Looking for some advice: we started a major remodel for a kitchen/dining room space for a sorority house about a year ago. We interviewed several design firms and selected one. They brought their drawings and estimate to our first concept meeting, along with a project manager from their preferred contractor. Their contractor was able to do the work recommended within our budget and again, they were highly recommended by the design firm as somebody they worked with often (they kept stressing how they had won several awards for joint projects!). We entered into a contract with their contractor. That is where things went downhill. Our project was supposed to take a max of 6 weeks & we had 16 weeks over summer vacation when the house was empty and the work could be done undisrupted. First, we had some permitting issues given that we are kind of a weird commercial/residential hybrid and that caused a 1 month delay to the start date. Okay, not a problem, still well within our window of completion. The major projects (moving of walls, electrical, plumbing) happened pretty reasonably according to the timeline, But in the last 2 weeks, it was like all the subs completely failed. The cabinets were nearly 1 month late in being installed (and then were installed not according to the plan - wrong heights, etc), we've had issues with quality in the quartz countertops, tiling, hot/cold well installation. Much of it we just have had to deal with to have a technically operational space for our residents, as they were still working after move in (which was 3 weeks after the drop dead date we gave them and 10 weeks after they were supposed to be done). They were supposed to fix several things over winter break, which didn't happen because despite requesting their plan, nothing was available until the last week of break & we felt there was not enough margin of error given their lack of concern for timelines in the past (ie we didn't feel we could trust them to finish a 5 day job in 5 days). Things are supposed to happen over Spring Break next week, with the rest of the job being finished during summer. Fingers crossed.

To make a long story long, our contractor has been terrible about communicating, has no sense of urgency and their attention to detail/quality should be embarrassing. We are continuing on with other significant projects in our space this summer. There is no question that we will not use this contractor again. However, how much responsibility does our design firm bear? We used their recommendation. We are a volunteer board, so we discussed them serving as a construction manager and time for that was written into our contract. All communications from the contractor went through their project manager/architect. We aren't unhappy with the design work, but the whole experience has been so terrible, I'm hesitant to work with them again either. At this point, they've kind of thrown up their hands and say how terrible the contractor is & how it's unfortunate that they don't control their work. I understand to an extent that's true - but, at what point do we just cut ties completely? Are we throwing the baby out with the bathwater so to speak? Appreciate your advice as we are interviewing other design firms and will be making a decision soon on how to proceed.