"4. I have questions that a private investigator, probably, needs to help answer. My attorney is dragging his feet because he's not sure why I want answers. I wonder why he's not asking the same questions. How to manage when your style and your attorney's style differ ?" Not all attorneys are helpful. I don't know why the attorney is dragging his feet, but it might be because he doesn't have the answers, but doesn't want you to take your money elsewhere. I'd look for someone else. The following info might help. A link that might be useful: Selecting a Good Lawyer www.lawyers.com/lawyers/F~1001768~ LDS/HIRING+REAL+ESTATE+PROPERTY+LAWYER.html

deanie I did the exact same thing and had similar experiences. You have to put yourself in their shoes - how can they possibly give you an exact number without knowing the specifications for the house and what your quality requirements are for the finishing materials? I used the square footage ball parks for rough budgetary planning. The contract price won't be known until you have a plan (so they can do a take off) and you have made selections on the finishing materials. The end cost won't be known until the house is finished. Note that many posters on the GW have had a large (10 to 20%) difference between the contract price and the finished cost. I would use the ballpark numbers to get an idea of the range of house you might possibly afford. If you can barely afford a certain square footage now at the planning stage - then beware - becuase the house will likely cost much more than your ball park estimate. The residential builders have volume on their side to keep costs down. They do have higher overhead, but don't assume that custom means lower cost. Custom building is at least the same cost (but usually higher) than large residential builders for the equivalent square footage. But a custom builder customizes the product to your requiremments and should provide much better quality (assuming you pick a good builder). Residential is a production line, with a limited set of menu options,and quality that can range from crap to decent. The ball parks you have sound reasonable for Tenn. Just add 20% to the highest number you have received and that should be good enough to determine if what you want to build is possibly achievable. If you can't make the the budget close with this - then you might either pick a smaller house plan or think about trades on materials (like siding vs brick/stone). Also - keep in mind that there may be more costs that are not included with the builder square footage numbers. They may be quoting you costs for the structure only. Ask them if the ballpark figures include everything including site development (lot clearing, septic, driveways, etc). I found that most of the builders quoted me square footage numbers that did not include these items - and they can be significant depending on your lot and utility situation.

The same might be said for employers asking for references. Many people can sniff out the BS. It's not the referenced people, it's their pools that are of primary interest. When I audit a pool, I'm looking carefully at the equipment and plumbing, neatness, any signs of changes, etc... that are pretty apparent. Concrete decking cracks, fading of plaster, tile and coping issues, anything that is out of the ordinary all raise mental notes. Different brands of equipment raise an eyebrow. If a 5 year old pool has Pentair equipment and a 10 year old has Hayward but the the 2 year old pool has Jacuzzi and last year's has an assortment, a red flag is raised. Sometimes prospects see things on reference pools that become "must haves" or things they thought were, become less important. Asking about the sub-contractors is also a good idea. I wish I had put that in my list earlier. Are they the same ones or have they constantly changed? Asking the references specific questions about what compelled them to the builder your considering as opposed to other builders. Were any of the other builders you're considering ones they considered? My point is that it is still important for prospects to visit a builder's previous work. Scott

pull-out breadboards? treatment of any display space such as wine rack, bookshelves, decorative panels? treatment of plain panel sections on cabinet ends?--I wish I'd had it in writing that our guy would use good-looking grain, not too busy. I won't even share a photo of a place where it looks like he thought a nasty grain board would be on inside, not outside of the end panel, sigh. handling of grain in symmetrical sections? I know that cabinet guys can't always match up the oak well, but in big expanses of oak, there can be obnoxious wild grain that needs to be used as a positive feature, not a negative eyesore. Can your guys match-up as best they can for slab or center "Shaker" panels from same general grain kind of board--look at these large drawers, where one set has good match and one has less good. (At least there isn't a real stinker piece here.) (Note: My dad was an old-school carpenter and he would have insisted that cabinet guys treat grain as a feature in symmetrical cab faces.) maximum use of space vs. sizes of cabs? We have a few places where we could have gained functionality if measurements were different. Be sure that you keep track of the sizes and expectations as the evolution of plans takes place. I think that I can explain why the inconsistencies crept in, but I'm not the only one who should have caught the error that cost me dearly in one instance. I think it was the result of a measuring error that was caught and compensated for but only in one instead of in two places where it mattered; a different error was in consequence of a misguided effort to add symmetricality. Both were total surprises to me at time when we couldn't go backward to fix the errors and now I'm married to the errors, stuck with 3 banks of lower cabs that cannot accept a pull-out unit of a sufficient size. Ah, me.