Saxony Design Build, Inc

I worked with Joshua Cain of Saxony Design Build earlier this year, and am updating my review as I promised in the original 6÷3÷15 review.
I live in San Gabriel, CA and from the start, my budget had been around $ 80K to add 400 sq. ft. to my home, hoping everything could be done for around $ 200 per sq. ft. However, I did tell him that I could possibly extend my budget to $ 90K if really necessary. The goal was to get a good return on investment, and to increase the value of the house as much as possible for selling. Joshua knew the budget and intent from the beginning, said he would work within the $ 80K budget, and believed it could be accomplished.
Throughout the design process, Joshua was always very professional, responsive, communicative, and accommodating to my concerns and preferences.
Ultimately, about 1 month after I paid him my initial deposit of $ 4K and after a lot of collaboration, discussion, and tweaking of the floor plan, he gave me a proposal to add about 269 sq. ft. to my home at an estimated price of $ 128K, not inclusive of some items like kitchen cabinets and counter top.
Under this proposal, comparing the cost and estimated return on investment, I would end up with a net loss of several thousand dollars. Since the proposal came out about 60% over budget, the addition of living space about 67% of the desired square footage, and the purpose of the expansion defeated, I had to suspend the project and collaboration with Saxony Design Build.
After I explained these concerns to Joshua, we continued to work together a bit more to see what tweaks could be made at all, in order to make the project more feasible, but we could not find a solution that would be within 120% of my original $ 80K budget.
Joshua was very responsive the entire process and has a wonderful eye for design and a good sense for the proper flow of a house. He updated me frequently and always responded very quickly to my emails/​texts. I was taken aback by how expensive construction is in the area, and largely blamed myself for not factoring in the important cost of re-​purposing about 150 sq. ft. of the house in order to cohere with the expansion. I did not understand why Joshua did not point this out to me sooner, though. I also wondered why he did not raise hundreds of red flags about the financing concern, prior to casually delivering his proposal.
I believe that Saxony Design Build does top-​notch work and is a great designer/​architect/​contractor choice for the beautiful, unique old homes around LA. If I were planning to stay in my house for the long term, so as to really live-​in and personally utilize the home addition rather than seeing it from an ROI point of view, I would definitely want the work to be done by this team.