well, guess i start over.

[mopinko]

met with the architect yesterday. last time, he said he would do a "simple" version, and if i didn't like it, we would end the relationship. he did spend some time working out the outlines of the idea that i had brought to him in the form of altered versions of the cad files. this idea did have a major flaw, and i did not work out details, stair, etc. (cuz i am not the architect.)
so his "version" was mostly working out the stairs, and the square feet. (mostly to try to say that i was increasing the floor space.) so, just floor plans, and a rough sketch of the cross section of the stair. no other details- doors, windows, nothing. it was not really what i wanted, although it was a step in the right direction. it was certainly not anything that was going to really help me to start over. just a fleshed out version of the idea that i brought to him, and one that was going to take some pounding on at any rate.
we did talk over his drawings, and he had clearly spent some time on it. he said he spent 2 days working on the stairs. now, they were something kinda different, but not THAT big of a deal that he should have needed 2 days.
anyway, bottom line, for a half baked plan, less than he had promised me when i told him i wanted to fire him, and he wanted another $1500. (we had already paid him over $10K)
i told him to keep it. i was starting over. i was not going to write him any more checks. done. d-o-n-e. capital D- done.
i might have negotiated with him if what he had was even halfway complete. but for drawings that were still not what i wanted? oh, heck no.
so, i guess now i talk to the lawyer. not sure if i have any recourse, because he really doesn't have money. but he does own some property, and hopefully has some insurance.

btw- stinky, thank you for the heads up about intellectual property. i would have banged heads with him over that, but i didn't bother. thanks for saving me the headache.

i think the expression is back to the drawing board.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. I wish I had some nice suggestion for getting back some of your wasted money

I don't.

And he probably doesn't have any of it left to pay you back. Here is a link to the AIA web site's ethics and professional responsibility page. You may find something useful here. http://www.aia.org/about_ethics

And good luck in finding a new architect.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

2. Wow, inching his way up to 12 thousand.

He must have thought about twenty five thousand at least befor work started.