Your reply from JP sounds like an automated response. I'd bet no human being ever even saw your original email, let alone typed in the response. It sounds to me like a canned script that picks up your name from your email, retrieves the ship date of your order from their database, and then sends out this automated reply. No, there is no Barbara. It's all just a computer database script. That's the direction customer service has been going for some years now. I'm sorry you've had such trouble. They used to be an ok company. The roses in your photo don't look all that bad, but the service was horrible. And yes bare root roses are often shipped totally bare, no sawdust or anything. The white fuzzy stuff on shipped roses is usually botrytis. Light infestations die off quickly once the plant is in the open air, but heavier infestations have to be trimmed off. Let's hope your roses grow fine!

I have had lots of problems with a Mirabelle Sitka tub. It was not installed properly—manual Said it should have been mudded, and contractor,and plumber would not listen to me. It pulled away from the wall and then they sprayed foam under it—something the manual said NOT to do. They had to pull tub out and mud it and put back in. After it was back in the switches inside the tub did not work. Had to have a Ferguson rep out. Didn’t have a proper access door to motor so, county inspector not approve (again, manual stated for guarantee and no one read the manual.). After acess door was done, I filled tub up above jets and tub pulleed away from wall. Now even using for just a small bath—just enough water to go under the jets, it pulls away from the walls, and the switches are NOT working for the 2nd time!. I would NOT buy a Mirabelle again and I am waiting to see if Ferguson’s or my contractor will do anything about this. This bathroom was started a,year ago last month!!!!

Would the below be a correct/ accurate estimate? (Example is being slightly conservative?) 2 acre bought for $100K cash, no financing at all. From here on out, would it be correct to say we now have to ignore that we just spent 100k on property as far as any future construction loan is concerned? Based on several comments in this old thread, that seems to be the case, as it appears appraisal for total finished property (house plus land) does not really seem to consider market value paid for land at that time and final appraisal appears to be much lower than combined build cost and property cost. Construction Cost from Builder: $500k Based on several comments above, it sounds like most appraisals are extremely short when considering land value. (seems odd because where we live, zip code 54115, our county web site shows “fair market value” for both property and the “improvements” (house and such). Example: Nice newly built house in area just bought, county site shows land value at $86k (purchase price/ appraisal value), then improvement/ building/ house at $589k. The public tax bill shows the tax is paid as a single payment, but the site does separate out the two. Bank will loan 80% of total appraised value basically ignoring actual construction cost builder will charge. Using our 2 acre lot example and 500k construction cost: o Potential low appraisal value might be $525k. (even though land was 100K fair market, and cost to build is 500K) o So bank will lend 80% of $525k, meaning $420k At construction loan closing, we need to bring ~$80k in cash ($500k build cost minus $420k possible loan/ financed amount). In this example, our $100k already paid for land at market value did not really contribute much if any at all. So total upfront cash/ down-payment we spent on completed property (original land purchase if 100k plus 80k construction down-payment) is $180k or about 34% of final appraised value? Continuing to use the example above, with a total loan of $420k plus our $180K spent in cash for total initial cost is $600k on newly appraised property of $525k at construction loan closing, we would already be ~$75k in negative equity? I understand construction is generally more expensive than buying prebuilt, but with the mantra that is taught “house is an investment”, why would anyone ever want to build new as it will take a very long time to reduce that negative equity. Any ROI appears to be horrendous compared to other investment areas. Please understand I have no real idea other than my wife and I bought some property and I am trying to get a a somewhat accurate gage of how much additional cash we may need for a construction loan hopefully not more than $500k. Based on the comments above, I am now thinking better to just sell and maybe get our $100k back as best able, put into other investment instead and wait until a pre-built hopefully come on market that has what we are looking for. Then use that $100k (or more) on a house where we could already seem some form of equity return. How often does it seem final “market value” is so much less than build cost plus land? Is there a general rule of thumb that can be applied for rough estimates? (maybe take build cost plus land value, then minus a certain percentage?)

Building a custom home on land you own is different from buying or selling an existing home in many respects. For starters, the appraisal will be based on plans and specifications vs. tangible product. The market comparables used for the appraisal of your home may not be very comparable to what you intend to build. The appraisal process is highly regulated, and is pretty much dumbed down to no. of bedrooms, no. of baths and total finished living area. Don't look to inject any sanity into it. Many lenders in our (coastal VA) area use an 80% loan-to-value ratio which means they'll loan you up to 80% of the value of the total package (home and land.) So, if you own your lot and it represents 20% or more of the value of the home/lot package, you can finance all of the construction costs. Best wishes for a successful project.