Forget talking to the construction manager. Find out who the CEO or President of the company is and write him a letter. Introduce yourself as a customer who is in the process of having a home built by their company at such-and-such an address by so-and-so construction manager. Compliment the quality of the work being done on your home (or how clean they are keeping the property...or something!) and that you are happy to be working with a company that prides itself on customer service. Tell him what a great reputation his company had back where you used to live and that you were so relieved when your original builder's company was taken over by his company. (Never hurts to lay on the compliments first.) Then state that you do have a complaint however and have tried to resolve this with the construction manager but have not gotten satisfaction nor any explanation that makes sense to you so you are hoping the CEO/President can assist you. Then, keeping it short, outline the fact that they broke ground on your home on date X and that on a later date (later dates) broke ground on three "inventory homes" at such and such addresses. Point out the ways in which these three inventory homes are substantially the same size, style, and quality of the home they are building for you and are in the same neighborhood. State that under the circumstances, it seems logical that the home that was started first (yours) ought to be the first one finished but that you now find that work on the inventory homes is moving forward MUCH faster than work on your home and further that you are being told that your finish date is being delayed significantly. In a chart, show the status of your home as of "yesterday" and the status of the 3 inventory homes on the same date. Point out again that the 3 inventory homes were begun AFTER your home and that the same CM is building all of them and using, as far as you know, the same crews. Suggest that it looks like the construction manager is delaying work on your home in order to concentrate his efforts on the inventory houses - presumably so that they can be finished and sold more quickly so as to maximize profits on them and that while you can understand the CM's motives, delaying work on your home to give priority to the inventory homes is simply unfair. Point out that while this INTENTIONAL (be sure and use that word) delay may be more profitable for the company and look good for the CM, it works a hardship on you and your family because if your home is not finished on schedule (by mid-September) you will have to move into a hotel with 2 school-age children at a cost of $x/week after September 30. Tell him - and quote me here because this phrase tends to be somewhat magical. "This is simply not acceptable. It reflects badly on the good name of your company." Suggest to the CEO that if they don't have your home ready by the originally promised date but do finish any one of the inventory houses that was started AFTER yours, it would be only fair for them to let you and your family move into the finished inventory house - and live there for free - until they complete your home. Then say that while this would be an acceptable compromise for you, what would really make you happy is for them to simply get your house back on its original time-line schedule and stop treating it like a "stepchild". If the CEO is a reasonable person, the fact that you brought the matter directly to his attention will tell him you are a savvy consumer. The fact that your complaint is stated in a rational manner and that you are not making irrational demands - only asking them to do what is right and fair - and that you still hold a good opinion of the company - is very likely to result in a message coming down from the CEO to your construction manager to get humping on finishing your house and to make sure it gets done BEFORE the inventory houses and before September 30th if at all possible. For the construction manager, finishing the inventory houses first is a big deal for his small portion of the company's bottom line. For the CEO, that extra profit is likely to be a piddling amount in the grand scheme of things. So, if the CEO can keep you happy by just telling the CM to make finishing your home a priority over the three inventory houses, he is very likely to do so. And, once word comes down from on high, you can bet the CM will do it. You may hear nothing back - other than maybe a letter that the CEO will "look into it" - but you'll know your letter succeeded if work on your house suddenly appears to become top priority for your CM. Good luck!

amysrq, before you make any choices on your decorating, I'd like to suggest you take a look at some of the threads on the Buying and Selling Homes forum. Not only those on decorating but also on the status of the current housing market. Also you can post your home as it stands now on that forum and get some excellent advice from the folks on that forum on what changes could be made to your home to make it more saleable. I have no idea where you live or what your housing market is, but many markets are facing very very slow sales and very stiff competition. If you want to sell your home then you want to appeal to the greatest percentage of buyers which increases your odds of selling your home for the highest price possible in the shortest length of time. What someone likes to see in decorating and what they will buy may be two different things. Generally real estate agents say if the decorating is too bold the buyers look at the decorating and not at the home - you want the buyers to focus on the home not the beautiful decorating. Wallpaper is generally considered a turnoff to about 90% of buyers. There are ways to decorate homes with neutral backgrounds and accessorize with color that can satisfy your need to make your home beautiful but still accomplish your goal of selling the home. Remember, if you have decided to sell your home, then you are decorating for the buyers. The fact that you are packing is a good first step because that is one thing mentioned by real estate agents, decluttering your home and reducing those personal objects in your home so buyers can "picture" themselves living in your home. I know moving can be very stressful (been through that many times myself) but since you will be moving closer to family that should help. johnmarie has given some excellent advice above. Making your home appeal to as many buyers as possible is foremost, as you don't want your home to languish on the market which can create even more stress. Good luck to you. Here is a link that might be useful: Buying and Selling Homes Forum

@dhygarden, I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner. It's so hard to recover from the loss of a good friend. I also lost a good friend and neighbor at the end of October last year. She was fighting ovarian cancer and seemed to be doing quite well when she suddenly passed away from a stroke. I see her husband and their little Yorkie, Oliver whenever I walk by the house. Oliver sometimes comes running over to visit if his "dad" is working in the garage. He has a crush on my Siamese. I hope you are healing. I enjoyed reading everyone's posts and seeing your photos as well. I also fell in love with Ingrid's little dog! I adore cats and dogs.

I’m very pleased with what our governor and state health experts have planned for MN so far. We have stay at home until May 4 but announced today that a subset of businesses that are not customer facing can reopen as early as Monday but they must have a written CV19 mitigation plan before they can open. The state has provided a template and will assist if needed. Schools will continue with distance learning for the rest of this school year. Some kind of restrictions will continue indefinitely but the state will gradually allow additional activity over time starting with lowest risk first and continuing as long as cases don’t spike and overwhelm the public health surveillance capability or hospital capacity. We have now established a centralized testing function with a leadership team from Mayo, U of MN including Michael Osterholm, Dept of Health and each of the large healthcare delivery organizations that is not dependent on out of state resources. Ramping up now and should be at full capacity in a few weeks. Also ramping up teams for contact tracing, isolation, etc. Overall I think it is a well thought out plan based on the best science and data that we have and will be continually evaluated and adjusted as things change.