RA Jeheber Residential Design, Inc.

Thank you so much for the wonderful review Dan. It was a pleasure to work with you and Kathy! I am so grateful to have been able to help you design and build your "Beach Dream Home"!
Oh and I think your "Project Price Range" is a little low ;-)

It was a pleasure for me to work with you Shelly!
Shelly is very talented as well and came up with a beautiful and well designed floor plan. I was able to take Shelly's design idea's and run with them creating their beautiful home for them in Newport Heights.

WOW!

Thanks so much Diane!

Diane's problem is she hired an architect out of Laguna Beach to provide plans to remodel her existing duplex here in Newport Beach. He did a wonderful job in my opinion for a design fee of $25,000- He got a "Concept in Approval" from the city of Newport Beach and then submitted the plans to the California Coastal Commission and received an approval from them as well. It then came time to submit construction documents to the city of Newport Beach. This is when it was very clear that the architect from Laguna Beach did NOT research the site hazards for the property with the city of Newport Beach.

Diane's property is located in a Liquefaction Zone. The city of Newport Beach has the following "Building Code Policy" - Liquefaction Study Mitigation Measures Policy No. CBC 1803.5 11-12. The architect wanted an additional $50,000 to finish the job not including fees for engineering or soil reports once he discovered he had to address the city policy.

This is when I was bought into the picture.

I've worked in the city of Newport Beach for over 25 years. With this experience to back me up, the first thing I do for EVERY project is check with the site for site hazards. The city of Newport Beach has the following "Building Code Policy" - Liquefaction Study Mitigation Measures Policy No. CBC 1803.5 11-12.

Basically what the policy reads is as follows:

Reconstruction or Remodel:

When the value of the proposed remodel, alteration, or reconstruction work exceeds $200,000 and 50% of the existing non-depreciated value of the building, ALL elements of the NEW and EXISTING foundation system shall meet or exceed the "Residential Minimum Liquefaction Mitigation Methods as outlined in this policy.

What is comes down to is you raise the existing dwelling unit off the slab, remove the existing slab and footings and replace with a new foundation that meets the current building code.

Diane's construction budget to remodel her duplex was $600,000 -

For that kind of money I indicated to Diane that it made more sense to tear the duplex down and re-built it! She made it clear that she did NOT want to take that route and only wanted to remodel her duplex.

That is when I tried to schedule meetings with the top building officials at the city for their expert advice on how to come up with the non-depreciated value of her building. This took several weeks as one of the officials I needed to meet with was on vacation. When he did finally return to work I wasn't really happy with the outcome of that meeting because it turns out he is good friends with the architect Diane fired from Laguna Beach. I then attempted to go up the ladder but that Building Official was not gone on vacation as well. I lost close to three weeks waiting to meet with the city. Once I did meet I was able to get a clear picture of what the city was going to allow us to do to Diane's duplex.

Diane's problem is her inability to understand what is being told to her in person, on the phone and by email. What Diane does not understand is the term "reconstruction". Just by removing and replacing a toilet in an existing bathroom triggers "reconstruction". We are therefore required to include the entire square of the bathroom in our "New Construction" valuation.

Diane wanted to remodel ALL of the existing bathrooms and kitchens in both units, add a laundry room, remove existing and relocate the existing stairs to the upper unit and removed her existing carport and replace it with a new four car garage. Everything Diane wanted to do put her project over the allowed non-depreciated value of her building.

Just the garage project alone triggers having include the floor area above the existing carport which doubles the area I have to include in my new construction calculations.

The plans and designs I came up with and presented to Diane and her husband met the cities requirements for NOT having to upgrade her existing foundation. This apparently is what upset Diane.

As for not returning her phone calls, there was only ONE call that I did not return - Diane's husband Don left a message on my mobile phone canceling a meeting we had on that upcoming Saturday. They were leaving for yet another two week vacation out of the country and we would reconnect upon their return.

I also saved ALL of Diane's emails and text messages as well as my replies - When I supplied this information to her, she never replied back. I guess she was NOT interested in seeing the proof on paper. I keep amazing records folks - It's called "A Paper Trail". Diane also sent over some very strange text messages which did not translate very well. I asked her early on to please email me NOT text message. I guess she did not understand the request.

Another issue I had with Diane was she had a major plumbing leakage issue on the lower floor. She hired a company to do the repair without obtaining the required permits. This involved removing the bottom three feet of drywall from the entire first floor of the dwelling unit and major plumbing repairs. Diane wanted me to hide this from the city. I have worked with the city of Newport Beach for over 25 years and I have never lied to the city and I am not going to start now! What I tried to explain to Diane was that any work that is done in the field and it is NOT on the plans will come back and bite you in the rear end. There are several horror stories floating around where people have tried cheating the system and the field inspector ALWAYS catches on and sends the client back down to the city to update their plans - that's when the city says your scope of work exceeds our Liquefaction Study Mitigation Measures Policy No. CBC 1803.5 11-12 and to please upgrade your plans reflecting so.

And last but not least in Diane's defense - My draftsman had a heart attack on April 29th and did not return to work for four (4) weeks. This completely threw a curve ball at my entire work schedule! I had worked planned at least two weeks ahead for my draftsman and I made commitments to clients and then he got ill. There was nothing I could do but work seven (7) days a week for a month straight - and yet that did not matter to Diane or her husband. So be it.

I'm truly sorry you consider my time and work with you to be "A very bad experience". At least this "bad experience" only cost you $2,500.00 instead of $25,000.00 from the architect in Laguna Beach!

I wish the next Designer / Architect all the luck and patience with this project.