That's inexcusable for the GC to be that far off on the HVAC!!!! Seems s/he totally disregarded getting that info from an HVAC professional before hand(quoting you for house)! Is it actually a furnace, heat pump, etc? 1 story, 2 story?

Well, they got the lighting fixed and replaced the dishwasher. The GC had said he'd sit down and go over the bills once this stuff was done. He didn't. He just re-sent the bill. So I filed a complaint via online dispute resolution and had it sent by certified mail. Haven't heard a dickey bird back. If I had had any thoughts of letting it go, those completely vanished when I discovered that Yin and Yang the genius electricians had disconnected my freaking heating. Even the guy from the power company (it's an ETS heater) was floored by that one. He fixed it and I added the bill to my tale of woe; now I've discovered that they've likely also disconnected the baseboard heaters in another room. I am going to have to have an electrician come out and go over everything. It was inspected, but apparently not for idiot blunders. Also, thanks to JellyToast for mentioning that $750 (actually $768, not including materials) was OTT for the rough counter. I'm so naive I hadn't even questioned that. I asked the tile contractor how much he'd have charged and he said "$100--and by the way, this isn't a very good job." When I told him how much they'd charged he was in hysterics--said either they're seriously incompetent or they're crooks. In my complaint I offered to pay $2000 over the expected costs, plus $300 for countertop (3 x tile contractor's bid is pretty generous IMO) and asked for cost of electrical repair. I'm prepared to compromise; I'm just not prepared to bend over. I am still in shock over the whole thing; I NEVER would have expected this to happen. It still doesn't square with my perception of these guys. But I've come to terms with the fact that if I have to go to court, that's what I'll have to do. I really don't care at this point.

As I recall Thomas O'Brien sells to the trade. When I was looking for sconces, my designer referred me to his website. The price that would have been charged to my designer was significantly less and so the price I would have paid - even with my designer's markup/fee would have been less than the price on the websites and probably less or the same as sourcing from a place like Pottery Barn. I wound up with sconces from a different source and the price I paid was significantly less than the price on their website for consumers. It is why in my experience working with a designer has many benefits beyond design help as the final cost for stuff - at least in my experience - was less or the same as if I had purchased myself without the benefit of a trade discount - not to mention input from my designer on function and aesthetics.

It's been a hard month. Recently I found out my dad has cancer which has spread through his body and he has several weeks/months to live so our family has been spending alot of time with him. It's strange to be building a house (something you are so excited about) and dealing with something so terrible. So I have been off the grid for awhile. Our tile guy has been working on tiling for last three weeks and takes his time, He's very meticulous about measuring and tile placement, i guess that is good for us. His tile work includes 3 guest bathrooms, laundry room and main master bath. He's almost done with the three guest bathrooms and laundry and will work on master bath next. I had a tile selection remorse after ordering from company called Tilebar. The tile I selected which were to go into the floor for the laundry room and master bath had good reviews. I also got a sample and saw their pictures and thought it would look nice. However when it was installed in the laundry room first (also to go in the master bath floor) and it was not what I expected and looked so different from the pics/sample. After a lot of thought, I decided not to have this tile in my bathroom floor. We have over $2K of this tile left and I decided to eat the cost and get another tile. I can return the tile but after 15% restocking fee and paying for shipping, I don't think there's a lot left. Our cabinets are supposed to come 1st week of Feb. I can't wait for this. We have our interior doors installed, trims done and harwood floors installed.