hi everyone! thanks for all your responses. It's a long story, but I'll try to be brief. For 3 months we tried to get the GC to the bank. They had 2 meetings set up w/him, which he didn't show up for. Finally, he agreed to go to the bank w/us. After that meeting he needed to submit to the bank a cost breakdown, because he claimed he needed $89K to finish the job. The bank also wanted to see a list of where all the $$ was spent. So we asked for a copy as well. As it turned out the lists had some red flags in them, so for the next 3 months we had a meeting every week trying to get him to produce factual figures, as the first list was bogus. He said he paid the painters $5k. We knew he hadn't, because we did all the painting and paid for all the supplies out of our own pockets and he never reimbursed us! Not one dime! Asked us if we could just consider it sweat equity, so we agreed. Anyway, he did give us copies of the purchase orders for all the trades, so we called them up and found out the real amounts he had paid them. There were 3 vendors, aside from us, that he neglected to pay, which on his list he claimed he did pay. A lot of the vendors on his list had added amounts that they never got. Guess who pocketed that? Yep, the GC! All in all, there was $42K unaccounted for, and each week when I'd ask for an explaination, he'd claim other items over again that I'd already accounted for! We were getting no where fast with this guy, so we hired an atty. The next few months were bogged down with Atty meetings, phone calls, letters to the GC, etc. All this to no avail. All during this construction time, which started in feb. 2006, we were having the battle of our lives with cancer. they didn't expect my DH to live six months, now it's 1 and a half years later and we've just about won that battle! So, as you can see, we were not on top of things at the construction site. the GC never even went to the construction site, unless it was to have a meeting with us! We submitted a list to ROC with 25 items in our complaint. All our exposed windows leak. Our concrete floor cracked right through the middle of our great room, in two places, and not just on the break lines! They did numerous screw ups throughout the job and refused to correct them. All the arches were done wrong, and we told them that as they were framing them up, but wouldn't do them the way the plans specified. Now, the place is all sheetrocked and painted! I could go on and on, but I'm sure you don't want to hear it all. It's just too much and we are very saddened. We should have been living there many, many months ago. We need all the final plumbing and electric before we can begin to go forward. Plus all the baths need to be tiled. I mean there's no way we could even live there if we wanted to. It's a nightmare! what else can I say? And yes, I have been running searches on him, that's how I know about his home and how much he owes on it and how there's no equity left in it. He used to own property in the area we are building in, but he sold it in 2005, that's when we first got his proposal on our home. Well, I hope I've answered everyone questions. I appreciate all your feedback and support. We really need this. Thanks again.

Sorry to hear about the finish issue on your BT. Our brand is Wood Flooring International and their website specifically states that oil finishes react adversely to BT. We purchased prefinished so didn't have a problem with site finishing. I think some of the problem is that this being a product that is fairly new to the flooring market, contractors are not familiar with how to handle it. A quick search would have shown that oil finishing is not recommended for this wood. Also, all wood needs to be acclimated to the environment before installing. The WFI website also gives a very detailed chart with regard to the temperature at installation with relation to the humidity level to determine how long to acclimate the wood. If it is not acclimated, you will get splitting, cupping, etc. This is not specific to BT -- all wood floors need this procedure. Don't let a contractor rush this. We had our floor inside the home for two months before install.

Oooh, my back hurts already looking at the rock hard sorry excuse for soil you're dealing with there. Look at how limited your good soil is before it turns into a mix of clay and rock. You have my admiration for dealing with all that. In other beds that you don't have the time or inclination to dig yet, you might consider doing some stacking of organic material and topsoil to break down have a deeper layer of good stuff before you hit the dregs. If you need to dig 3' deep, it'd be handy if there were a larger percentage of that distance that weren't so packed in. Even an hour of digging here is plenty of work. I'd never get my roses planted if I had that kind of condition to deal with. Go put your feet up and pat yourself (gently) on the back for a job well done. Cynthia

@jellytoast and others who point out that basically I’m not qualified to act as my own GC and am not saving money by trying to do so: There’s truth to that. Ultimately I’m responsible for not verifying the install was plumb and square, and you have a valid point. I knew the installation itself was critical, and I knew the cabinets need to be square. I totally dropped the ball on verifying that they were. On the other hand, as Sammy pointed out, some GC’s are no better than what I wound up with. This could have ended up a non-issue, or the same way – or even worse. In any event we’re dependent on (1) our own knowledge + information from the GC or (2) our own knowledge + information from the installers/tradesmen. When we bought the house 2 years ago we hired a GC to install hardwood floors (in ½ the house) and to handle what was going to be a much larger kitchen remodel (bump into the garage and tear down another wall instead of keeping the same footprint). It was a really bad experience. First, we paid a premium for sub-par hardwood floor install/finish. Had I learned more on my own about HW floor install and finishes rather than relying on information from the GC and his sub we would have done the floors differently. It was a disappointing and costly mistake. I learned there are risks with a GC as well as without a GC, and that hiring a GC doesn’t guarantee desired results. We did get a bid from another GC to handle the scaled-down kitchen redo this year. Ultimately we weighed the risks vs costs in either scenario (GC vs no GC) and decided to GC ourselves. This isn’t the right decision for everyone, but I still believe it was the right decision for us despite the situation we’re dealing with. The KD came out yesterday along with one of the original installers and an install project manager. The project manager recommended tearing out the counter that has ½” shim, and install the cabinets correctly. Also tear out the crown moulding where it’s bad/ugly and re-do. All doors that have cosmetic imperfections will be replaced. At this point we are satisfied with the proposed solution, although it’s certainly not over. I can’t say how much I appreciate all your comments and help! Thank you!!