Unified By Design

My wife and I hired Unified by Design and its owner, Chris Havey, to complete our renovation project for our home. We wanted to renovate almost every aspect of our home to give it a nice update. Chris and his company were very well rated on Angie’s List and we were very excited about him as a prospect after our first meeting with him, however, everything went downhill and ultimately ended up in heartbreak and disaster. From the beginning, we were very clear and honest with Chris about our budget and he indicated that our budget was attainable. Chris maintained that our budget was reasonable and attainable throughout all of our work with him until we decided we could not proceed with him because his numbers were well over our budget. Chris’ proposal on our project came in at 50% over our budget, included items we’d already discussed keeping out, and was incomplete. Chris cut some numbers namely taxes that he didn’t have to pay anyway, but his revised proposal was still over budget. When Chris processed our refund of our deposit, he failed to honor a design fee cap he’d set at the beginning of our project. Chris said that he couldn’t honor the cap because he had only set it in anticipation of completing the project and claimed he had spent more time working on our project than he actually had. We know Chris overestimated his hours on the project because we know that he overestimated time spent with us by 5 hours. It took three months from when we told Chris we wanted to stop working on the project to get our refund check. We only got our refund check after weeks of prodding Chris and finally threatening to sue him. Chris had several excuses for his failure to issue our refund including the fact that he did not have the funds. This entire experience has been horrible. Chris swindled us and mislead us through every step of this project. He invented excuses for every failed promise/misstatement to string us along for months. We’re also concerned that he failed to maintain our deposit so that it would be readily available if the project did not proceed to the next phase. Please make sure to consider this before using him for any project you may have. He is not to be trusted. Update 10/8. Within a week of posting this review Chris Havey reached out to us in regards to a resolution. He was willing to offer a full refund contingent upon us signing a non-disclosure agreement and removing all negative reviews. After signing the non-disclosure agreement Chis, yet again, did not follow through with getting us the refund in the specified time. Tread VERY carefully with this company as they are not to be trusted.

THIS WAS A HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!! Do not use this company and do not hire Chris Havey. I cannot explain the terrible time we've had with Chris Havey. Every excuse from a sick child, to no money for gas to get here, to new computer, and on and on. It’s been over 12 months since we gave him the first deposit, and 9 months since he started work, and we currently do not have cabinet doors, tile, lighting, dishwasher or range hooked up. When we contracted with Unified By Design over a year ago he made a great presentation, showed us photos on his phone of other projects he said he’s worked on, and told us he’d been doing this work for 20 years. Only later did we find out his *business* is new; parse his words very carefully! We have also been told any number of untruthful things by Chris Havey about what’s been ordered, what he was doing on the project, and more. His crew came and demo’ed our kitchen when we were out of the country, taking appliances and cabinets we had specifically told him to keep; they even unplugged our refrigerator and we came home to spoiled food. I could write ten more paragraphs on the situation we find ourselves in, and the money we gave him is almost embarrassing! We have talked with him over and over and begged him to finish this job, to no avail. He would come out occasionally and do a few things, but it was never consistent. We finally asked him not to come back at all and we will have to pay again to have our kitchen finished. Legal action is unfortunately on the table as our only recourse to recover the money we’ve given Chris Havey and his company Unified by Design for work that is still unfinished.

Do not do business with Chris Havey at this company. He is dishonest, irresponsible and has stolen our money. He does not know how to run a business but just is full of empty promises. Turn and run from this company before you go through the year long nightmare we have gone through. He will talk a great game and then not come through with anything he promises. This has been the most disappointing experience we have EVER gone through. Next time I will never go with my heart and fully trust someone like him again. I thought I had done everrhing correctly - he rated high in BBB and Angie’s List and I got 3 recommendations but looking back now I don’t believe it was his company at the time but the company he worked for before he decided to try his hand at Unifiedbydesigns. He should be ashamed of himself and correct his dishonest business practices. I am embarrassed to say what he owes us. He has made no effort to refund our deposits. Again - do not attempt to reach out to Chris or this company you will surely be disappointed. Jennifer & Tom Foley

My husband and I met Chris today and he was so kind. He offered to help us with a cabinet and we cannot be happier. Complete God send meetting him. Absolutely recommend him and his company for all your woodworking needs.

This guy is a total thief, DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH HIM. I am a drywall contractor and he refused to pay me for 2 jobs. In order to get my money I had to put a lien on 1 house, and send debt collectors to collect money from the second job. He is also full of excuses