Houston designer Turns to Ted after renovation delays caused by 2021 Winter Freeze

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — When last year’s February freeze caused the pipes to burst in Whit Hargrave’s townhouse, repairs turned to renovations, and soon he was pouring thousands of dollars into the project.

“New fixtures, new tub, new sinks, new shower and new toilet, new tile, new paint, and new closets,” Hargrave said.

Hargrave was excited, and along with his designer, chose custom closets from Closets by Design. He paid almost $6,500 for the down payment and said he was told it would be three months before the closets arrived due to COVID-19.

“I said, okay, that’s fine. I had other construction going on,” Hargrave said. “Three months pass and the closet system is not ready.”

Two months later, he says some of it arrived and got installed and he paid the company in full – nearly $13,000.

But, the world still wasn’t done so he and his designer Turned to Ted.

We reached out to the local branch of Closets By Design and the owner Greg Ostendorf told us the parts were on order, but then the supplier sent the wrong ones, which delayed the project even more.

“We wish we had insight into all the outages and backlogs. We see where things will be running smooth (on) particular items and then we’ll get hit with a backlog on them and it’s not obvious to us. We’re not pre-warned and it may be something as simple as a handle that we consume on a daily basis and then all of a sudden it won’t be available,” Ostendorf said.

After three delays lasting months, the project was finally completed last month.

“We are seeing things come back to more normal. We will occasionally (see) certain colors and stuff that seem to go through cycles where they’re harder to get but things are coming back to normal,” he said.

It’s a good reminder in any project these days to make sure you ask about and attempt to get deadlines and delays in writing before you start and before you pay.