I had a fern shipped with the pot empty. It had rotted and died and they sent the empty pot. A hosta too. I had bare root Cassis and another clem, can't remember arrive rotten. I planted the Cassis in hopes that it might live but this is the second year with nothing so I'm sure it really is dead. I had bare root Patty's Plum poppy also arrive rotten. These were not all on the same shipment. There were more but I can't remember, it has been a couple of years. They did not ever credit or refund me or replace. I did get Miscanthus 'Gold Bar' for really cheap and although it wasn't in good shape it was correctly labeled and has lived though it is still tiny. Price at Joy Creek who bred it was $15 for a 4" pot and I think I paid two or three bucks on sale. I also got blue eyed grass 'Lucerne' which has turned out to be a bloom machine. But, with all the deaths, I paid double for what lived and that reduces my savings. The plants were all, every one of them stunted and have been slow.

By controlling where the sitter is looking, you define the space. Put a sofa parallel to the TV wall, facing the TV, with a sofa table or low bookcase backed up to it to define the TV area. Define the fireplace chat area with a rug. A pair of loveseats, or a loveseat and two chairs, one slightly angled with its back to the doors and the other (or pair of chairs) matching with a nice couple of chairside tables would define the fireplace part. People sitting here should be facing each other, at a comfortable conversation distance. There will be the blank corners outside the fireplace conversation area. Good for a potted plant, maybe a small writing table in front of a window looking out ... a solitary activity. Maybe a bookcase And If you are having a big get-tpgether, just turn the sofa around so it's part of the conversation area.

We had all these questions when we started, too. Ended up buying lighting locally (ourselves, via lighting consultant. We paid her hourly rate for advice, but got her substantial discount,which was better than online prices.) Made a spreadsheet for plumbing fixtures, GC sent it to the place he uses, so we compared online prices to what they offered him at his discount. Some were higher, some lower, but the total was about the same, so we ordered through his place. The weirdest thing was the electrical. Once again, we had a detailed spreadsheet, complete with part numbers. The distributer didn't have everything we wanted so they felt free to make substitutions as they saw fit. Black and shiny for black matte, a dimmer that "kinda" works with the LEDs, but not the one recommended by the manufacturer, that kind of nonsense. We're still working on getting that all traded out. Ironically, it was the one aspect that we thought would be the most straightforward... Our house isn't finished, but we have one pump and one fan and one heater that are not quite working right. Fortunately, those are not things we bought on our own, so the subs are on the hook for replacing them. If we'd bought them, we'd be replacing them, dealing with the supplier, and paying the labor for the replacement.

Sounds like you need an on-site building inspection. I doubt anyone here can know.