"Impressive, but tell me, just what exactly does it have to do with you? More then likely absolutely nothing. I can brag about my own area too but I'm not the type who would go around bragging about something I had very little to do with. It was about a year ago K when you told me your job sucks, you live in a condo and don't like it, you long to return to Pennsylvania, and you don't have much to do other then sit in on computer forums. Why the change of heart? Or maybe there is something else about the people in your area." That's funny. Since you were the one bringing up how supposedly badly this area is affected by crime, you MUST be accusing me of being a criminal. Oops, excuse me, I see someone I have to mug. Little old lady with a big suitcase purse. Damn. 882 other people got there first. I hate it when I have to take a number to commit my latest felonious crime. See, that's a beautiful case of the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. You're PERFECTLY willing to TRASH an area based on a problem caused by relatively few people, but you're unilling to give props to that area based on the efforts of those people who do actually contribute. That's a really wonderous attitude. As for what I do for a living, I've never aluded to that on this site. Quite frankly, what I specifically do for a living isn't really any of your business, but it is in the high tech industry, and it's sufficiently specialized that it pays me an extremely lucrative wage. The downside of that is that it pretty much requires me to live in a large urban area. Why? Because what I do doesn't exactly translate to rural areas. You go to where the jobs are in your field. If I were in plumbing or HVAC I could choose where I wanted to live, be it central Manhattan or Lawrence, Kansas. But, like any other job, it has its down sides. A little bit longer than a year ago was one of those times. The contract I was working on was imploding, work was drying up (changing government priorities), we were in shut down mode, and the boss was a little more than psychotic. There wasn't a lot for me to do other than to sit on the computer. But you know what? I got paid the same wage all the same. Several weeks later I had a new job with a new contract, and at the end of this month we begin a new 5-year segment. In other words, I'm good for another 5 years, and very likely another 5 past that. And that's just on this contract, if I decide to stay that long. At that point in time I'll be 46, and I'll have my master's. Yep, I'm still working on it, even though it's not really a high priority for either me or my bosses. But 5 years from now when my group is kicking off the next contract segment, I'll be giving serious thought to retirement. You mentioned Pennsylvania. Want to know just WHY I want to go back to Pennsylvania? Certainly not for the jobs, as I've explained above. Good old Central Pennsylvania isn't exactly awash with jobs of any kind. So why do I want to go back there? Because it's where I was born and raised. I grew up in a small town surrounded by fields filled with dairy cattle and roads plyed by not only cars but Amish in their horse-drawn buggies. I've never gotten into the entire urban way of life. My family is also in central Pennsylvania. I had always hoped to move back there to be able to help Mom and Dad as they got older. Unfortunately, Dad died suddenly last month, and I'm now in the position of trying to help Mom long distance. It's not fun. Luckily she's still in fairly good health, and my brother and sister-in-law are closer. That's why I want to go back to Pennsylvania. Oh, and I don't own a condo. I own a townhouse, which I've owned for 13 years. If you know anything about the DC real estate market, you do the math and figure out how many zeros follow the 3 and the 5 in my equity. All of this has been fun, but we've drifted quite far afield from the original poster's question, but I guess that all happened as soon as the racial crap started. I guess it is true what they say. Small towns DO collect small minds. I've seen some wonderous examples of that here.

aidan - "Don't ever pay for anything until recieved. 25% down payment? Run! Any legit contractor has credit." Are you on drugs? It is not the contractor's responsibility to finance YOUR project. It also shows a commitment on the part of the client. Check your state contractor law. Every state allows a specific percentage of the total project amount to be collected as a deposit or down payment on a job. My clients can be excited, earnest, singing my praises, and friending me on Facebook - they don't get put on the schedule till I get a deposit. Worried that the contractor you selected will take the money and run? Then you probably did a lousy job of screening the contractor and/or picked the lowest price. That's the risk you take. Hokies - that really, really sucks. Your remedy is to pursue the contractor in court and report him to the state contractors board. If he's this big a scrub their sanctions probably won't mean a lot to him and he'll close his doors and pop up with a new name next month, but maybe you're setting a track record for the next homeowner to see. I really hope you're successful in getting your money back. Mopes like this guy are what give our industry a bad name (and make people think ridiculous things like they shouldn't pay a deposit)

Persimmon3, I am sorry you are having problems so early in the process. I learnt from a similar situation, however, I lost $1500 and got nothing to show for it. It was a similar 'package' type deal. the so called designer tried to insist I should use certain colored fixtures (bath remo), although I wanted the boring white and they really were looking to make their money on cabinetry and install. Count your blessings that it wasn't more. In the end, for me, it was a blessing things didn't work out. I got the bathroom I WANTED for MY MONEY. This time around, I made it clear to every KD I met with that I only wanted a design at this time. Some KDs were not interested, but some didn't have any problems with just the design (I'm sure they were hoping to get more later). I paid about 1k for design and lighting scheme with no strings attached for further work. I just wanted to take it slower this time. The KD I'm working with would love to sell me her cabinets and have me use her installer. Although I have asked her for a cabinetry quote which I will get this week and meet with her installer, it's understood that I am not obligated to use either service. I really would like to work more on this project with current KD, but it is really about the money and who could meet best my needs/wants. I had initially hoped that if I was not going to work with her on cabinetry that she would be open to working together in another capacity (eg, consultant)...until I found the TKO folks here at GW. I haven't decided yet what I'll do. What's most important is that you get the kitchen YOU want. The designer could be right about some of the design features, but it is your kitchen and your money. Try to recognize that if there are issues now, the chances are good that once you are tied to the installer/husband, you are over a barrel and the money you've lost to date will be nothing compared to what you could lose or worse, have a half done kitchen. Good luck.

Hello all. I wanted to again thank you for all of your support with my issue. I have filed a civil claim but don't think much will come out of it. I have a nice contractor now and my patio is almost done. I do have a quick question because my level of trust is still a little low as I'm sure you would understand. I am getting the stairs finished and the contractor has put a nice amount of the paver scraps in with the crusher run. He is now tamping it. While I can appreciate a certain level of resourcefulness, do you all forsee any potential problems with this. Thanks.