The good:
visual design in general, selection of light fixtures,non bespoke furniture, paint, art
The bad
The project (meaning FR fees) was vastly(3x+) over pre agreed budget, on the
grounds of delay to base build caused by Sunley Developments and Beaubridge
(there was no provision for extra fees caused by delays in our contract, we just
took pity on them) and "increased scope". We were not happy with it, but could
live with it as long as end result would have been of great quality and hassle
free ( the latter was promised to us on multiple occasions).
Ultimately, post completion, they sat in our house for months charging >£1250
per day for project management of the decoration project post completion of our
purchase, as well as fixing some of the horrible base build mess left by Sunley
Developments and Beaubridge (this was before we moved in and realized there were
so many of base build issues that house is dangerous and uninhabitable).
The ugly:
Project management and attention to details is non existent.
Since they were on site for months, we did ask them to check that all appliances
and systems in the house are operational given a disastrous history of the
development.
We were continuously led to believe that everything that FR is responsible for
would be completely snag free.
By the time we moved in, NOTHING IN THE HOUSE WAS WORKING - no hot water,
problems with electrics throughout, no networking, no phone lines, failed lift
(FR told us they didn’t use lift because it didn’t work), half the lighting
fixtures( that FR chose and installed) did not work at all, several appliances
not operational or not connected properly, builtin furniture doesn't open or
close properly and looks cheaper than Ikea, leaks in multiple places( we found 7
in the first 3 weeks after moving in), fuse box access is near impossible
(blocked by FR), sump pump access is near impossible (blocked by FR), doors
don't close, door handles fall out, parts of window blinds held by nothing but
double sided sticky tape (FR), wobbly shelves waiting to fall on your head (FR),
atrocious quality “bespoke furniture” (FR) , removed and not replace labelling
of sockets during faceplate replacement(FR) etc etc etc. The list is completely
endless. Despite this they did find time to fill our house with tons of useless
pillows for pretty pictures.
Probably the most egregious bit: FR oversaw changing of the plates for the fire
curtain release button, but didn’t bother connecting the button and checking the
fire curtains operation. We ended up trapped outside the house, with fire alarm
at full blast for 45 minutes and needing to call 999. In the event of an actual
fire we could have ended up separated from our kids.
While a lot of these things are base build issues, due to FR’s poor attention to
detail we ended up needing to move out from our new house and start from
scratch.
As for minority of the things that was clearly their remit, the number of them
that were in inadequate state is unacceptable.
Conclusion:
Hire them to design a very pretty picture.
Don’t let them anywhere close to project management on site, for anything more
complicated than, I quote from one of the reviewers here “turning a double
decker bus into a library”.They have zero clue about high end property
development and should not be touching it.
The most complicated thing they can do on site confidently is place your
furniture and hang your art (mostly, but not always from first attempt).
Things like changing faceplates or hanging shelves or overseeing built in
furniture installation are far beyond them.