Well, I'm not a builder, but I am a CPA who has done taxes for the last 18 years. As far as receipts, if you are audited you'd need a receipt for every expense taken or it would be disallowed. You might be able to ask the cell phone provider for duplicate statements and if you paid for things with a credit card could probably reconstruct that as well. You can also take the mileage going out to the job site, but you'll need to have documentation for that too. If you carried a construction loan, you can deduct the interest. Also any taxes, permits, etc. You can take the cleaning expense that you paid your friend, however, if you paid her more than $600 you'll need to issue her a 1099misc. Whatever amount you deduct on your end, she has to include as income on her end on a Schedule C, but she can also deduct expenses such as the mileage. And so it continues.... Hope this helps. Good luck!

I wouldn't show him the actual numbers. For all you know, he might have been coming up with an even lower number with no prompting on your part. And by showing him the previous bid, all you're doing is prompting him to maybe undercut it a small bit. With the tailspin in most US housing markets, it should be a great time to build for clients with actual cash!

Top50, Simply put, the answer is how skilled and educated the person doing the describing is. A company's size isn't what is material, it's the audience. Perception is after all, 9/10ths of reality. My father used to deal with small banks for his personal affairs because he perceived that the smaller bank found his business to be more important and personable. I've found that to not be true but rather it's who you deal with at the bank on a regular basis. I'll follow the people, not the bank. If the people move to another bank, I follow them. The moral of the story is KEEP THE TALENT. TRAIN THE NEW REGULARLY TO BECOME TALENTED. Hire carefully.

Most of us have lots of experience purchasing tangible products (e.g., cars, stereos, TVs, furniture, clothing, etc.) and less experience purchasing services. When it comes to choosing a custom home builder you're choosing a service provider--not a product. So, think about how you choose other service providers: doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, car mechanics, tailors, dry cleaners, landscapers, etc. Our default mode is to fall back on criteria for selecting products: what kind of tile do you recommend? What kind of windows do you install? Do you use adhesive and nails when installing your subfloors? But such criteria won't get at the key issues. The first meeting shouldn't focus on specifics like I've listed above. Rather, it should be aimed at assessing whether a particular builder is a good fit for your needs. Your goal is to leave the first meeting with enough information for you to want to 1.) come back for more information or 2.) take the particular builder off the list of potential builders for your custom home. Ask open-ended questions. Ask about each builder's processes and controls during construction. How do they ensure you get the home you want in the time frame you want it and for the agreed upon cost? Ask to see samples of how they manage communications with clients, requests for changes, on-site meetings, construction scheduling, warranty service issues, etc. Ask about their experience building homes of similar style and size to what you want. Please don't show them your plans, do an "information dump" (I want granite counters and a tile backsplash, a free standing tub, yadda, yadda, yadda) and and ask them for a price to build it on your lot ("I'm not going to hold to this, but.... " That question takes a lot of time to answer and shouldn't be the key criterion for selecting your builder. Nor should you bother asking it of folks inappropriate for your needs. Best wishes for a successful project.