Bevangel, Thank you so much for posting the gory details about your situation. It is a great service to all who read it, not only because others will now proceed with their "eyes wide open" but also so we can benefit from the solutions you've developed to deal with unscrupulous builders. I would SOOOO like to have found an attorney like you before we started building. I did all kinds of local and internet research, but in the end, I kind of threw up my hands and went about figuring out how to try to protect ourselves by structuring our contract and writing an intensive questionnaire asking many specific questions of the builders we interviewed. I even stated that their answers would become part of the final contract, and I stapled their responses to the signed contract. Ha...lots of good that did! Unfortunately, about 6 wks into our build, we found out that our builder had lied several times on our interview questionnaire in response to such questions as, "have you ever operated under a different business name?" and "have you ever been involved in any legal/mediation issues?" He had been the subject of a huge lawsuit that actually brought about changes in our Contractors State License Board practices/rules - granted, his situation was 10 years ago, and he claimed that it was unfair that he was still haunted by it, and that a "crazy lady was stalking him", etc, etc. Also, all of his recent references raved about his work and reported that they had come in on time and on budget and quality was excellent, etc, etc, but still it was/is shocking and infuriating that his former shady practices had been lied about, and had somehow slipped under our radar before we hired him. We came very close to firing him (and actually did but then rescinded) and now have all kinds of safeguards in place (most importantly, we have about 20% of the cost of our entire contract held until after we get our CO and final punch list resolved). We only have about 2 months to go with him and all has been fine for the past several months, but I still can't help but wonder each time we pay him or interact with him if he's telling the truth. I remember in the beginning before building even started, we had to have the City building inspectors come out to our property to review and make a ruling on something (not a minor issue, but a major thing), and the builder told me he was of the mindset to just do what we wanted to do without asking, bragging that he always "asked for forgiveness, not permission". DING, DING, DING! Warning bells should've gone off in my head, and I should've listened to my instincts. Anyway, I felt really stupid and extra angry about the whole thing because I had been so proud of myself for going through a lot of due diligence, writing my 2-page interview questionnaire and interviewing 4 builders, getting rock solid bids from all, being super specific about all our materials, etc, etc, etc. But, what I could not prevent was someone who has no problem lying, especially when it benefits him. In hindsight, I would have liked to have better legal help at the start, specifically a better contract in place. It is pretty frustrating that government agencies like the state contractor boards go around helping consumers get out of messes with contractors but don't really help prevent them in the first place. I looked high and low for a good boilerplate contract but couldn't find one...instead, we ended up agreeing to his contract with some major revisions, and now I see how vulnerable it left us. I believe this is an area where someone like you could both provide a great service and probably fill a potentially lucrative unfilled niche...writing contracts or providing good boilerplate language to help protect homeowners would be awesome. You could even probably sell these boilerplate contracts over the internet for the thousands of people who do not want to hire an attorney (and probably feel that nothing bad will happen to them anyway!) but want some protection. We feel especially vulnerable because we don't have a bank looking over our shoulder at each draw...we are funding this build with 100% of our own money. Yikes. Anyway, at this point (knock on wood) things appear to be on track. We are incredibly vigilant about getting lien releases at each draw, not only from every sub and supplier but also a blanket one from the GC, but who are we to know if he's just lying as happened in your case? This whole process is so fraught with opportunities for bad contractors to swindle innocent and helpless homeowners...it's pathetic! Anyway, thanks again for sharing your painful (but very useful to others) story. I wish you all the best and will eagerly look forward to seeing the progress of your home in future postings. Susan

Schicksal-oh boy. Now that is a horse of a different color. :(. Hopefully the new company will want to honor your business no matter how small. That is so very close. That would be a tough task as well. Cason oh carsonheim where are you? Do you want a jumping buddy? I just noticed today that one of my uppers, just one (of 5) has a center stile so the doors don't align like the rest. Speechless. Frustrated. Wanna give up! Crown already installed. What the HECK!!! It's a 32" cabinet. What in the world. It loses much of its flexibility for me. Dh thinks - well get doors that butt up and no big deal. I don't know what to do!!!! Grumpy the rest of the day. I know I know it's not a big deal in the scheme of life but I want to MOVE ON!!! Planned on bakeware there. Bowls will fit but not casserole dishes, etc. In my defense on not noticing right away, it's the only upper on that wall, the rest are around a corner so they aren't sitting side by side. I will take a pic when I go back out. I am mostly bummed about the loss of flexibility. Argh! Another miss. Tried to stain the benches in the mudroom and they did NOT take stain evenly. Fussed with it again today and I surrender. Going to paint them a contrasting color to complement the crown which stained up beautifully. :(. Touched up ceiling. Half bath fixtures set and I love the faucet. So classic and kinda feminine I think. :) No water to them yet though. I will be back with pics. edit: typos - blasted i-phone. I'll just put my pics in here since I am already in the message: My fav faucet (in the half bath): Range hood (with stile cabinet in the frame): The issue of the day.......looking straight on no difference since the only other upper on that wall is not yet in as it sits on the counter top: Round the corner and they all look like: And of course I had to bring out a tupperware bowl and throw it in there for perspective: Thoughts? Am I just entering into another over analysis project fatigue tail spin? Happy Mother's Day tomorrow to all you Mother's out there. :) This post was edited by Autumn.4 on Sat, May 10, 14 at 21:26

Like Netla, I try to wait a few days/weeks after I have found a new title and before I buy it. (Most of the time the urge leaves, and most of the time I can wait. Not easy sometimes though... And just discovered adding to the Wish List at amazon! That's a whole new world right there.) I think that the article about the TBR pile had resonated with me as I had been struggling a bit with a small and informal challenge that I had set myself. Numerous other bloggers were implementing the "TBR Challenge" whereby from Jan 01 until Mar 31, one doesn't buy a book or get a new title from the library. You can "only" read what's already in your possession and in your TBR pile. I had been doing ok with that, but then the challenge started to chafe me a bit and so I caved in. Still, I did do the TBR challenge for about 5 weeks, and removed a few (six) titles from the TBR mountain. In doing so, I learned that I am not that fond of limiting what I can read! So - the challenge is no longer an issue (as in I'm off it now), but it was good whilst it lasted. I became more aware of the book selection that I have already on my shelves and I realized how much I loved my local library! And, like Sheri, I have become better at DNFing any titles that aren't working for me. Off with their heads and into the charity pile they go!!

Been MIA since last month when we moved in the end of April. We had just moved in and had out of town family visitors who had planned on coming before we were finished. (We thought we would have been in earlier) Plus, we were dealing with a lot of punch list items. Builder was still trying to finish cabinets before we got into the house. So had to deal with no doors or glass in cabinets at first. Finally got finished with the electrician. Now all the fans and exterior lights work. The painter still has some work to do on the exterior and some more interior touch ups. Our screened porch finally was finished this past week before we got eaten alive by the skeeters. We have also had a number of deliveries for furniture we ordered from various places. And we adopted a new kitten who was very sick the last week and is finally getting back to normal. So we have had our hands full until now. Here are some pictures taken by a professional photographer of the front and back of the house a couple days after we moved in. Once I get the painters tape off the walls for the painter's touch ups I will try to add more indoor pictures. The front entryway Front of House The back of the house early twilight The Back of the house..... before my screened porch was finished. The back during the day