Earlier this year, Geko Stoop had hired Prefabulous builder Fornicola Butuzova to build Club E-co. I had been asked to build the club, but could not make a commitment to that project due to my already busy schedule. Geko then was able to commission Fornicola Butuzova for the project, and felt comfortable with her decision. This comfort level was based on the fact that Fornicola Butuzova enjoyed a good reputation as a professional builder and business person.
Club E-co was to be more than just a club. Occupying an entire 15,000 prim sim, it was to be a full sim build. The concept was that it would celebrate the real natural environment, with 4 themed rooms decorated in different Earth environments of fire/lava, snow, water, and rainforest. There was to be a large central dance hall, and the themed rooms were to be accessed from this central room.
Hiring a top builder to build a sim isn't cheap, but Geko Stoop made sure that money was not a problem. In exchange for L$750,000, she expected to take ownership of a turn-key operation, with a professional level of fit and finish. Fornicola Butuzova insisted the sum be paid up front, because she did not want to be "burned again", and Geko Stoop obliged that request. She did not feel that paying the money up front would present a problem down the road because of Fornicola Butuzova's apparent reputation and demeanor.
Before the project was completed, problems started to arise that threatened the completion of the build. Fornicola Butuzova said she was having medical problems, mainly vision problems which were limiting the amount of time she was able to spend working in SL. Geko had tried to accomodate her by pushing the opening of the club back a month, but Fornicola insisted that she was up to the task of finishing the job. Geko had given Fornicola a punch list of things that needed to be completed, and was given the impression that all the issues would rectified and the club would be completed as originally agreed.
Giancarlo Takacs had gotten involved in the construction of the club, at the request of Geko Stoop. She had requested his involvement because of his frankness of opinion, and high standards when it comes to architecture and sim design. He had made a list of the problems he saw that threatened the functionality and success of the club, and that list was forwarded to Fornicola Butuzova.
Although Giancarlo's comments may have seemed scathing to some, they were valid points from an objective third party. Apparently, Fornicola Butuzova did not respond to criticism very well, and felt that he was being a jerk. She also felt that his comments were irrelevant because he didn't have any authority to be criticizing her work.
Of course, one wonders if Fornicola would have been such a bitch if she had not been paid up front. Apparently, she had not toured the rest of Giancarlo's estate, or else she would have known what a complete sim build looked like.
This is the outside of the club. I had been asked to build the compound curved road to connect the road sections from sim to sim, since the builder insisted on placing the building in a spot that put the existing roadway right through the front of the club. Although she had the entire sim at her disposal, she still insisted the club be placed where it was, with no regard to how it fit in with the rest of the surroundings. Why she decided to build it at about 9meters off the ground was another mystery.
Even though she had a full 15,000 prims to play with, and used less than a third of that number, she still used huge prims. People say that using huge prims cause lag, but I don't really see a problem with using them sparingly when prims are at a premium. In this case, I don't really think that running out of prims was going to be a problem. Also, since it is a club, meaning lots of avatars are going to create lag, avoiding laggy huge prims would have seemed more appropriate.
I noted that she does not understand the concept of having the risers of the stairs at a uniform height. Building evenly sized steps is a very basic building skill. I also noted that nothing is linked.
The fact that nothing is linked indicates to me that she never had any intention of completing the job and transferring the build to the client. Ideally, she would have linked the club into sections, checked copy/mod permissions, placed all the sections into a rez box, made a notecard of the rez box coordinates, cleared the land of all her prims, placed the rez box on the ground at the coordinates from the notecard, and then set the rez box for sale at the price that was agreed to at the time the contract was entered. This is the only way I do business. If any builder asks for money up front, run, do not walk, away as fast as you can, no matter how reputable they are.
Prims are free in SL, so asking for upfront money is not appropriate. If a builder says they are concerned about being "burned again", then that is a warning sign. A builder shouldn't even have been burned once in the first place, unless there was a problem with their work or work ethics.
As a professional builder in RL, I do require a certain amount of money as a downpayment, but there are legally binding documents that are signed at the time, which protect the interests of both parties. In SL, the Community Standards clearly state that contracts between residents will not be governed or enforced by Linden Lab, so residents are on their own if someone fails to honor a contract. It is also customary to require a real life client to pay for materials when they are delivered to the jobsite. Since prims are free in SL, requiring payment for materials that are delivered to a jobsite is superfluous. There may be things a builder uses that they don't build, and have to buy from someone else, which will then have to be sold to the client. These items should be rezzed at the site and the client should take ownership of them at the time the builder is reimbursed for their expense.
This is the exterior of the club, as taken from the air towards the rear quarter of the building. It has always been my opinion that, while Prefabulous does nice interior textures, they are no architects. For the price that Fornicola was paid for this project, I do not think it would be too much to expect for the entire sim to be complete and aesthetically pleasing, especially considering her boast about being an accomplished designer and builder.
To be fair, the interior of the club had some pretty cool things going on, although Fornicola Butuzova does not seem to know that using a lot of sculpted prims in close proximity creates a lot of lag. A large amount of the interior prims are sculpted.
Like most of the rooms, the glowing prims in the main dance hall have such a high glow that I had to shield my eyes to look at it. As a builder, I am always suspicious of high glow and black, or very dark, textures, because I feel the builder is hiding shoddy prim work. In this case, glow and dark textures are probably appropriate for a club, but I do think the glow is excessive.
At the rear of the main dance hall is an intimate, cave-like lounge area with a large salt water aquarium. This is a pretty cool idea in concept, but I think the execution left much to be desired. In real life, salt water aquariums are very beautiful, because of the large variety of brightly colored, and usually fluorescent, plants, coral, and fish that can be used. Other than a shark and a few other swimming animals, and the rocks, the aquarium is just about empty.
Despite the failure of the total design, the interior does have some features that I really like. One of my favorites are these invisible light boxes that move around randomly in the water room. I love diving in the springs and reefs here in my home state of Florida, and I thought this was a great effect, which mimicks the play of light under water.
Geko finally lost any hope of the club being finished as agreed. Fornicola quit responding to any of her attempts to contact her, and quit working on the build. I made an attempt to get involved in the project, hoping I could appeal to Fornicola as a fellow builder. I had written a notecard to Geko, with a solution, and forwarded that notecard to Fornicola.
Fornicola never responded to my attempts to contact her, although I did receive confirmation that she had accepted the notecard.
According to her group, Fornicola is still logging in since the time I had made attempts to contact her myself. She has never once responded to me, nor has she responded to Geko's attempts to contact her. The club is still unfinished.
Fornicola Butuzova failed to honor the contract that she agreed to complete at the time that Geko Stoop paid her. In keeping the money, and failing to deliver a finished sim, she has become a thief. Her argument may be that she did not like Giancarlo's criticism of her work, but, upon looking at the pictures, it is pretty obvious that Giancarlo was being honest about the build. Also, Fornicola's agreement was with Geko, and Geko held up her end of the deal, so Fornicola has no excuse for failing to do the same.
As of this writing, Geko Stoop has been able to commission a new club to be built by the very talented Patch Thibaud.
