We started our build with Diyanni March 2021, framing good went well, drywall installation went well too We started seeing problems with our skill trades/sub contractors. Our color selection was wrong (inverted), when I attempted to ask them the response was, well you looked at the color sheet and there is nothing we can do about it. The estimated time to move in was so far off (we were told the house would be completed somewhere between the 2nd week to the end of September) so with that estimate, we sold our home and then paid the increase in price after signing the original contract agreement (YES, the price increase 15K after we begun construction), and we opted to stay in a rental for the month. The month turned into 2.5 months and we didn’t get the keys to the house until october 31. And even then we recieved a temporary permit. It was a complete and utter mess. The plumbers didn’t hook up our suppump and our basement took in water and the electrician( nice guy) has been the hardest to get a hold of to complete the extra’s we paid him for. So while new construction will have it’s share of problems, when you are dealing with sub contractors that you don’t get a chance to vett, there is little accountablity without your PM or the people who hired them keeping watch that the product is done correctly. So a word of caution for ANY builder who doesn’t do everything themselves with employees. I will add that we also had Jeff H on our project and while he was very busy, and he dropped the ball sometimes, he did try his best to recetify things. Was he the best ever, no…but he did try to have empathy and just flat out told us some of our issues were due to COVID, material shortage and just finding people who will work. I would hire Jeff again, but I would make sure to stay in constant communication as he doesn’t like buildertrend, which I use to document every issues in case of legal ramifications.

Let's go back to building a state-of-the-art, quality frig - that 'll last for 50 years (or more). And it seems to me that we should contact the builders to tell them that that's what we want. Rather than purposely building ones that are intended to last for 10 years - then the rich guys in the Western world (and those not so rich) need to buy replacements. And keep people working. So - let's build as many frigs as now ... but with each planned to last five times as long ... which would cost very little more per frig to produce than now, so the price for a long-life frig would not be far above the current prices. And find ways that we can help the impoverished people of the world to have the other four frigs that we built. So, for a start, I could buy a frig for me ... and one for someone in the Third World ... and still have the price of at least two more frigs left sitting in my pocket (allowing the price of the fifth frig as extra cost associated with the higher quality: which is far more than enough). We could use some of the money that we use to build military hardware ... and people to operate it - to arrange for more of that humanitarian assistance. So that less of the world's food (and we're getting really close to shortages) goes to waste. As it is ... a lot of the too-early-died frigs get hauled to the junk heap ... and junk heaps are getting bigger (shouldn't be a problem in Canada, the world's second largest country - yet our largest city found it useful to ship their crap across the border for disposal down near Detroit). Ten - twenty per cent of the world are on perpetual diet - and they say that our kids will live shorter lives because they are getting obese ... and diabetic at more youthful ages. More allergies, too. While 80% of the world often suffers hunger. We in wealthy North America had better get used to demanding quality frigs and other products, as our parents were used to ... because many of us are going to be unemployed ... or employed for lower wages, as was the situation in our part of the world until recently and is for much of the other parts of the world still. If we in the wealthy West had gained a reputation for such helpfulness, we'd have built a different and much more positive reputation in the world. It costs a lot of precious petroleum to dig iron ore, haul it to be smelted, and smelters are fuel hogs, then to flatten, shape, and assemble into the final product, then to haul to the store. And as we make more parts of the frigs, cars, etc. of plastics - the feedstock for that is precious petroleum ... or precious natural gas. We take fuel from our gas tank - to make the plastic parts for the car! Plus ... all of that burning of fuel for manufacturing and hauling causes a lot more pollution ... and global warming. Which won't cause problems for my grandkids - I don't have any. But those with grandkids should give that part of the situation some serious thought, as well. It's important for us to be much more serious conservationists. Good wishes for considering ways that you can use the world's resources more carefully and to make full use of them rather following our earlier paths of being so wasteful. ole joyful

kathy t - I think that's a fabulous idea. My mother died nine years ago -- one week after 9/11. And just yesterday, as I was walking up the stairs to my bedroom, I thought "I should call Mom." If only I could. We held a memorial service for her in my brother's backyard a month or so after she died. My niece worked with a friend to put together a wonderful video of my Mom's life with pictures of her and my dad, all six of her kids, her 13 grandkids, and two great-grandkids. She also included some music that meant something to all of us. It was truly amazing, and I've watched it many times. This is a quote from C.S. Lewis, that I may have gotten from RP, that really sums up how I feel about the loss of my mother: "With my motherÂs death, all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life. There was to be much fun, many pleasures, many stabs of Joy; but no more of the old security. It was sea and islands now; the great continent had sunk like AtlantisÂ" C.S. Lewis And as Edna St. Vincent Millay put it: "The presence of that absence is everywhere."

Mantle Mount for above a fireplace. I agree with others to move the fireplace back to the wall opposite the kitchen and make the back wall all windows. You need as many windows as possible back there. Here's what I'd do if you can remove the nook and maybe pull the dining room down so it is on the same outside wall as the bedroom. It would mean making the front porch smaller, but that would help to bring even some northern light into the dining room. It would also give you a "hallway" from the foyer to the bedroom wing. This would make the back wall where the nook was all sliders to the backyard. This would help bring in more light to the kitchen and would make the whole back south wall windows. Plus since the nook is basically just a pass through to the master, it's basically useless as it was. I also moved the outdoor door from the master down further and added two windows on the east wall to the master. Moved the fireplace to the wall of the bedroom.