Venting about client

[Masterbuilder]

I know the economy is down and all that but some clients take advantage of the situation.

This particular client is a lady, Who want to open a restaurant.

They beat me down over and over with my proposal. Then removed doing the design as
Well as they said they had a friend who is an architect that was going to do the design for free.
I being naive and wanting to do the job to build my portfolio took on the project. I have done 5 restaurants
so far so I feel confident and it could lead to an oportunity to also do the build out.
My mistake I took the job for less than half of what I should had charged .

so here is my rant
1. She had the design done by her Architect friend who happened to be a student.
2. I had to redraw the design since it was done in a student version of autocad.
3. I prepared the construction set and gave her also a quote for construction
4. One of them proceeded to get upset and angry and how it was way over the budget... Which I had no idea how much it was. She demanded I redraw and revised plans removing some items in order to be more within her budget.
5. I decided to please her still on hopes of getting also the construction portion. She compensated me $0 dollars
6. She called my consulting engineer and wanted to ask how much they had charged me for doing the work
7. She calls me at all kind of hours or text me or emails me.
8. She tests my knowledge on everything every time she gets any information from any contractor.
9. She talks down to me and is rude, mean and disrespectfully.
10. she was told by the shopping center she had to build another bathroom on the adjacent space because she is only
Took half the space. She actually expected me to do it included on my same proposal. It needed a totally separate build out since they will be different units.
11. I did the next space build out showing a bathroom and the restaurant revisions yet she refuses to pay me until all plans get approved.
12. She actually expects me to hand deliver the plans to her every time. I did the first few times because I had to go over the plans.
13. She had given my plans to several people who make corrections and every time she demands that a corrected set and email electronic PDF are given to her within a day or two. If not then she does # 7.
14. She has not submitted for permit because she is trying to find the lowest possible price.

I wish I could find a way to get out from working with her. I don't want another 3 to 6 months of this between permit process and construction. I am also worried that this is the type of client that looks to sue if anything goes wrong!

I have done so much work for so little pay and feel that she will keep on abusing me.
I have plenty of work right now . I wish I could just quit. I don't even care about not getting paid. I just rather cut my losses now. I feel trapped with this client. She can then loose time if she had to hire someone new and blame me for any delays.

[Aragorn]

Masterbuilder,
I am not going to beat you up since you are doing a great job of it yourself...
Just learn from the experience, do not do the construction and move on...
I am dealing with a similar issue (minus the rudeness) with a residential client.
We don't do residential, and on top of that it is an addition to an existing CBS structure to be done in wood....2 new stories...in Florida...but we took the job to stay busy and because it was a 'friend of a friend of a friend...'
The owner will build it himself....he says he can read plans but really doesn't and gets upset...he gave us CAD drawings from a previous design done by an engineer, then wanted a thousand changes (some we charged, some we didn't)...he also gets involved with all the reviewers...etc, etc, etc...what they call a real clusterf&%#
To top it all we are really getting busy again and I am stuck doing permitting revisions...

As I said, try to finish the permitting and run!!

A

[Coach]

I know this client, and I'm hesitant to say that I'll bet I can guess their nationality within 2 or 3 tries.

You will learn to see this type of person coming from miles away and refer them to a competitor that you dislike.

BTW, their behavior has nothing to do with the economy. People who act this way do so regardless. Where the economy mattered is in how you proceeded.

[skyhook]

What Coach said.

There are some prospective clients out there who are money pits from the armpit of arrogance.
Best to just write them a $ check at initial meeting and save the slow drip of lost time and money.
Save yourself the lost time.

[Vitruvius]

money pits from the armpit of arrogance.

LOL - That's beautiful. Instant classic. Permission to use.

My 2 cents.... clients like these always end up over budget and blow every milestone but it's never their fault.

I'm curious of the outcome.