I saw one changing color (it was halfway yellow) and and I assumed the others were the same. Apparently all of the other ones are still in their winter plummage. That particular one was an early bird.

saftgeek - I hate to admit it but you are all too correct about far too many attorneys! I was a high school teacher for 20 years before deciding to go to law school and I have been deeply appalled by the how truly unethical and dishonest some lawyers are. In the six years I've been practicing law, I've run into more dishonest, downright sleezy lawyers than I met incompetant teachers in twenty years of teaching school... and people are always knocking teachers for being incompetant! Shyster lawyers make me ashamed of this profession just as incompetant teachers sometimes made me ashamed of the teaching profession. I would urge you or anyone else who has evidence of a lawyer behaving dishonestly or unethically to report them to their state bar association. It might not do any good but then again, it just might. At least in Texas, I think our state bar tries to disbar the unethical lawyers whenever they can find them. It certainly sounds like your ex-boss was exactly that type. I also truly am not trying to paint GCs as dishonest. I believe the vast majority are honest folks who do their best to do a good job when building a home and, if they make mistakes, try their best to fix them. BUT, as in all professions, there are some people building homes that are either lazy, dishonest, or so downright disorganized that the homeowner who ends up hiring one of them needs to be able to go to court and get help. And, unfortunately, the contract promulgated by the Texas Association of Builders is specifically designed to protect these bottom-feeding GCs from facing the music for their bad behaviour. The funny thing is, I KNOW that it was the TAB's lawyers who drafted the d--n contract that protects the bad builders, so when I'm knocking the contract, I'm also slamming some of the members of my own profession! I actually suspect that most builders who use the TAB form contract do so because it is available to them cheaply and they don't know any more about what it really says than the homeowner does. And, so long as there are no major problems with the build - nobody is any the worse off. But, I defy any honest person who has ever READ the TAB contract to argue with a straight face that it is a fair and balanced contract. Among other things, it requires the homeowner to waive the "implied warranty of habitability". Basically an implied warranty of habitablity means that courts have said when two parties enter into a contract for one to build a home for the other, there is an implied understanding between them that the finished home will be inhabitable. The owner doesn't have to make sure to insist that language be put into the contract SAYING that the house must be able to be lived in when comleted...the courts will assume that since the contract was for the building of a home, the finished product must be something one can inhabit or it is simply not a "home." But, just in case someone WANTS just a shell - or something like that - to be built, courts will allow the parties to agree to waive the "implied warranty of habitability". Asking the homeowner to waive the implied warranty of habitablity might be fair if the homeowner wanted to build something totally new and different and the builder said, "you know, I can build that for you but I don't think it'll be something you can live in when I get done, are you SURE that's what you want?" But, I think you would have to agree that, except in those rare instances, a house should be inhabitable, just like a car should be driveable, a suit should be wearable, and a wedding cake should be edible. Would you agree to buy a new car from a manufacturer who insisted that you agree to waive the "implied warranty of driveability"? Would you purchase a suit from a tailor who refused to warrant that it would be wearable? Would you order a wedding cake from a baker who refused to guarantee that it would be edible? Why would you buy a home from someone who refused to warrant that it would be habitable????? Nevertheless, the Texas Association of Builders - with the help of its attorneys no doubt! - realized that implied warranties can be waived and that most homeowners don't ever really read or understand the contract they sign. So they put language into the form contract that waives the warranty of habitablility on every single home built under it. That means the homeowner may think he is contracting for a turn-key home but, even if the house he gets is so defective that he cannot possibly live in it - say the sewage pipe has broken in the wall so that there that raw sewage has contaminated all the insulation - the homeowner cannot argue that the builder breached the contract by building an UNIHABITABLE house. Fair????? The TAB contract also requires that the owner agree upfront to "binding arbitration" in the event of a dispute. This doesn't sound too bad...unless you happen to know a couple of facts about binding arbitration. First, arbitration is MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE than small claims court even though most building disputes are going to be over amounts small enough have brought the claim in small claims court. Second, arbitrators are selected and PAID by the parties to the dispute which means that arbitrators make more money if they are selected for more cases. If an arbitrator wants future work, they have to make sure that the party that is more likely to bring them future business is happy. Care to guess which party is more likely to NEED to hire an arbitrator for a second or third or fourth construction dispute? Some studies have shown that homeowners win less than 5% of claims that go to arbitration but win about half of claims that are tried in a court of law. Even those few homeowners who are nominal winners in arbitration almost never win enough money to actually repair their homes! The TAB contract also requires that the builder receive his final payment, in full, (i.e. NO RETAINAGE) at the time of the final walk-through even though it also specifies that a punch list of items to be corrected/completed/repaired will be made at this same time. In theory the builder is supposed to return and finish the punch list. But, WHY should the unscrupulous builder bother? After all, he has already been paid in full AND the homeowner can't even sue him in small claims court due to the binding arbitration clause I already mentioned? Do you think that is fair? I could go on and on about other clauses that are in the TAB contract but I suspect I've made my point. A builder who insists on using the TAB contract after having some of its many unfair clauses pointed out to him may not actually BE dishonest but, IMHO, neither is he the kind of straight shooter I really want to deal with. Straight shooters are willing to play on a level playing field.

ur realtor has done a great job and in two months we have had a lot of lookers but no offers. I really don't think it is over priced but she is talking about lowering the price. Our competition is new construction and some have gone to that. The two things people don't like so much are the smaller 3 bedrooms and a smallish entry which we cannot change.It would bring a new set of lookers. Almost all of the lookers we have had were from her realty co...tho not all from her office. So if we were to go with another large co. does it stand to reason there would be another whole set of lookers? I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love this site because it gives me a window into the minds of sellers. Mar-cia, WOW! You have read on here the nightmare stories that sellers have with their agents. For the most part, the people that post here are unhappy with them. Their pictures, their advertising, the lack of activity, they arent doing enough etc. YOU have an agent who you are happy with, she does alot, she advertises, she gets people to look at your house, you yourself said she has done a great job but you want to change realtors because she hasnt brought an offer? NO ONE, can make someone buy your house. All she can do is market it to the right audience. It sounds as if she's getting them there and they are choosing new construction. That in itself means your price is too high. If they can get new construction the way they want it, the colors they want, the cabinets they want, the room sizes they want, for the same price as yours, they are going to go for it. Your buyer pool has just been limited to someone who wants something "newer" but can't wait for new construction. The next "new" agent that you sign with will most likely want to lower the price too because it didnt sell. If you are in the MLS system, you are already reaching the other offices. Just my opinion, but your house looks on the cold side to me. I would warm it up with some warmer neutral tones and reduce the price like your realtor advises. The longer you are on the market, the lower the price goes. You could reduce now and sell for higher than if you sat at your price for another 2 months.

"From a practical standpoint - why would someone take one KD's designs and then shop them to another " uh............cause people don't like to pay a lot for a muffler, and someone down the street will ALWAYS have a cheaper muffler ! Even if that muffler isn't a better value. "What i'm looking for is enough detail to be comfortable committing thousands of dollars" Then you'll have to pay for the time it takes to satisfy whatever your definition of "enough detail" is. It is the details that cost money in every endeavor. Think about it this way: you are not buying a widget you are buying a complex, custom assemblage of products and talent. Places like IKEA can give you an exact cash and carry quote because they only do a few things and those are priced way ahead of time. There is little what if this , what if that. No lighting design, no engineering to tell you your gas meter will need upgrading to allow use of that pro range you're dreaming about, no helping you refine that mother of pearl backsplash design you saw on one of the remodeling porn sites, or even where to buy it, no showing you the latest in totally flush mounted electrical outlets cut into the side of your granite waterfall countertop, or integrating automatic drawer and door opening , or hiding your iDevices with charging capability and uplink to your cloud based media sharing whole house entertainment system , or finding that perrrrrrfect reclaimed heartpine floor that you saw during your spa visit last spring. That all sounds great, sign me up - how much will it cost ??? Like exactly? All that takes time to assemble prices and from different sources and sometimes with fluctuating costs depending on the time of year or availability. And cannot be done within the parameters of a "free estimate" It's not a great system , but I'm afraid it's the norm these days.