target completion date of August, 2021. At this point, ****** 9 month delay added thousands of dollars in unnecessary costs. Even when Studio Supernatural returns their entire fee, hiring them will still have left us with a significant and burdensome cost. And no, the project is still not completed.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩