I participated in a daylily swap on the round robin forum and I now have my reds (and purples!). Request expired. :-)

OMG!!!! And I thought our situation was horrid. Just know that you are not alone. This kind of thins happens far more often than anyone could imagine. Check out hadd.com Your situations sounds very similar to ours except we have been in this nightmare since November 2004 & we are on contractor # 3. We sued the bank and had the funds credited (as well as the interest) since the bank released about $40,000 more than they should have to our former contractor. He did not pay numerous subs but for some reason the subs would not confess it to the state complaint review board who investigated. Some still work with this contractor despite never being paid on our job? We did prove that 2 subs were never paid since our current contractor paid them off to complete their work & we presented receipts to the state review board. Apparently many subs never say a word when they are not paid. Some file liens but those who do not file liens tend to get more and more work (and maybe eventually paid on the initial job). Our bank also wanted us to sign off to release the former contractor (and take on the liability for his screw ups) but we refused and sued them instead. Our former contractor also would not sign off so the bank redrafted the paperwork (with our lawyer's language) and we all signed off. We found a steel beam that was insalled incorrectly and also a floor joist that was in backwards. The roof was also a disaster and the engineer took forever to generate letters of correction & load calulations. We are up to spening approx 75% MORE than our 2004 contract price....but there is an end in sight. No advice, just empathy.

Hi Murrywoods, I agree with Palimpset. If you post a propoed layout it would really help. Also, besides the dark hardwood floors and white Chantilly Lace cabinets, what other elements were you planning on using from our kitchen? Ex. Layout, pendants over an island, etc? It would really help us to advise you.

That's exactly what's happening at my step-fathers work. To cut costs, they went in on a coffee-maker and Wally buys the coffee. He buys Maxwell House on sale. Lately one of the girls stopped drinking the coffee, cause she likes Tim Horton's coffee. She offered to bring in her can of Tim Horton's to try. So he made the Tim Horton's the next day, and they asked what kind of coffee he was making. He said "you tell me". They drank it, and they all thought it was Maxwell House. Maxwell House sells for $5 and Tim Horton's $16 for the same size can. There was a test on tv recently where generic food was poured in name brand container, just like you did. Everyone thought the "name brand" tasted better. Manufacturers count on this as well. We eat with our eyes, and they know most people will pay more for the "real thing". DH and I prefer a lot of generic brands over name brand.