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Building a Home

How many mistakes were made during your build?

11 years ago

We've already had one--the foundation--so I'm wondering what other people's experiences have been. Any mistakes? How were they rectified? Was it to your satisfaction? Thanks!

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Comments (7)

nini804
11 years ago
Oh, sure...the matching glass doors that flank our living room fireplace were ordered and hung with the hinges on the same side. Looked stupid, they were drawn with the hinges on the far side and the hardware on the the inside, and that's the way we wanted it. Builder admitted it was a mistake....asked us if we wanted an $800 credit or a new door. We were tempted to take the credit as we went over on a lot and knew that most people wouldn't even notice, but decided that *I* would notice, so had him order a new slab.
Apparently doors were a problem for us...our custom made mahogany front doors were mis-measured and ended up being too tall to fit with the arched transom. A really awful mistake...not our fault. It was corrected, don't know if it was the builder or door-maker's fault (didn't want to know, yikes, what a mess) but it was corrected, and doors are lovely.

Honestly, our builder was awesome...they were just very fair and reasonable, and we felt like we were as well. I think it really helps that the 2 owners both live here in our town, one of them here in our 'hood. They aren't going anywhere, and really care about what they build.
SpringtimeHomes
11 years ago
There will be hundreds of mistakes made on every home built. I guess the real question is how many require significant rework or rectification.
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landngarage
11 years ago
Sungreen,,,,what went wrong with your slab?..... I have a few weeks to learn all I can about slabs.
montel (CA US 10b/Sunset 16)
11 years ago
We had a few mistakes - some are yet to be resolved - but overall we had a great build, and considering how many mistakes can be made in a build it is amazing how few we had.

Our few of our in-slab plumbing pipes were wrong in a couple of areas - one missed measurement added up to 3 toilets and a few vents being in the wrong location by a few inches. The only problem it has created now, which isn't fixed yet, is our polished concrete floor in one bathroom has a noticeable "stain" from where a pipe had to be moved. We are going to have it fixed at some point since it looks like someone missed when using the toilet!

The concrete contractor had a couple of other mistakes that were easy to fix, like some crooked stairs in the garage that we just tiled over.

Our cabinets for our kitchen included a desk area with a drawer that was too tall - it would have made fitting a chair under it impossible so we took the drawer out. Also our built-in fridge opening is a little off, and we still need to add our trim kit. Turns out is more about the fridge freezer having the extra water line of the back that takes up just that little bit of extra room that wasn't on the drawing!

We have probably 2 lights switches in places I don't like, and I would now like to have a switch inside the house that controls our front garage lights, and an upstairs switch for our entry lights.

We have a couple of other minor problems that will be fixed over the summer.
cottonpenny
11 years ago
So far nothing terrible! But we are just at the drywall stage so still a ways to go.

The worst was that the windows in our breakfast room were mounted quite high (48" off the ground) because I told the builder i wanted a built-in bench and he assumed a restaurant height banquette. So they had to be removed and we are adding transoms to the top. Obviously, this was partially my fault for not being more clear and checking on that earlier.

The windows for our son's room were ordered as fixed instead of openable windows. That was corrected.

I had to remind the builder about a few outlets I wanted added, but I caught it early enough that it wasn't a big deal.
dyno
11 years ago
Thankfully only 5

dozen

LMAO!
bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz
11 years ago
Gee, I only had about 2 or 3

HUNDRED!

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