I'm glad that you took the time to complete the story. It really points out a lot to people who are thinking about taking on a project. I think the most important thing that it points out is that is the effort you put into it from the get go and with the follow through. You showed a lot of people that you can't just pick a name out of the phone book and turn it over to them and wait for perfection. There is a certain amount of work locating a designer or LA who you feel is going to be able to do a good job AND be able to work with you. That is not an easy task and sometimes you have to settle for less than the ideal candidate for one reason or another. Sometimes it is price and other times it is availability. After that you have to get it built. You can sometimes pay the designer/LA to manage the project. Sometimes they are really good at it and other times they are not. Sometimes they have strong ties with certain contractors whom they have worked with because they work well together or because they know that the contractor is so capable that it won't take a lot of effort to manage them. Other times they just want to get the pay day and hire someone and hope for the best. But, a lot of the time the outcome is really in the hands of the property owner. That can be because they don't want to pay more for the designer's recommended contractor who may be the best one to mesh with the designer. It also could be that the PO does not feel that the project management is in the budget or worth the money so they contract it on their own. Some contractors are great at somethings and not so good at other things. Some crunch the numbers tight to land a job and then fight every expense (cut corners to manage the budget, often by simply hurrying to keep labor costs down) to keep the job reasonably profitable. Others are great at most everything and charge a lot of money so they can give it everything it needs and not be hurrying or trying to save nickels and dimes, but they are often seen as over priced. Some are just plain over priced even though they are not that terrific. This thread really illustrated most of this stuff. The biggest tip that MadTripper gives is to watch everything and don't let things slip by. You have to have real time quality control. That is what a Project Manager is supposed to do. If done properly, it clearly takes on a great responsibility and takes a lot of time - read "it costs a lot" into that. In the absence of a good project manager, you as the property owner are left to be the project manager. You essentially have to earn the money that you save by being that manager. MadTripper was up to the task, but many will not be. How do you know if your designer/LA who wants to get paid to manage your project is up to the task? You really have to talk to others who he has done this for. One of the qualities it takes is to have a sort of commanding personality. That is not the same personality most people want to deal with in the design process is it? If you feel that you can push a contractor around better than your designer, it might be best to manage the job yourself. I believe that he best situation is to find a designer/LA who works with a contractor or two very closely whom you can afford. They rely on each others success as a mutual benefit. The contractor is less likely to walk all over the designer and the designer is less likely to walk all over you. That is definitely in your best interest. It is way to easy to be in a situation where you a re trying to control the designer, he is trying to control the contractor, and the contractor is trying to get done and walk away with a profit (sometimes because they are spun around in circles by the others and sometimes because they just want to take the money and run. It is never text book.

From reading different posts on the GW it would appear that "Maryland irisman" and I are about the same age and we seem to have a number of similar interests. I too, have been doing stained glass projects as a hobby for about 25 yrs and if I have learned nothing else from the hobby, I have certainly learned that not all glass cutters are created equally and this is certainly one of those areas where you get what you pay for however even an el cheapo will cut glass if the tool is properly used and maintained. Keep in mind that even though you may be able to buy a glass cutter for $4 or $5 none-the-less, a glass cutter is a fairly precision piece of equipment. Far too often a homeowner or DIY'er will buy an inexpensive glass cutter then just toss it in the top tray of their tool box, where it is constantly slammed around with the other tools then after months of slamming around, no doubt picking up dirt and debris, they have need to cut a piece of glass so they take it out and begin scoring glass without so much as a hint of oil on the cutter, or worse yet, they do properly oil the cutter when using it, but then toss it back into the tool box where the oil will now convert dust into a pasty sludge which totally fouls the cutting wheel. (Hint-stop by a local tobacco shop and ask them for one of the plastic tubes that expensive cigars come packed in. They make an excellent storage case for your glass cutter). On most glass cutters the cutting wheel is on the heavy end of the tool, and if you happen to drop a glass cutter it is almost a forgone conclusion that it will land cutter wheel first on the floor, and as luck would have it, that is more often than not a concrete floor. Scratch one glass cutter! Keep in mind that the cutter wheel must rotate freely for the entire length of your score line. Before you begin scoring the glass you must first make sure the glass surface is clean. Even a microscopic film of grease or dirt will cause the wheel to momentarily skip leaving an uneven score line which will lead to disaster. Before you begin cutting use a clean paper towel and alcohol to clean the score line then give it a minute or two for any residual alcohol to evaporate. While you are waiting for the alcohol to evaporate take a moment to rotate the wheel with your finger to insure it rotates freely, then apply a drop or two of oil just before you begin your score line. When making the score line you must apply a firm even pressure and complete the entire length of the score line in one smooth even motion. Absolutely do not even attempt to go back over the score line because that will introduce a second score line which will cause the break to run erratic and more often than not, break the entire sheet. Once you have the score line the real trick to glass cutting is how you make the breakout. At this point a good pair of leather work gloves is a must. Now hold both your hands in a loose fist as if you were giving the old "Thumbs Up" sign. Now, holding your hands under the glass with an index finger tight against the underside, one hand on each side of the score line, hold down on the top of the glass with your thumb. If you are right handed you will now use your left hand to hold the glass steady while you begin a slight rotation downward with the right hand as if you were trying to fold the glass down on the score line. (If your left handed reverse the procedure). Within a moment you will see the fracture begin and run down the score line to the opposite end of the glass. When learning to cut glass expect to have problems at first until you get the hang of it. This is one case were practice makes perfect. Before you attempt to make a critical cut I would strongly suggest you get a few old scrap window panes and practice until you feel you have the technique down pat. It doesn't take nearly as much force to break the score line as one might expect. I have a pair of "Glazers Pliers" that look very similar to a pair of electricians linesman pliers, except that on the glazers pliers when viewed from the end one jaw is convex and the other jaw is concave, and both jaws are covered with a vinyl coating. To use glazers pliers you center the jaw over the score line and squeeze the handles and "voila"" a perfect breakout, even when making those tiny 3/8" or 1/2" edge cuts. (Glazers pliers are about $40 and I would not expect the average homeowner to cut enough glass to justify them, but if you anticipate cutting a lot of glass, or making intricate cuts you may want to consider them.) My personal preference in glass cutters is an oil filled glass cutter. Oil filled glass cutters have a hollow tubular handle that serves as a reservoir for cutting oil and they slowly feed the oil to the cutting wheel. Here again, these are a bit pricey for the average homeowner but if you anticipate cutting a lot of glass they are worth every penny. Oil filled cutters start out at about $24 and run up into the hundreds. The one I use now sells for about $39, but you can be sure it was not that much when I bought it back in 1984.

Hi Lisa. I don't have a TON of experience, but I do have SOME. I think you do have to use a saw for plexiglas. It doesn't act like glass, it acts like plastic. I have used a table saw, a circular saw, and a jigsaw to cut it in the past. They all work fine (except I'm not crazy about using a circular saw for ANYTHING, they scare me. But I can do it.) The main thing to know is that the blade does heat up and melts the plastic, so you have to stop every little bit and break off the chunk of plastic that builds up at your cut. It's like the "sawdust" from your cut melts and gobs up behind the blade over your cut. Not a big deal, it just pops off. Have fun! Oh, and be safe!

Lauriescreams - Thank you! I felt like I was just getting into my groove with my last garden when the decision was made to move. We did not take anything with us, our house closed a month before our new house was done being built and we stayed in a hotel for half of that with everything in storage. I am slowly getting a feel for what the plan will be with this one, my first inclination was to remove the sod on the back slope and plant on it but now I am leaning more towards trying to convince the husband that we need to terrace it with a retaining wall. I have had a few different companies out here to measure and give me quotes but so far none of the quotes have come in yet. So far the plan for the roses is to plant them in sort of an ombre' effect pattern, with the deepest colors(Young Lycidas, Darcy Brussel) in the middle going out to the lavenders(Plum Perfect, Angel Face, Heirloom, Love Song) and whites(Earth Angel, PJPII, Winchester Cathedral).