chocolate, lots and lots and lots of chocolate

;-)

HD...custom orders

An oxymoron if I ever heard one!

Constant correction is the nature of homebuilding. And just when you think you've got it down, along comes another snafu out of left field. I'm keeping at it till I get it right!

Bevangel, LOL. My build process was a constant nightmare, from relatively annoying to gross negligence. When we came down near the end I just told them "good enough, now keep the subs off my property. I'll do it myself" I'm usually the guy who makes them make it right, but this exceeded my pain and frustration threshold. I would never custom build again.

I'll be doing much of the work myself, so guess who gets the blame if something's not right? I'm a life-long tool and die maker, so you can just imagine how fussy I am- I even have to make sure the cutting path with the lawnmower is straight! I would almost HAVE to fix things such as an outlet not being centered. I already know that my build will be an internal struggle between 'perfect' and 'good enough'.

For the things that were not perfect and could not really be changed, I kept thinking about a friend of mine who has cancer and she would love it if her only problem was something in her house was crooked. That helped me alot...

IMHO, the lesson is to allow enough time to correct mistakes, review the framing and wiring before the drywall is installed, hire a better builder and (dare I say it) hire an architect, if the details matter a lot to you.

If it helps, the receptacle can probably be moved in the bathroom if the wiring has enough length. I often offset recessed lights in a corridor because I want them to light a wall rather than the floor or the tops of people's heads (I find the disadvantages of trusses to far outweigh the advantages so for me attic framing is easily altered). You might be able to substitute a Wall Washer or adjustable lamp trim. It is not impossible to have the stone counter beveled (or at least eased) in the field. That treatment should transition to square at the ends in any case.

These are problems I would hope to be able to solve before the homeowners were aware of them in order to save them the pain and the contractor the loss of their confidence. When builders are given the responsibility for design, construction, and field observation, the conflict of interest and lack of motivation can be insurmountable.

My husband is also a tool and die maker by trade and a perfectionist. We spent a lot of time fixing the mistakes made by contractors. When we approached them about fixing their mistakes we thought twice about letting them fix them; only because if they couldn't do it right the first time we didn't want them to keep touching our home. Our carpenters hung the pocket door frames upside down, and when we had them fix them they threw a hissy fit and said it would be just fine. DH ended up ripping them out along with the entry doors that were not put in correctly. I think that the crews out there today do not give the quality that was out there many years ago, so if you want something done right sometimes it's better to just do it yourself. We are way past drywall and painting so moving outlets might be hard if I don't want a patch in the drywall, moving canned lights now is next to impossible since the attic is fully insulated and we can not walk on it now without damaging the effects of the R-Value. If we were not in a time crunch I would make them re-do the laminate countertop in the bathroom for the 3rd time, but since we are getting occupancy next week and moving in early we have no choice but to live with it and move on. It just comes down to why do contractors do a sloppy job when you are paying them big bucks to do a job right. Out of everyone that we hired, I would only recommend 4 (the septic, well, drywallers and HVAC guys) and that's it. How sad is that. I'm thankful that my DH is doing all finishing work in the inside now and that it will be done correctly except for the fact that some walls are not straight so that messed up our tile jobs.

On a different note like Trudymom mentioned, it is small stuff and people out there have much bigger problems like cancer so that helps a bit. But it just stinks that you dump your hard earned money in the garbage and get a not so perfect home. I wonder if the big builders out there have a lot of mistakes that are covered up and when people buy their homes if anyone even notices these mistakes.

I take it from your comments that you were the general contractor for your project.

I have found that it is virtually impossible to hire good subs or get acceptable work from them if you are not a professional general contractor known to the subs and I believe it would be naive to think you could get the same end results when managing your own project.

The most common homeowner mistake is to think the design, documentation and construction of a home is easy enough that anyone can do it well if properly motivated. It's just not true. There is a good reason why a GC charges a fee and avoiding it results in other costs.

No house that has ever been built has been 'perfect'.

The 'imperfection' of yours is only made worse by the fact it is your only house.

I'm a professional builder, having built nearly 500 homes in my career, yet the home in which I now reside...and custom built for myself...still has its flaws.

My view: I'll do better on the next one.
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That said, your electrician is probably not at fault for placing the bath receptacle slightly off center between the two sinks.

You may have to blame the framer who laid out everything 16" on center without a thought to where your sinks would go or where a single receptacle between them would go.

The electrician may have had no choice by his late involvement in the process.

Trudymom, I think, said it best, when she reminded us that we are just 'passing through' and that the perfection of the house in which we live is of infinitely less importance than our own health or the health of those we love...or our ultimate spiritual destination...

When building, if you learn to love the process....

The rest will take care of itself.

"That said, your electrician is probably not at fault for placing the bath receptacle slightly off center between the two sinks.

You may have to blame the framer who laid out everything 16" on center without a thought to where your sinks would go or where a single receptacle between them would go."

The framer probably framed to the plans, which is what he is supposed to do.

The electrician could easily have cheated the box over with a piece of 2x4 or a scrap of wood.

I used a builder/architect who had great vision, but the execution by the subs was where it went downhill. I'm reminded daily of the tribulations we went through...the electrician put the light switches at varying spaces from the door trim...joy, now where is that switch I'm fumbling for? How can anybody be so stupid? My prior house was a tract home built in 1976. It may not have been fancy but it was built right, enjoyed it for 18 years.

Perfection is not the goal in custom home building; satisfying the owner is. And it's just not that difficult. Responsibility for that satisfaction ultimately falls to the GC rather than the subs and if the owners act as their own GC and are unable or unwilling to supervise the work of their subs or provide quality control, they should be willing to accept their share of responsibility for the results. How hard is it to check the location of outlet boxes and move a few studs before drywall is installed?

Congratulations 42, 500 houses must be a world record. What is that, 3 weeks per house? I can see where quality control might have been difficult.