Kats, that is some real chutzpah. I feel for you. We've been in our home for a little more than a month after a 13-month build (that was only supposed to take 9 months) - the delays were excruciating because they would have been avoidable by someone with even a modicum or organizational ability, which our GC does not have. He's a lovely guy on a personal level but not nearly as good a contractor as he thinks, and we sorely need a break from the unrelenting pressure. He still has not finished one major item - two sets of steel stairs that go from our rear porches to our rear terrace, as well as several small punchlist items. There's always an excuse. He's disorganized, but resents it when we step in to organize, or take any kind of action to impose a deadline - this from a guy who is routinely hours late to scheduled meetings and never met any deadline in the construction process, even ones he imposed himself. Our new theory this week is to give him whatever time he needs (within reason) but to limit his intrusions into our home life to one day a week, arranged in advance, with a "one hour" rule - if he's not here within an hour of when he is supposed to be he has to wait until the next week. Apparently that is being just as "mean" and "difficult" as complaining about unmet deadlines - he thinks we should be there 24/7 for him to do what he wants, or we should just give him a key and trust him, in any event on his schedule. No way - he has needed watching every step of the way. We've done way more than our share of work that he should have done - I feel for you there too. He's been inches away from being fired more than once on this job, and we've talked to a construction lawyer several times about really contentious issues. In the end, even though we have the cash leverage (we still owe him more than our 10% retention, primarily because he's too lazy to do a requisition), it just hasn't been worth it to fire him. Assuming that you don't need clean title for a takeout of your construction loan, it sounds like you have little to worry about. I don't have huge faith in the court system, but even then I find it hard to believe that a judge would buy his argument that his subs are not under his control. Also, if he's not done, how in the world could he be owed a completion bonus? The courts are always a risk, but in this case it seems to me a pretty small one. If you do have to close any new financing that requires title work, you may need to think about it a bit more strategically. Do everything you can to get your loan closed without a lien being recorded. Otherwise, my advice to you is the advice I have a hard time taking myself. It's only as big a deal as you make it. So hire a lawyer and instruct him or her to deal with it in as cost-effective a manner as possible. Then let it go and enjoy your new house.

C/O is regarded as your daughter using you and your address as a mail stop. If your name isn't on your daughter's bank account (the "or"), you can't endorse the check for cashing out or depositing and the bank is within its rights not to let you make either transaction. I don't know about the hold aspect of this; verification the check issuer has sufficient funds? I am only familiar with holds when dealing with transactions of 10k or more. But if the account has more than 10k in it, the hold period tends to be a non starter. You can send the check to your daughter, she can endorse it and send it back to you for cashing or depositing. But it's never wise to be mailing endorsed checks - if it falls into the wrong hands, it can be cashed by anyone. There's bound to be someone who works in the banking industry on these forums who knows the ins and outs of this.

You will need to plan to water frequently. Generally where are you located such as nearest large city and state or country? What is happy as a potted plant in NH might not be the same as TX. What is the light level like over the course of the day? It looks quite shaded from this photo. Have you considered pots with vines such as clematis or mandevilla vine growing up the wrought iron columns, or are you firm on wanting hanging plants?

I don't recommend sticky traps but if you have a critter stuck on one, a bucket of water is quicker and IMO less traumatic than freezing. Now, as to how to get critters to leave. I know this works for birds: Not only do you open a door for them to run out, but close all the blinds and curtains and make it the only patch of light. Birds in particular will fly about towards any patch of sky. Block them all off and they will head for the one remaining patch. Someone earlier in the thread had a squirrel coming in the chimney. Doesn't it have a steel damper to close it off? If not, I sure hope you're in a tropical climate where you never run central heating because that's a huge vent for hot air to pour out of the house to be replaced by cold drafts from every possible crack and gap. If you were in a tropical climate you wouldn't have a fireplace.