Mary, I remember about three years ago when my mother was first showing definite signs of dementia. She was still living in the assisted living section of her place. One day as I was straightening her end table, I went through her "odds & ends" box. She always had bobby pins and emery boards and other small items in it. You can imagine my shock when I discovered an old fashioned two sided straight shaving razor blade. When I asked her what in the world it was for, she calmly answered,"It's for cutting my corns." Now here was a woman with severe arthritis in her hands so manipulating any small objects was difficult. Plus she also had severe macular degeneration in both eyes so her vision was horrible. But she was still determined to cut off her corns! Needless to say, I made a thorough search of everything in her small assisted living apartment and removed all the razor blades I could find. I also alerted the AL staff about my discovery. Yet, a few weeks later, I found another razor blade by her end table. I have no idea how she got a hold of it. Again, another search. Talking to her about the dangers of cutting herself and bleeding profusely were useless. All she said was, "I used to do it all the time." Reminders about her arthritic fingers and poor vision were useless too. I sure sympathize with you. It's simply impossible to anticipate everything an Alzheimer's sufferer will do or get a hold of.

that's a huge list. Good for you! It'd be easier to read, though, if you categorized it like-items...sort of like how it's done with builders...by trades (electrical, plumbing, kitchen appliances, cabs, etc). Counter heights are usually standard, but the widths and depths of bathroom counters are bigger variables, especially the widths. Things like "inspect caulk joints" are good, but also specify what kind of caulking...100% silicone, caulk with silicone, etc. Too bad I didnt' follow my own advice! I didn't specify half the things that I should have!

Acouple things we did: Specify a end date and do not allow any overage. If the builder goes over then a amendment needs to be made to the contract and any penalties or fees caued by delays are his dime. Of course if you cause delays, acts of God or valid supply issues then you leave room. But if he is mia from the job for a week here and there it is a big deal in his mind that he doesn't have built in cushion. A whole new set of documents and such have to be pulled together. We are allowed to choose any fixtures we want and from whomever we want if his vendor does not price match including tax and shipping. All materials and work is our property. So if he goes belly up halfway he has not right to claim anything. Before any payments Lien releases and waiver must be signed by all subs, suppliers, and the GC AND notarized AND turned over to the owner and the bank.. No charge for change orders other than the actual cost of labors and materials. This can get tricky and the GC can always get an hidden fee through the sub. But in any case we are to get all original and true invoices to verify. If anything is noted as "to code" find out what that is and if your builder will do extra. Like a center light or ceiling fan is not on all codes. Specify his duties a s GC...such as daily supervision at the site, remedy of all issues that deviate from original plans with no cost to you, paying sppliers....ect. All design, fixture placement ect...are the owners sole choice. Builder has no authority to substitute or make design issues without authorization from owner. Basically you make all design choices. Any punch list items at the end will hold back a percentage of payment until remedied. Also note that if a builder is slimy he will find his way around doing the right thing. You just want to protect yourself through every step so that you will be on top of any ongoing issues and aren't smacked by it at the end.

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.