This page documents my experience with Vilaca Interiores interior design and renovation project in Quinta Da Marinha in Cascais
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The review will be on 10 separate dimensions of the work:

1. Proposal:
   Vilaça was the best company when it comes to the proposal. After contacting them they did multiple trips to the house and came for measurements and then developed a proposal package that included mood boards and 3D renderings. On the other hand they did look at my moodboard but they could have done a better job matching our style as the first proposal came in much more formal than we expected. The original budget was also way out of the guidelines and we have to do revisions to get there.
   This is in contrast to some architecture firms in Lisbon and Porto that wanted to do proposals without visiting the site.
   

2. Collaborative design phase

   The design phase was relatively collaborative. With Vilaca listening to my feedback. That said in some cases it felt like the feedback was later forgotten, ignored or miscommunicated internally when a new design proposal came without the changes/input that I had given. Notes were not taken after early meetings and only after several repeated requests did notes that being taken during weekly meetings.
   

3. Supplier and material selection
   They give business to suppliers that give them commissions and friends and do not run a competitive process.
   For material they pick the highest margin material they can charge you and for furniture designed items at luxury prices and planned on making them locally, we rejected several of those items.

4. Budget development
   Original budget development was ok but then throughout the project they kept bringing up hidden costs, items they said they did not do in original quote (although they were major items in renderings) and issues that they on purpose hid until the project was awarded and started and then they brought up major major issues.

5. Supplier quotes and management:
   - At several points in the process I was severely disappointed with how Vilaca Interiores managed supplier sourcing.
   For any item where I got a competitive quote the quote I got from a top supplier was cheaper. My conclusion was that Vilaca asks the suppliers to give them a 10-30% commission so the suppliers have to increase their quotes accordingly.
   - VILACA did not know (Or at least pretended they did not know) that some of the systems that were installed by the supplier were all the wrong brand, not the brand approved on the budget by the client.

6. Communication, listening to the client and transparency
   After the contract was signed the communication deteriorated and I had to escalate multiple times to get the information I needed and needed to follow-up to get answers to my emails.
   Note taking was lacking and meeting notes were not shared on time.

7. Budget efficiency and design flexibility
   Seems the modus operandum of Vilaca is continuously selling. You never stop getting sales pitches, let’s do this, let’s do that.
   On furniture Vilca is 50% to 100% more expensive than buying Italian furniture straight from an Italian retailer or distributor. And Vilca doesn’t seem to like to give prices, they give options and then you have to ask prices for each one. Italian companies now have complete website where you can see all the prices, order online, contact them for a bulk discount and they ship for free.
   

8. Program progress: milestone development and meeting timelines
   There was a program at the beginning of the project but it was never updated. Dates started to be only mentioned verbally for example “we will start this after we finish that” type of program without dates or commitments.
   With the project delayed and the client needing to move to the house, Vilaca’s workers were still not working any weekends, they come from the north of Portugal so they arrive mid-day on Monday and leave mid-day on Friday so they work 4 days per week, take long lunches and work slowly. Even with the project delayed by 2 months they still take all the holidays off like Dia do Portugal, Corpus Christi, etc.
   
   The Project is 2 months late and many items are missing. Vilaca Interiores is incredibly bad at program management. Items that should have been ordered months ago are being ordered AFTER the initial completion date of the project . Vilaca doesn’t even know what is broken and and they never did a check of the project after the contractors. Contractors are all their friends and instead of holding them accountable they make excuses for them.
   

9. Delivering a quality project: material finishes, execution to expectations
   Dozens and dozens of issues. They pretend they care to fix them and do the super simple ones and sandbag on the more complex ones.
   At the moment when the project is 2 months delayed, handed over but not finished many many issues exist across the house including mistakes, blemishes, mis-measurements, items falling apart, etc.
   

10. Post delivery response and correction of any issues
    It has been an absolute Disaster!! more than 1 year after the project handover they refuse to fix the issues. Claiming some as “user error” some as “this is what we quoted” and other excuses.
    DO NOT WORK WITH Vilaca Interiores!