Greg Schmid, the owner of Schmid Engineering was approached by me to design a floor for a new bed room. Be where buyer - this individual will charge and exorbitant amount to look up a beam's strength in a book.
A friend and I both needed the same task performed in our houses. The task was to build a floor above a living room that originally had 20 ft ceilings. The new floor would leave the room with a standard 9ft ceiling with an upper floor with an 8ft ceiling. The new space would add an additional 200 Sq ft to the home
I started first and hired Greg Schmid to size and place a single I-beam along with joists for the floor. Greg drew floor plans for the room, the flooring structure, and the plans for a 10x10 coffer ceiling.
My friend started second and I sent him to Greg. My friend was smart enough to ask for a cost expectation and Greg guessed around $3500. My friend decided to look elsewhere and had the same plans drawn (minus the coffer ceiling for a total of $1500. His plans were complete in 2 weeks which included a home visit and HVAC routing.
Greg completed my plans in 5 months starting in November and ending March. Greg started by me giving him the original plans for the house and a basic layout for the new room along with a home visit. Greg charged me for visiting the home yet proceeded to ask me for dimensions and information scattered over the next 5 months of thing that were measured or had dimensions for in the original plans.
The Schmid engineering bill for completing these plans included 36.75 hours of engineering time at $120 / hr. And 37.50 hours of a draftsman's time at $64 / hr.in addition, reimbursable expenses racked up to a totaled $234.35 for a couple of roles of 35mm film and developing and maybe 15 miles of driving.
Total for this project came to $7044.35 for a $1500 job.
After a strong objection to the bill, Greg removed $2270 leaving me with a total cost of $4774.35 for a $1500-$2000 job. 2X the fair cost. Be warned - this man is on his schedule and has no interest in working hard while he works on your project.
I am extremely dissatisfied with Greg's performance and enthusiasm. He charged me for the information I brought him and over charged me to look up an I-Beam size and load characteristics in a book. I have no idea where he spent 36.75 hrs working on this project. I can see maybe 8 hr. Max on this project.
I am an engineer so I know what his type of work requires.
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