Pacific Engineering Design, LLC

Company: Pacific Engineering Design, LLC; Civil Engineer: Greg A. Diener. 10/3/2012 received proposal for $8,350 for work related to paving a driveway and parking lot. Total amount paid to date: $11,074.91 plus $1,400 for a soils sample. Initial permit application was not approved by the City of Kenmore. The City stated 9 comments that were required to be addressed, one of which was a soils investigation. Greg A. Diener had submitted the initial application and made his initial designs without the use of a soils investigation. The soils investigation cost me an additional $1,400. Although the initial application was not to the satisfaction by the City of Kenmore, I was the one that had to pay the cost for the unsatisfactory initial application. Over $2,000 more. I was billed, in part, for ?Respond to City Comments.? ?Work with City Reviewer?.? These items were categorized in the bill as ?Beyond Scope of Contract.? Advice: Determine whether a civil engineer you choose will charge you additional money for responding to the City after a permit has been submitted. Determine whether responding to the City is ?Beyond Scope of Contract.? Determine if you are responsible for resolving an unsatisfactory application prepared by the civil engineer you hire. Greg A. Diener?s response to the City?s request for corrections was, in part, ?This is making a mountain out of a molehill and is precisely what happens when a junior engineer has nothing to do and reviews plans to make work for himself.. Excuse my rant. This is nonsense.? The proposed design included, in part, a parking stall with the dimension of 8? x 12?. I could not locate any model of Mini Cooper that had a length of 12 feet or less. The Mini Cooper was the smallest mass produced car I could think of that might be parked at my location. What would you think of an engineer that you paid that produced designs for a parking stall that was shorter in length than a Mini Cooper? I got tired of the nickel & diming and started to deal with the City directly and directed the City to not have further contact with Mr. Diener. Ultimately, I personally received an approved permit. I later had some questions regarding the designs Mr. Diener prepared and sent the questions via email to Mr. Diener. There was one follow up email with a few additional questions and then a short two line closing email. I was billed one hour for my questions regarding Mr. Diener?s designs. Questions, such as, ?Are the Do Not Enter Signs supposed to be behind the wall?? ?Can the exit be further north?..? The bill was categorized again as ?Beyond Scope of Contract.? Advice: Determine whether asking your engineer questions about the designs the engineer produces is ?Beyond Scope of Contract.?