Keep the faith. Keep moving forward the best that you can when you encounter a delay. It will get done.

We just suffered through a delay of over a month from our granite fabricator miscutting our island counters. There was also some delay from the cabinet maker having to redo some doors and not making up enough moldings. We worked on other projects, like cabinet organizers, UCL, and such. Three months after starting our reno we are now finished, as of today.

Oh, how disappointing. I hope it gets fixed quickly. I know that Dan has been treating you right through the process, so I'm sure that it will all work out.

Remember that drawers are measured by their exterior dimensions, not their interior ones. If you have full overlay, the interior dimensions will be shorter by the dimension of the face frame and the drawer hardware. And the drawer glide's dimension has to be accounted for in inset as well. Just saying.....it might have been a miscommunication, and you actually do have the size drawer you asked for, but the space on the inside might be less because of those factors.

I specified that the usable space in the bottom drawer needed to be 10-1/2"; the middle drawer would get whatever was left (something less). The two bottom drawers are the same heights - with usable height of 9-1/4" each.

I talked to Dan this morning, he looked in his file, and sure enough - he read to me "usable space 10-1/2 inches". They screwed up. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about it off the top of his head - but he'll figure something out.

Today my problem was with the tile guy. The tiles look great - the grout did not. I had an appointment, and wasn't there when the floor guy left, and the first thing I noticed when I got home was a space between tiles with hardly any grout - right in the middle of the floor!

I got on my hands and knees with a stack of post-its, and marked every spot I could find that wasn't perfect. Then I called the flooring store, and had them send the guy back out.

Second time around was much better. When he saw the number of bad spots, he apologized and said "I'll just do the whole thing." When he was finished, he had me look it over - twice.

I'm very glad I took the day off.

Goodness you are getting your share of it! I am glad you have such a great cabinet guy and it sounds like he will make it right. It also sounds like the floor guy got his act together the second time. I'm excited to see the reveal.

Having read this board for months, it does sound like it is a good idea to be on-site as much as possible during a renovation... which gets me to wondering... what do folks do who work full-time? I've been squirreling away vacation days so I can take time off during my renovation but I am certain I won't have enough days to cover the whole project. I actually lay awake and worry about this at night and have been trying to figure out how to space my days out, how to choose the most important days to be at home etc.

I'm sorry you are having the drawer height problem, Annkh, you worked so hard figuring all that out and your posts were super helpful to me! Glad you got the grout done right!

Belle_va, I think you'll have to be very detailed with your contractor and explain that you will be available on certain days and some tasks can only completed be on those days (the list would include templating and granite installation, b/s installation, and flooring installation). Probably electrical wiring day, and the day plumbing is roughed in, too. You'll want all that carefully checked before the drywall is replaced/textured/painted.

I had specified to my custom cabinet maker that the top drawer must have a 4" clearance (usable space). I joked with him that I wanted it written in blood that I would get 4" of clearance in the top drawer. Come day of install, I measured and they were all 3.75". 3.75 is not 4, and when something doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. So, he routed out some of the wood beneath the braces underneath and repositioned the drawer front (this is my understanding of what was done). I offered to take money instead and just find work arounds for what I was going to store in there, but once I mentioned 'refund' he came up with a resolution quickly.

Glad to hear things are getting fixed without much trouble.

We both worked full time during our remodel. Our job includes nights and weekends, and because we work at the same location we often have opposite schedules. So I was home one morning and one day per week for questions, comments, problems and general meddling of all types. DH was also home for one day and one morning to relay anything I wrote down and then hide. If one of us was working the weekend, we had more time home during the week to balance things, so that helped.

It was great for the most part, but because we have about zero flexibility with our work schedule there were times when things got delayed a day or two, and I missed things I wanted to be there for. But it's all worked out so far.

I think if you can arrange to go in a little late a few days a week that might work well. Just enough to be able to catch the GC or crew before they start and review any concerns about what they did already, and see what is on the list for that day so you can remind them of anything important.

Like others, I found written things to help most. I had all the specs for appliances, install instructions, etc together. I had everything I could think of on site for any questions, measurements, etc. I printed elevations and drew/labeled all the changes and additions to the electrical, then labeled all the dimmers and switches i bought to match (LEDs, so they were specific).

Make a list of anything you need to check or ask about so you can address things as that stage arrives. I had plumbing concerns, so after demo I asked. GD was ok, but the toilet shut off did indeed need to move - we had to measure the toilet, that thankfully was in the garage, and had I not insisted it could be an issue because I had done my homework they wouldn't have known until install.

Update - I have been out of town since noon Thursday, and a lot has been happening at my house since then!

In addition to the drawer height issue, I had a problem with my corner cabinet as well. It was supposed to be a super susan, and it showed up as a lazy susan. I talked to Dan about that immediately, but he had to figure out how to correct it before they did anything. I also had a couple of door fronts that weren't right.

Thursday morning the installers were here. They took out the corner cabinet (luckily they only had to take out the trash cab to get to it). I left out my crock pot, which is the tallest item I'm putting there, and told them which susan would be the taller of the two.

They took out the incorrectly sized drawers, and removed the glides for the top ones. Then my contractor friend showed up, to cut the hole in the wall for my range hood vent, and install the outside vent cover. He and the cabinet guys got house keys, so they could come back Friday.

So on arriving home this afternoon, I found an installed corner cabinet - with super susan. Top drawers in the stacks are in place (but without fronts yet - they need to be stained and finished). They installed quarter round and the wood cover for my toe-kick vent. It is really starting to look finished!

Contractor friend called me Friday - when he went outside to install the vent cover, he noticed that the sliding patio door was sticking (I knew this - I adjust the roller, but it slips back); he said he'd look for some heavy-duty rollers for me. The range hood is ready for the electricians.

Electricians will be here this week, hopefully Monday or Tuesday. When they are done, I can put my fridge in place! Monday I'll call Dan to see if he has an install date for the countertops. I'm getting SO close!

I've been having great fun putting things away. My son doesn't think I'll come even close to filling up all the space, though I am finding things I forgot I had. I wrote out a plan of what was going where, but I haven't consulted it - I'm going by what makes sense, now that I can see and feel the space. I'll take plenty of photos - inside and out - when I have everything put away and organized - and I have a working sink.

I talked to Dan this morning - Jeff the installer was going to bring my new drawers over this morning, but he didn't like the way one of the fronts came out, so he is having it rebuilt. He'll be in tomorrow.

Electrician comes tomorrow morning, early. He arranged for the inspector to come while he's there.

Tomorrow night I can finally move the fridge out of the living room!

I don't have an install date for the quartz counters yet - Dan is rattling the fabricator's cage today, and will get back to me. I may leave the range in the garage until the counters are in, depending on how soon it is.

There's light at the end of the tunnel!