uh oh, based just on what you've written so far, I foresee problems. First off, does your contract specify TRCC "standards"? There are a couple of things you need to know about TRCC and the TRCC standards. First, TRCC (for you non-Texans, that stands for Texas Residential Construction Commission) is now a DEFUNCT state agency. It was sunsetted this past September when the legislature finally got the message that the TRCC was operating as a builder-protection agency and that homeowners simply weren't going to stand for it anymore. Second, while the TRCC was in effect, it adopted a set of minimum warranty standards that replaced the old legal standards of good workmanship and fitness for purpose. The TRCC standards include a one year warranty for workmanship and materials, a two year warranty for plumbing, electrical, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, and a ten year warranty on structural components. Each standard specifies in excruciating detail what is and what is not considered a defect. Whether those standards still have any legal effect now that TRCC is defunct is up for debate and, so far as I know, no legal cases have yet worked their way thru the courts to settle the issue. IF your contract specified that the builder would meet TRCC minimum warranty standards, then my guess is that a court would say the standards apply in your case. If your contract did not specify TRCC standards but you entered into the contract with your builder before TRCC was sunsetted then there would be a good argument that the standards should be applied because both parties were relying on the rules in effect at the time the contract was signed. But, if you entered into your contract after TRCC was sunsetted AND your contract doesn't specify TRCC standards, then I think you would have a winning argment that TRCC standards have no application. And, given that TRCC's warranty standards were written so favorably to builders that 8 foot tall walls could be out of plumb by as much as two inches, the earlier legal standards of good workmanship and fitness for purpose served homeowners far better than the new warranty standards. Prior to TRCC, it was was left up to juries to determine if an alleged defect was bad enough to be considered covered by implied warranties of good workmanship and fitness for purpose - and since juries were likely to think about issues as if they themselves had had to face the problem in their own new homes, they tended to require builders to meet standards that the rest of us find more reasonable. Like, walls should not bow an inch and a half in the middle and there should not be 1/8 inch gaps between pieces of trim work! But, even tho the TRCC standards are so loose (despite being so detailed) that a house has to be practically falling down around you before it is considered "defective", NO WHERE in the TRCC standards does it state that a punch list defect must be "visible from 20 feet. If your builder is telling you that, he is lying thru his teeth (which is why I predict you'll have problems). Instead, different potential problems are defined in different ways. For example, paint issues are often "punch list" items and RULE 304.21(2) specifically states "Paint shall cover all intended surfaces so that unpainted areas shall not show through paint when viewed from a distance of six feet in normal light." Another big punch list item is often defects in hard surfaces such as ceramic tile, granite, finished concrete, etc. RULE §304.20(3) specifically states. "A surface imperfection in floor hard surface shall not be visible from a distance of three feet or more in normal light. A surface imperfection in non-floor hard surface shall not be visible from a distance of two feet or more in normal light." See what I mean about your builder's so called "20 foot" requirement! I think you would do well to download the old TRCC warranty standards and read thru them carefully well before your walk through. If you believe that they ought to apply, get your builder to state in writing that he considers them to apply then take a copy with you to your walk through so you have it to refer to. The TRCC warranty rules can be downloaded from the site linked below. DON'T just rely on the so-called "plain language" versions. They leave out the details and those are what you need to read. The formal versions are rather long but other than that, they are not difficult to read or understand. So read them and be prepared to make your builder meet them. And, forget the idea that you'll do the walkthrough to find defects WITH your builder in 1.5 to 3 hours. He'll be doing his best to rush you along and distract you from seeing defects. Go to the house ahead of time with several very observant friends and do your own walk through without the builder there. If your house is a 2000 foot home, expect to spend at least 6 hours. If it is larger, expect to spend proportionately more time. Make detailed notes of all the issues (room by room) so that when you are walking thru with the builder, it is just an opportunity to point the issues out to him. That you can do in 1.5 to 3 hours... and you can give him a typed up copy of your lists at the end so that he can't claim you never mentioned something. If you're anywhere in the Austin area, I'll be happy to try to make time to meet you at your new house (before your date with your builder) and help you do a walk through. I've gotten pretty darned good at seeing the defects and I am sick to death of lousy builders screwing homeowners. I just this minute finished talking to my next door neighbor who is in the process of having a horse barn built behind her house and it is already a total screw-up...to the point where I think her best option at this point would be to fire the builder, tear down what he has done and start over. Among other things, the concrete foundation is not level but rises and falls with the slope of her land and then her builder put NOTHING between the concrete wood 2x4 sill plates so they're going to rot out almost immediately. Anyway, back to your situation, while your builder may SAY he'll be showing up for a year to finish punch list stuff when you find it later, don't count on it. Once he has his money, you have ZERO power to get him back without filing a lawsuit against him. Anything on the punch list that you aren't willing to fix yourself better be fixed before you close. Since he seems to be lying to you already about the 20 foot thing AND wants to rush you thru the walk thru in 1.5 hours, I somehow doubt he is going to be a stand up guy and come back to fix problems you find two months after you move in.

Thanks MethodDesigns. I did bring it up when we first moved in, but I was brushed off and told that it was typical. Since living in the house for a while, I have been bothered more and more by it. I have paid more attention to other people's doors too, and ours seem to have a larger gap. However, you're exactly right. We do have taller ceilings and hardwood floors. I'm struggling to determine how much of our sound issue is the doors vs the ceilings/floors. FWIW- At our 6 month punch list, I overheard the carpenters talking about the doors in another house. The future owner of that house thought the doors were all cut too short and wanted them replaced. I'm assuming their doors were the same as ours since it was the same carpenter. I do not know what the resolution was.

In the past couple of weeks, I have knocked a ton of stuff off my punch list. DS' ceiling was cracked and needed re-plastering, but knowing that he was going away to college this fall, we held off until he was gone. He also had really old wallpaper in his room. So we got the ceiling fixed, called the painter and had the wallpaper stripped and walls/trim repainted. Which of course led to a massive purge of stuff and a bit of redecorating but not too much -- I didn't want him to think I've turned his room into a guest room already! While the painter was here, I decided to have him paint the dining room, since it hadn't been painted in forever. More purging and redecorating. And a new rug. And a new lamp. The painting was done last week. I also bought new lighting for the kitchen. On Friday, the electrician came and installed new pendant lights and new wall sconces, and re-installed the ceiling fixture in DS' room. Yesterday, the landscapers came and replaced almost all of our front yard shrubs. Most of what was out there was an overgrown mess and/or had been dying. Today, I planted about 120 tulip bulbs in among the new shrubs. Also today the window cleaning company came for a long-overdue whole-house window washing. DD said "why are so many workers coming to our house, like, every day?" A couple of weeks ago, I cleaned out my bedroom closet. On Tuesday, one of the local charities is coming to pick up the stuff I have been purging. Tomorrow, cleaning guy is coming and as you can imagine, the house is pretty dusty from all of the above. Tomorrow afternoon I will rejoice that I have no "workers" coming for the foreseeable future!

Tell him to hurry up and fix the outstanding items on the punch list, if he is worried about losing the ability to sue you. That is not your problem if he let this job to drag on and he plans to drag the completion of the-punch-list to stretch just as long. As the sub-contractors lien goes... If you previous payments to your GC included and covered the work provided by the subcontractors and he didn't pay them, he is withholding that money from them and he must pay them. If he uses that money to pay his own bills or takes a vacation per se... the moneys are called "trust funds" and the GC can be held liable for violating the trust fund law. Because the minute you give your GC the money, they are no longer yours and he is responsible to pay everyone he hired according to his contract with them. Your agreement is with him. Read your contract, the section that specifies progress payments. It usually shows the breakdown which payment covers what job. So typical payment break down usually goes something like this: Down payment @ signing contract 1st payment @ starting the job, demo, etc 2nd payment rough work and rough inspections, i.e electrical, plumbing etc 3d payment finises and final electrical, plumbing, etc. inspections Balance after the job completion, homeowner inspection which usually includes minor punch list items, etc and that payment is made completion completion.