Very sorry to hear about what you have gone through. It is awful when someone robs you. It leaves us with a sense of remorse that if we had taken proper measures in the past we could have escaped this. Also the very thoughts about your stolen valuables keep haunting you for days. The best one can do to prevent this is installing a home security system. A Home security system which includes an alarm and a video relay, which is connected to your smartphone for a two way communication and video footage of your front and garage door for surveillance sake, is definitely better than informing cops or neighbors that you are away and that they need to keep an eye on your house. Other things like fake TV , sensor garden lights ,and a big barking dog helps too. But nothing does a better job than a security system. Make sure the alarms have a high pitch sound capable of waking the neighbors. This could give the bad guy a tough time for escape. You can also ask a friend or relative to be around ( in case you are away for days) and collect all the mails and newspapers from the porch , so that the house does not have an unoccupied look. Here is a link that might be useful: Some information about home security systems

OK, now you are starting to talk about issues that involve safety. There's enough red flags here that I'd want someone who has some basic knowledge to come in and do an inspection to see what else you might be missing. Do you have a family friend or relative that can do that for you? If not, then you may want to see about paying another contractor to come in and assess the issues. I wouldn't approach the codes office until you have a good idea of exactly what needs to be addressed as far as redo's. Electrical is a big one though. Because different locations have different responses to projects done without permitting. You need that type of information in hand before you think of talking with the codes office. And the answer to "who pays for the errors" involves your contract and how it's worded, and if any of those words mention "industry standards" "code standards" or manufacturer installation requirements". And it's also a can of worms as to whether or not the contractor is above board enough to be able to hold to a contract, or if he'll just fold, declare bankruptcy and leave you holding the bag. Either way, hold on to the money you owe him, because that's your only leverage at this point. If the list of things he's done wrong starts to mount up, I'd personally want him to remove the stone (at his own risk of replacement) uninstall the cabinets, (at his own risk of replacement) and address the electrical issues, whatever plumbing issues might be found, then put down ply and re-install the cabinets correctly. If he's an above board guy though, he would have already offered to do that. In a situation where you're dealing with a hack, all bets are off as to how to get him to do anything but put a lien on your home if you don't pay him. That's where it's gonna be important to have your ducks in a row, and it's why it's important to work with him to solve the issues that exist first. But, you first have to know how many issues there are.

Thank you everyone! This is all so interesting. Too bad there isn't some sort of way to poll and show the data on the various kitchen budget %s. On the lot vs house issue, it is very tricky. We tried a number of calculations. There was quite a range in lot prices. I looked at it from the total cost of what a new builder paid for the lot before he rebuilt and listed. The theory on using the whole # is that the house had no value since it was going to be torn down. I had the agent pull the data for recent new constructions. She also told me what she thought the value of an acre of land was. That was a little lower. Then we played with our #s. Part of the problem was figuring out of there was any sort of a discount for "unusable" land - wetlands, steep slope, etc. and how to value a cul de sac more than a regular street. Also, we were a little torn with the value of house per sq foot. Some houses might have a lot of unfinished attic or basement space that isn't counted in the sq footage. The good news is that some of the contractors think we can work in a double shower without moving the toilet which would keep risk and expenses down. We had one contractor who thought we should move the toilet and he gave what I considered a reasonable estimate. I don't know if his estimate was low and problems would creep up that would drive the cost up or if the other contractors were just risk averse in thinking of all of the potential problems that one person said would "blow the budget." I'm looking forward to the results of the designs and the estimates. We have one more chance to get into the house again for other estimates next week. QUESTION: Some of these contractors said that they want their plumbers and electricians to come in and give estimates. I asked them to put in place holder amounts for now since getting into the house is a problem.and I am concerned about wasting people's time. Do you think we can choose a contractor based on their estimate with onlyl a ball park figure for plumbing and electric work? Or do you think if I pick one, they'll only jack up the price further knowing that they have the work? Time is of the essence and I'd really like to have the team picked out and some schedules set even though we are fine tuning the budget and picking out things and possibly making minor adjustments to the design. By the way, the kitchen is slightly smaller than I first thought. It is about 15'6" x 17'2" And navigen, i think we will be slow on speed of the three things you mentioned. It's very hard to shop for counters, fixtures etc with toddlers. Just getting them out of the house is an accomplishment some days. Certainly we've been using some sitter help for key meetings/trips. Please advise. Thank you! PS, I love the new edit function for previous posts This post was edited by CT_Newbie on Tue, Jul 2, 13 at 23:54

I think I originated the confusion here about this being multi family. You described the building on a post somewhere as being a 3 floor commercial structure, and for some reason, that sounded as though it were going to be a 3 residence apartment when you were done. I apologize for the incorrect assumption. You might try State Farm or Farmers Insurance to get additional quotes from as they've been friendly to "non standard" residences of acquaintances of mine, although most have had their issues with either codes enforcement or their insurance companies. My friend who owns an 1820 building in downtown Memphis had the codes people write him up for several things when they did an "urban blight" sweep a few years ago. He had to immediately put in a sprinkler system and repoint the entire exterior to be in compliance. He also had to spend about 14K in replumbing the structure because of old cast iron piping and to work to be split into 4 apartments. That's the "master plan" anyway. Right now he only occupies 1/4 of the building. It has 12' tall windows that you can get a glimpse of the river though, and it's worth some sweat and tears! I did a kitchen in a residence converted from a 1910 cotton gin that the homeowners had a LOT of issues with red tape on the conversion. They used Farmers, but they also had to take out a bond of X amount to serve as the General Contractor on the project. Their mortgage holder required that as they didn't want to end up holding the bag on a half finished project. And that was during the boom construction years. Last year, my sister couldn't even get a loan to buy a small church to convert to a residence. No bank would talk to her about the project unless she had architectural plans and enough funding in place to hire a GC to do the project. If she had all of that, she wouldn't have needed a bank loan! I hope you find new insurance ASAP and I'd love to see more pics of your building. It sounds unique!