It looks so nice. You are right about the contracting stuff. It doesn't make it any easier. We had our porch columns redone, and had to cut our losses on one contractor and hire another. It was the right decision. Again, it is beautiful.

LOVE it!!!!! Well worth all the trouble, and your porch will be oh-so-festive!

Gorgeous!!! If I were in the area, I would have stopped to ask if the home were for sale!!!

Nancy

It does look lovely, yet speaking with my architectural draftsman's hat on, (my career prior to retirement), I would note that the steps and railing up to the porch aren’t to code, (at least for our area).

It would be much more attractive with the 8 foot wide entrance stairs with handrails that attached to the two center columns. Is this going to be corrected?

Otherwise, it looks lovely thus far!

All depends on the code inspector. I want to be present for the final inspection. If he says okay then I'll let it go. I can't imagine how it would possibly pass inspection though w/ that gap between the porch railings and 1st column. I was very disappointed w/ how the stair railings turned out. I anticipated posts at the bottom but when I went back and looked at the plans that is not how they were drawn up so I won't argue about that. I was however very disappointed w/ how the individual balustrades turned out. I could have sworn he told me that he would turn them to match the original porch railing balustrades and the contractor made them square. DH said that he didn't recall specifics about that. Had there been clearer communication/ expectations set and, I would simply have had DH turn some at the shop to match the porch railing if the contractor couldn't do it.

The contractor had also told me that DH built the porch framing two inches too short (we brought the contractor in when DH finally realized that there wasn't enough time in the world for him to finish & run our business). The contractor told me that he knew it was too short because the columns were too short "and you know, that's why I don't like to come in after someone has already begun a project and piecemeal it together. If I were to do it from the beginning I would have...." and that's when I started walking down the street and said to him "Did you notice that all of the porches on the block are built the same way? You're missing a 2" block of concrete that sets underneath all of the pillars on every porch on the street. That's where your missing 2"s is at."

So it's little things like that (the excuses) that are driving me crazy. Although reading the blueprints that call for steps 8' across and deciding that it should 6' and building them that way w/o consulting w/ me is going to be a cost that he will have to eat if it fails inspection.

I'm not sure who he thinks he's messing w/, but I'm pretty familiar w/ certain aspects of building and I'm pretty particular and that's why DH put me in charge.

I'm always one to learn a lesson, but once learned, I remember and don't go back. I'm just happy that my first contractor experience happened in this house and not our next one. Now I know.

That 6-foot porch with the 8-foot spacing on the columns looks strange. If the plans called for 8 feet, I'd make him fix it.

I discovered that the planned 4-foot gates in a multi-thousand dollar concrete block wall had footings poured for 3 foot gates. And the crew was setting rebar for 3-foot gate supports. So I told them to stop all work until it was straightened out.

The site supervisor baulked at fixing it "because the footings were already poured ... blah, blah, would need to get more concrete, whine, no one needs a 4 foot gate, etc. blahtidy" so I told him that the site plan showed 4-foot gate, the contract called for 4 foot gates and the company would not be be paid unless there were 4 foot gates.

He told the crew to continue (in Spanish) so I told them, also in Spanish, that I was the owner and they were to stop work until I told them they could continue.

He moaned and griped and called me unpleasant things so I called the main office and had asked them to send me a manager who had hiring and firing authority ... because I wanted that man replaced on the project.

The manager offered a $500 price rebate if I would take the 3-foot gates. I told him that size mattered and the company would not be paid until after I pushed my 3.75 foot wide lawnmower through the gates into my back yard. He had to take it to his boss and it went up the company decision line ... most of the rest of the day was wasted.

... by which time the concrete had set up and they had to do far more work than if they had stopped, yanked out the rebar and moved the misplaced footings when I pointed them out.

Good for you TheFoxesPad. People ask us all the time why we diy and it used to be that we couldn't afford help. Now that we can, we've found we are too picky for slipshod work. Fil was a builder and a perfectionist. I used to think that he was sought after because of his honesty, hard work, and positive attitude, but it was his attention to detail on top of the others that kept people in line.

Well I feel like I should have caught the 6' steps earlier in the project but it wasn't until the columns went up that I caught it. He is aware of it as I pointed it out to him. I guess I feel that there is no way that they will pass inspection as is so I can't imagine that they won't have to be rebuilt so I'm not so worried about it as I am just ticked about the little 'unspoken' attention to detail things.

Marti8a - my dad was also a perfectionist when building. He replicated molding for our home to match the original when we restored it to its original footprint. You can't tell the old from the new and it's heavily detailed stepped molding.

So little things that make a huge difference to me are when counter sunk screws aren't puttied over (he just painted over), paint that is not precise, wall patches that aren't totally smooth in all spots, ceiling caps over junction boxes (I would have rather paid additional monies to have one continuous line to DD's ceiling fixture), my mudroom chandie not centered on a hook like it originally was (DH and I moved the hook today). He seems to want to dazzle me w/ flash in what I now see is an effort to potentially get me to overlook the little things.

Tuesday I will have an overall walk w/ him around the property and inspect the front porch where I will point out the screws and seams not puttied over and I will address the steps prior to final inspection just so that he understands what the expectation is.

I had to laugh one day when DH called me to tell me that the contractor started calling him at work to go over things. Guess he was tired of dealing w/ me. DH told him to call me that I make those decisions lol!

I wouldn't leave it up to the inspector, I would say the contract/plans say 8' and you are not paying unless they are 8'!

It looks nice other than the too-narrow stairs though that does throw it off.

LOL about him calling your dh at work. I agree with tinan. What if the inspector does pass it, then what? Will your guy cobble together some kind of rail from the post to the steps and then try to sell you on it?

Your house is lovely. I love your porch columns. What kind of globes did you find in the attic? Any chance of finding a replacement on etsy?

I don’t know how that gap at the end of the handrail could pass inspection. To be really nit picky about it, it would also bother me that the stair handrail design doesn’t match up with that done on the porch railing - they should be the same. And I would have put a turned baluster at the base of the steps that matched the columns, but if the plans didn’t show this, there’s no way your contractor will do it.