Berniek is right: Much of the blame here falls upon the shoulders of the politicians (led by then-President Clinton), who forced banks to begin some rather foolish lending practices. Alan Greenspan certainly did his share to push this concept of "everyone can borrow" during his time as Fed chairman. Between creative financing, no money down offers, and other such options, the government has given people plenty of rope with which to hang themselves. We Americans haven't proven ourselves to be particularly strong in the moderation and self-discipline categories over the last 30-40 years. Also, remember the climate that existed in the 90s, when I bought my first house: Spurred on by the soaring housing prices, people were convinced that buying "as much house as you can afford" was a good move. Housing was considered an investment that couldn't fail. Yes, the experts began preaching about "the housing bubble" long before it hit, but the masses couldn't grasp how this sure-thing could ever fall. And there's always been a (faulty) basic belief that "If I couldn't afford it, the bank wouldn't lend it to me." I fully agree with those who say that Real Estate agents will push buyers to their upper limits and beyond, and banks will lend what they can -- it's all about profits for them. Yet, the home owner DOES also bear the brunt of personal responsibility. After all, who cares most about whether I can afford my mortgage -- and still buy groceries and other things I need? Clearly, it's ME! I reap the rewards or punishments of my decisions, so I should do the math and know whether I can comfortably afford a house (or anything else) before I buy it. However, we've sort of left that thinking behind in today's buy-now-pay-later society. We're constantly told that "we deserve" this or that thing. That if we're going to finance it, we deserve to have exactly what we want. That "everyone" has debt. We've got to get past that.

"Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans." This was the month we were moving and starting construction soon after. But the city didn't approve the first two versions of our grading plan. And now municipal offices are shut until further notice. So that's a multi-seven-figure build on indefinite hold. (We in-fill build, move in, sell and repeat.) But it's reported today that local Big Boxes are jammed with homeowners stocking up for diy projects. pent up demand Maybe. But unemployment, cratered stock markets and a deep recession aren't typically a recipe for a housing boom. **** One son is locked-in in Sun Valley, his filming work suspended; he's primed to leave the heat, traffic and bad air behind !

@Sammy we can't share any photos of a client space without permission and I am certain that if I said we wanted to share bumpy ant covered trim photos this client would not be on board :) We have a Zoom pending this afternoon and will discuss the additional work needed and potential delays or stoppage unless the situation is remedied. Trying now to ensure that no one is eating on site or leaving anything behind that may exacerbate the situation.

As I wrote, you hire the designer first before the contractor. In order to hire a contractor you will need bids. In order to get a REAL bid, you will need to have specific plans submitted to the GC which specifies exactly what is being done including those finishes which the GC will be supplying. I wound up hiring a GC who had worked with my designer on a number of projects which turned out to be a great decision since she knew exactly how to get the best work out of him. My contract with the GC was a combination of allowances - set prices - and portions of the elements I ordered and provided separately. For example, it was a set price for installing and preparing the wood floors but I paid for the actual wood myself since it was a complete variant. All of the rough plumbing was a fixed amount but I provided and paid for the fixtures since - again - these were items that were completely within my control in terms of design and cost. Other items were an allowance like the shower doors and mirrors and electrical work. Obviously this kind of thing depends on your contract with the GC. My electrical work covered expected electrical work but as it turned out I had an expensive surprise since I needed to upgrade the electrical panel to meet Code since each appliance required its own circuit so that was obviously not part of the original contract cost. And oh yeah - be sure to include a generous contingency in the budget because every project is going to exceed the budget in one way or another. Luckily for me I was self funding so going over budget wasn't an issue as I just wrote the checks :-) but I have a lot of friends who had either loans or a very specific amount they could spend and they literally ran out before a project was completed so they had to make some unhappy choices out of necessity. When I hired the designer, she drew up the plans which were then submitted to the City for permits as well as used for the bidding process. They were incorporated as part of the contract with the GC. At least for my remodel, there were two kinds of plans - the very specific set of plans that almost resembled blueprints which specified everything and the "design plans" which included the board. The design portion of the process evolved during the time the project was being done. In my personal experience it is going to take much more than three months or even six months to actually start the process so there is no reason not to at least start the process by getting your inspiration looks together and researching and interviewing designers. And - at least in my experience. And any design is a complete collaborative process between the designer and the client of course. My designer translated my aesthetic vision as well as how I wanted spaces to function into a coherent design. There were some items that I had to track down because I had extremely specific ideas about what I wanted but there were so much stuff that I was happy to completely hand over to her like where to place overhead lights or what color to paint - she brought me three samples and I - of course - wound up choosing her first choice :-).