There are two issues here: 1) poor workmanship, and the GC doesn't care. There are better materials for filling nail holes than caulk. And he's telling you this is how it is, and you can't do anything about it. 2) what is the price point of this new build? Does the price point of the new house actually pay the workers to do quality work? This is a legitimate question. Or has the majority of the profit already been squeezed out? It can be fixed. Not easily or inexpensively if it really is all the trim in the house and not only a few isolated sticks. Do you have any actual recourse with the builder to get this fixed?

I have 22 foot ceilings in my great room, and used 8 inch shiplap. I will NEVER use someone like Mark Bischak as my architect -- I don't pay for arrogant condescension. My father, who is 93, was raised in a house with shiplap walls -- his father covered them over with the latest new thing (plaster) in the 1920's, which lasted 20 years. The Old Place, as the house was called even then, was built by my father's grandparents, who were adults when the Civil War started. Shiplap is not new -- it keeps being uncovered in old houses everywhere -- and obviously as styles change it can be covered and uncovered to suit, as it is a structural part of the house! It isn't like those lovely fieldstone colonial homes in New Jersey which were covered in stucco in the 1850's and now have to be painstakingly chipped away at, one inch at a time. Here in the south, high ceilings helps the heat rise, and shiplap swells and contracts (breaths) with the humidity, making the house very much a living thing. Go for it, Kaye! But keep it all one size..

2x3 is the way some window companies (like Andersen) designate the “grilles” In an individual sash. The more common way is to describe the lites or panes. For a double-hung it would be 6 over 1. Whatever you buy check the written order carefully and make the contractor do it too. The drawing that usually accompanies the description is the safest way to verify the pattern. Make sure the glass is tempered and there are fall prevention devices where required. Check the direction of the operable panel of sliding doors. Also inside and outside finishes and hardware. Places like Home Depot are notoriously bad at ordering properly.

ORB is fine. I have chrome for plumbing and despite what Patricia says it is the easiest to keep looking good., I have ORB for doors, and antique brass for lighting and my house is being featured in a national magazine in their February issue. So if it's so dated, why would the magazine be featuring my home with ORB? My opinion is black for doors will wind up dated before ORB as it is so trendy