We didn't have a "walk-through" because we GC'd our own (three years ago), and we lived on site while much of it was being done. However, the one thing I can think of that we forgot was a light switch in the garage. We put a switch just outside the mudroom door, so we can walk out of the hosue and flip the light off/on. But we forgot to put another switch by the walk-through garage door so we could flip the light off/on when coming in from outside. DUH. (It's a relatively simple fix, but we haven't done it yet...)

When my house was being framed and wired, I met with the security alarm company to discuss the total house wiring. This company did the "smart-house" type of wiring for security system, phones, internet, cable, satelite, built-in speakers, intercom..... everything really.

The sales guy told me that there would be an intercom panel by the front door and that it would connect with the doorbell so that whenever someone pressed the intercom button at the front door the doorbell would go off.

Wrong. Totally wrong.

Totally wrong because the builder didn't even *install* a doorbell. And I didn't find this out until after moving in. I didn't notice it at the walk-through. The installers told me that the sales guy had it all wrong, that there was no such connection between the intercom and the doorbell anyway. The builder considered the intercom station to be a *replacement* for the doorbell. They don't even install a doorbell if you select the intercom.

The building manager for my builder went to a hardware store and bought a rather nice wireless doorbell and came out and installed it for me. I'm happy with it, because very few people actually use the intercom by the front door for some reason. I guess it makes them feel like the UPS guy or something, lol.

Don't worry Palmcrews. You'll be fine. I'll pray for you. God will look after you. I also got alot of problems like this. If I start disscussing them, the pages would get less and time to explain everything will take longer. Just cheers.

I guess what amazes me is that for the most part we are talking about professional people who have experience in what they do. I wouldn't think some of these things could or would happen. I guess it goes to show that we're all human.....Lord knows I've made my share of bonehead mistakes. LOL....

Thanks for the stories.....it puts it all into perspective.

Happy Building
Pam

After carefully designing the pantry to be on an inside wall to ensure its temperature would stay nice and cool and constant for food storage, I foolishly allowed the radiant floor people to put an access panel and regulator valves on its back wall. Took me months for the 'penny to drop'. *what was I thinking!?*

Now the pantry is pretty much guaranteed to be several degrees warmer during the heating season. Looks like I'll be using the closet under the stairs near the garage for any serious long-term food storage.

Also, missed a light switch in the far garage for the outdoor lights and one of the garage door openers was on the wrong wall near the wrong door. Added a hose bibb on the back of the garages and a couple more electrical outlets. These were (for the most part) easy fixes once the decision was made to bite the bullet and do a little drywall patching. Lots easier to do now than after everything is moved in...

I can relate to the missing HVAC supply vent. Our toilet room had none until we noticed the problem!

We have panic lights on the corners of the house. They are wired to switches in the kitchen and MBR. WHY didn't I have the sconces in the MIDDLE of the house wired to this circuit? Just great to turn these brights on and still be unable to see what's out there except at the corners! Duh!

Some of our hose bibs are too tight to the house, making it difficult to attach hoses.

We, too, are missing an overhead light switch IN the garage. There's one just inside the back hall door, but none in the garage. Not a tragedy, but put that on your checklist.

Yep, me too. There's a missing vent in the pantry. I can't imagine a food storage area that isn't air conditioned yet the HVAC guy says he usually doesn't put one in the pantry.

We'll have it put in before the final HVAC hookup.

I also have a switch that's behind the door swing. I'm not sure I have the energy to mess with that one.

In our masterbath we have glass block windows above the air tub. They are great,except at 7:15am each morning because the light shines directly into the mirrors above the sinks! I unfortunately am standing there during that time many mornings and it's like a battle to find just a tiny corner of the mirror to be able to see. I'm working on some sort of window treatment to help. My husbands suggestion was perhaps I should get up a little earlier. He gets out of traction next week! LOL.

Our foyers stairs are 4 inches too wide. The framer talked about this to me, and wanted to know if I wanted it fixed but I thought he said too deep. It eats into my foyer hall space and it feels a little bit crowded.

The upside of this is that I can fit just about anything up my super wide stairs. :)

my pantry doesn't have a vent in it. The temp in there is just fine. There is a gap under the door and even if it's 90+ outside the pantry doesn't get warm. My hvac guy insisted on a separate vent for the tiny toilet room and it's so unnecessary, it makes the master bathroom really cold in summer and too warm in winter. it stays closed. so anyway, if anyone "forgot" a vent in the pantry or toilet room, please don't worry.

Interesting point...two of our current three bathrooms don't have a vent. We only turn on AC 2-3 times a year, though, and both bathrooms are towards the center of the house, so they don't really get cold.

One of the things that I missed and it bugs me all the time is the quarter round on the baseboards. I have tall white baseboards and I wanted white quarter round, but the installers stained it to match the floors instead. They were almost done by the time I realized it. My mistake though for not telling them in the beginning - I just thought they would *know* what I wanted! :)

We also didn't install enough outlets. My husband is an electrician so I thought we are already putting too many in, but I'm finding out there isn't such a thing as too many receptacles in a house.

Amen Donvon on the outlets. I have at least 6 in each room. My poor DH who is doing the wiring, is worn out. LOL His helper said to him the other day "I've never seen so many outlets in rooms as I see here." That's music to my ears!!

The kids bath has is divided by a wall and door. Sink in one room, toilet and tub in the other. The toilet/tub room is too small, and we have a 7' counter in the sink area!

I caught this early in framing, and brought it to his attention. But, he didn't listen the first time, and then there was plumbing, he didn't listen the second time and then there was sheetrock, the third time there was cabinet and trim. By that point, I got the idea he didn't want to listen. But it could have been an easy fix if he'd listened the first time.

Our pantry doesn't have hvac, and is fine. In fact, I have never seen one that had it???

Little things like a 3 panel light switch where the order of switches doesn't match the position of things in the room.

I have a floor squeek that they have worked on and got 90% solved, but it is still aggrevating.

In the rush to get the house done, they didn't caulk anything. I'm going around this weekend with $5 worth of caulk and fixing that up.

I second the hose bibs that are too close to the house. I scrape knuckles. Is there an easy fix to this?

I was so excited when I ordered my doors and windows, thinking how smart I was going with the clear alder wood, which matched my cabinets. I had intended on staining the wood. When my windows arrived they had a thin coat of polyurethene on them and the window manufacturer said they couldn't be stained over. I get a little angry at myself everytime I see this one.
We're not close to being finished, I'm sure I'll have more. Thank goodness for this forum, or my list would be longer!

McBird, LOL on your last line!

Most of the things were things we or the architects specified in our custom build, and we just didn't think it through carefully enough.

We specified where switches went in all the rooms. In the master bathroom shower, there is a fan / light combo in the stall. The switch for the light is on the right side as you enter; the toilet is to the right of that. For some reason, we put the switch for the fan near the bathroom door, not near the shower where it would've made more sense for using either the shower or toilet. Minor irritant, but still.

Our house is built with thick ICF walls, so it was critical to get the placement of windows and external doors right before the concrete was poured. We have a triple window in the master bedroom, on the wall which we butt the bed against. I caught in the plans that the window was going to be lower than we wanted; I wanted it such that the window jamb was flush with the stop of the bed, or a little above. It was drawn to be several inches below. I am certain I relayed that to the architects, but in a rare exception I either did it via phone or didn't blind-copy myself in the email. Didn't catch it before the pour. Architects swear I never told them. Without a headboard, our pillows constantly want to migrate off the bed and onto the window jamb. Sigh. Someday I'll build us a new bed frame with a headboard, and that issue will go away.

I didn't pay close enough attention to the size & placement of two windows in my workshop off the back of the garage, which also has ICF walls. As a result, the bottom of the windows are well below the level of a workbench or stationary power tool. Gonna look stupid when I build a bank of benchtop that cuts across the bottom of the window, but if I don't, I'm either wasting precious space (small workshop) or going to have to get creative with the space. Sigh.

Didn't pay attention to the plans between when they were rough-drafted with standard framing and when we specced ICFs. As a result, I'm fairly certain they kept the outside dimensions of the two-stall garage the same, and we lost a precious ~ foot inside. It's an awfully narrow and short garage as a result; good thing we don't have very large cars! A Dodge Caravan barely fits, and I mean barely. Oh well.

All the other problems are things that we can change later without too much pain, or that were compromises that occurred as we built and so weren't surprises by the end.

--Steve

After showing our almost finished house this weekend and talking about the "after thoughts" she said, that's why you need to build two houses in your lifetime. The second go around you get it ALL right....HA.....I really wonder about that statement!

Bath tub is too low to see the gorgeous view out of the window.