The XR13 is a nicer model than the XB13. I would recommend getting a price on AmStd Allegiance 13 with matching coil as well as a Carrier Performance 13 or Bryant Preferred 13 model with matching ALA evap coil. Why are you going up in size? Has dealer checked ductwork both supply and return to make certain it can handle the additional CFMs? Dealer should also check the blower rating on the furnace you intend to keep. IMO

I guess my perspective is a bit different. Maybe I've been more fortunate in the two GC's we've worked with. The GC for our initial remodel generally took responsibility for the work of any work that he arranged for. We never had a change order because one of the workers made a mistake that needed to be corrected. There was an allowance for cabinet hardware (pulls) and it would have covered a reasonable choice such as the Amerock pulls that we considered. We decided to use the larger Schaub higher end pulls which went over the allowance so we had to pay for that, but the original allowance wasn't out of line with good materials. He generally kept us informed of the plans for work ahead of time. He and his workers did a good job of ensuring that our home and the prior parts of the work were undamaged by work - e.g. putting hardboard down on the wood floors which we weren't replacing to protect them from cabinets and appliances being installed, doorways were masked whenever there was messy work. Before work started, they went through the house and asked us to take pictures down from the other side of walls they would be working on so I felt they were pretty cautious about taking care of our things. I can't recall any damage occurring. Junk or dirt was never left around at the end of each day. They would sweep the floor if necessary, consolidate their equipment into a part of the room we didn't need to walk through, etc. I guess I didn't notice whether they locked up when they left for lunch breaks and we weren't home. My husband is retired and I work from home so generally one of us was there. They had a key and did lock up if we weren't there at the end of the day. They weren't perfect. On the down side, we did from time to time notice something that they were doing that needed correction. We checked progress every day and let the GC or the worker know right away and they would correct it or explain satisfactorily why what was done was correct. Sometimes we would spot a potential problem before the contractor and workers were aware of it. For example, the back side of our island had a row of 12" wide cabinets facing the ends and 12" deep cabinets facing the back. It turns out that the cabinet manufacturer makes 12" deep cabinets a tiny fraction of an inch over 12" and the 12" wide cabinets are spot on so a small shim was needed to even them up. That broke down at the very end over issues with the vent hood. The roof jack they installed was too small for our high CFM hood and we felt that they hadn't mounted the hood securely. They didn't agree that either was a problem so we brought in an appliance installer who agreed with us and changed the roof jack and mounted the hood properly. The GC got in a huff and terminated the contract. All the rest of the work was pretty much done at that point (final inspection was complete) and final less than $2 K payment that we didn't have to make covered our costs for the appliance guy, roof jack, roofing guy and some minor paint touch up. While our spotting things and helping come up with ways to correct them saved them some time and cost, there were clearly times when dealing with such hands on involvement stressed them out.

Yeah, sorry about that. I know. :-p I added the "humble" part because I figured people would assume a pricey area meant a fancy house. In my case, it doesn't. My house is comfortable, not a shack, but it's not what others might think that price point implies. (And I bought it back when I could it. That wouldn't be now.) Most of the value is in the land (which is itself mostly a function of the schools.) Lots of people who would consider buying my house would scrape it and build something new. Happens all the time in my neighborhood. I wouldn't, even if I could afford it. I like my comfortable little home (as does the tenant in the cottage). I looked and there is only one Loewen dealer for tens if not hundreds of miles. That said, that one is very close. I guess it can't hurt to talk to them. I was going mostly from GW recommendations for Marvin and Kolbe with Loewen mentioned as close but slightly behind. ef_houseman's comments and other reading that I've done make me nervous about pine, though I'm not sure if I'm 20K$ nervous. Kolbe's strong reputation doesn't really fit with a problem-prone wood? I'm still trying to judge how stupid I'm being avoiding clad. I'm not entirely sure I know how close in look I could get with clad. I can go back and research that. But I balk at not being able to choose my own colors: I'm a big fan of Schweitzer's Bungalow Colors book. I believe I can get custom colors for a setup charge though I'm not sure the charge. Plus if I ever have to get a replacement, I'm kind of screwed since a < 1K$ sash would still have the high setup charge. So I'm back to painting AL. And I'm (foolishly?) a traditionalist: I like wood, particularly vgdf. All the doors, casings, and moldings will be vgdf (cabs will be cherry.) mgdf is a non-starter: I don't like flat-sawn fir; it looks too rustic for what I'm going for. To his credit, the Marvin dealer has a vgdf french door display that shows more color variation (presumably heartwood/sapwood) than a custom cab/furniture maker would accept. He tells the story that Marvin saw it and wanted to replace it and he said no. He shows it to anyone that's going to do a natural finish and points out that Marvin doesn't consider it a fault.

Rates vary by area and you've really not described the entire scope of the job. Normally, one recommends multiple bids and references to check the sanity, and it appears your GC did that. If you don't trust your GC, you've got bigger issues than your electrical work. If you're talking about replacing everything (new service/panel, and especially if you're talking about lighting fixtures) it doesn't sound too bad.