I think deadlines (at least deadlines we BELIEVE in) help us to focus on completing a task. With no deadlines, it is easy to postpone work on that task and spend our time on other things that seem more urgent or more immediately interesting. As a deadline approaches however, most of us experience an adrenalin rush that not only makes us more alert and able to focus on the job at hand but gives us the energy to keep working at it even if we have to forego sleep... just to meet the deadline. The biggest problem in your situation is that the deadlines you're talking about are YOUR deadlines but apparently not your builder's! And, since you're not in control of meeting the deadlines, all they are doing is increasing your level of stress with no payoff. All you get is a sense of disappointment when your builder fails to meet the deadlines. I think you need to find a way of making your builder internalize a deadline to finish your house so that HE feels the adrenalin. I did a search on your name to find your previous posts and get a sense of why it might be taking so long for your home to be finished. The first post I found from you was in September 2010 where you mentioned that the foundation had been poured in December 2009! Wow! I thought, that is TWO FULL YEARS. At that point, I was tempted to chime in to agree wholeheartedly with Worthy and even to suggest that it was long post time for you to get a new builder. But then, looking at some more of your posts, I realized that you are building at a fairly high elevation where winter sets in early and lingers late and you probably have a rather limited number of daylight hours in the winter plus days when roads are closed due to ice and snow. ( You mentioned in your Sept 2010 post that you'd already had a couple of snowfalls in August of that year. BRRRR! But your views are delicious!) Obviously, cold snowy or cold rainy weather is going to slow things down until a house is fully dried in. And, if roads are impassible to large trucks for much of the year, that could slow your build considerably even after you're dried in and most of the remaining work is "inside". I'm a southerner so see very little snow but I can imagine that small vehicles might be able to get up mountain roads that have only had narrow lanes plowed while larger trucks can't get up. So, if the truck delivering your cabinets can't get up the mountain, then your cabinets can't be installed. Since you mentioned "Christmas eve in the new house" tho, I'm assuming you're not building at such a high elevation that they close the roads for months at a time. But, just looking at your portapotty picture tells me that there are no doubt days when roads are totally impassible. When workmen can't make the trip nothing gets done even if all materials are on site. So, it seems like weather in your area may account for SOME of the slow-going that you've experienced so I won't go so far as to say that your builder is totally taking advantage of your relationship and is "blowing you off." And, he does seem to be doing some beautiful work. But, I do think you need to somehow get HIM to internalize some deadlines with regard to finishing your home. Now that it looks like the only things left to be done on your home are all "interior work," work ought to be going forward EVERY single day until the job is completely done unless the road are closed to all traffic so that workmen can't get there. If roads regularly become impassible to large trucks in the winter, that just means that your builder should plan ahead and get all materials on-site when the weather is good and roads are clear even if that means having them delivered to a storage facility at a lower altitude and them putting everything on a truck and moving it all up the mountain the next very time that roads are clear for a large truck. It looks like your garage is "finished" and there is no reason why various materials can't be stored in the garage until he's ready to install them. Not sure what all still needs to be done on the interior of your home but even buckets of paint can be kept on-site as long as you have heat so that it doesn't freeze. Wood flooring should also be stored in the house with the HVAC on so that it can acclimatize before installation. But, pretty much everything else (tile, cabinets, trim, electrical and plumbing fixtures won't be harmed at all by spending time in an unheated garage even in below freezing weather. I will tell you that I fired my GC when our home was at the dried-in stage. I took over as GC and it took me 11 months to finish it so we could move in. The house is 3200 sq ft heated/cooled plus a 900 sq ft semi-attached garage. It is a neo-Victorian with 3 full baths and two half baths, hardwood and tile floors throughout and lots of wood trim. About 3 months of the 11 was spent fighting with my banker to get him to agree to let us take down the rest of our approved loan without having to hire another builder so that we could get started so you can't really count that. So, 7 months to go from dried-in to move-in which is no land speed record but, having never built a home, I had to figure out what needed to be done and in what order various jobs should be done, then find and vet subcontractors to do each task and learn enough about each job to make sure it was done right before I paid for it. Plus, in order to save money, DH and I did many of the smaller tasks ourselves (i.e., painting walls, staining woodwork, hanging interior doors, installing mirrors and towel racks and cabinets knobs, plus all the CLEANING).... all the while continuing to work full-time at our real jobs. Based on the photos you posted in October, I would have estimated that you were less than month out from being finished, so Christmas should certainly have been especially if you had a builder that was really trying to meet that deadlines and making your home a priority. That you're STILL not ready to move in tells me that your builder isn't making finishing your home a top priority. So, while I can understand that you don't want to ruin the good relationship you have with your builder, it might be time for you to throw just a little bit of a hissy-fit. Just enough to let your builder know that underneath that nice, laid-back exterior you've shown thus far, there lurks a monster that he would really rather NOT have to deal with. Then, calm down and talk about setting some REAL DEADLINES. But keep your voice just strained enough that he realizes you've been pushed as far as you will go and that you're holding yourself back from ripping into him. And, once he gives you a new deadline, insist that he break it down into smaller steps for you with individual deadlines to prove that the overall deadline is realistic. And, once you have those, insist that he call or email you every single evening (Mon-Fri) with a quick update on exactly what got done that day so that you can see he is staying on track. You don't have to be harsh and totally unyielding but it is time to be a little bit less laid back! Or, maybe you and your spouse could pull a variation of the good cop/bad cop routine. Stage a "major fight" between the two of you that you allow your builder to overhear wherein spouse screams hysterically at you that she (he?) is sick and tired of this long drawn-out building crap and that if this house is NOT finished so that you can move in by such-and-such a date, she is "out of here" and you're going to have hell-to-pay getting the loan to close (or whatever) so that builder can be paid IF she walks out and files for divorce. If your builder is a half-way decent guy, he is not going to want to be responsible for causing a divorce. And he is not going to like the idea that your spouse filing for a divorce could cause a delay in him getting his final payments once he does finish the house. Maybe the combination will cause him to give finishing your home a higher priority. Good luck and I definitely don't want to see that decorated porta-potty again NEXT year.

I wasn't going to respond to this thread because there is so much negativity on it (people want bigger kitchens because they think they will use them but don't, people are too fat, etc), but I can't help myself so here goes. First off, I reject the premise that kitchens are much bigger today. There are many large kitchens on this forum but I don't think that they are at all typical. I grew up in the LA area with houses built in the 50's and 60's. Most of the houses in my current Sacramento area neighborhood were built between the 60's and early 80's with infill and replacement houses built since 2000. There may be regional differences - I've only once seen a house in either area with a basement and these are suburban houses without out-buildings so any storage is in the house or sometimes in the garage and perhaps that led to the average kitchen being a bit bigger around here. The kitchens I see in the new builds are in the same size ranges as the kitchens I recall from growing up and the older kitchens around here. Many of my friends have remodeled their kitchens but most did it within the same footprint of the existing kitchen. I think one expanded significantly. We kept pretty much to the same footprint except for going a few more inches on one leg of the L. What has changed over the years is house size in general. In the LA area, there were neighborhoods of small houses - typically 2 br, 1 bath with a den that could be a third bedroom at around ~1100 square feet. I don't see any single houses being built now that size. (I guess condos fill that niche now.) A house over 2000 sq ft was considered large. Now someone above classed their planned 1888 sq ft as small and it seems a house has to be around 3000 sq ft or bigger to be large. When I considered a job move to Orange County in 2005, we looked at houses there (all pretty recent construction, some brand new). The kitchens were often in big rooms (family room and breakfast/eat-in area) but the actual kitchen area footprints were almost always small, tending to be smaller than around here in the same size houses. It was hard to find any with double ovens. Perhaps a regional variation due to lots of dining out, take out and grocery store prepared food? Our son's house built just before the real estate bubble burst in the East Bay Area also has a relatively small kitchen footprint - only about 8 linear feet of counter space. Secondly, while a lot of people do some take out and prepared foods, most also do some home cooking. I can and did make good food from scratch with smaller kitchens in previous homes and even from my make-shift temporary kitchen while remodeling but it is easier and more fun to cook in my larger one. It is particularly nice when we have 2 or 3 or more working on food prep at the same time. As far as efficiency and larger kitchens - am I the only one who finds standing in one place for a long time to be more stressful than if I sometimes take a few steps. I've got an ankle that sometimes flares up with tendonitis and standing for long periods seems to be what sets it off, not walking. So I don't mind if once or twice during preparation of something I need to go 8 feet to a cabinet on the other side of our L or off to the pantry to fetch what I need. It keeps my ankle happy and adds little or nothing to prep time.

Most of us over the age of 65 have never had to worry about what we served when entertaining except for shellfish - perhaps a severe peanut allergy but I only know one man with this. He simply never eats anything prepared in anyone's home as he knows they probably have used peanuts or peanut butter in their mixing bowls/skillets. I usually just dealt with the shellfish by never serving it unless I absolutely knew my friends ate it. But when we were younger and had and went to lots of dinner parties, no one was on any "special diet" - no gluten-free (not sure anyone had even heard of gluten outside a home ec class!), no paleo, no Mediterranean, no vegans or vegetarian. When I was married 40 years ago, my matron of honor did not eat red meat at the rehearsal dinner, but she found plenty of other things on her plate and did not go hungry. I think she was the first person I knew who didn't eat red meat. If one has never learned to cook for such diets, it's pretty hard to learn, especially when entertaining. I never serve a recipe I have not prepared multiple times before. At my age, just preparing a meal for others is not easy and trying to figure out what is "allowed" is frankly just more than I am up to doing. I wonder how we all survived all those dinner parties in the past. Have people's bodies really changed that much? I don't remember anyone ever becoming ill and we all knew one another pretty wells.

The first thing that jumps out at me is that the roofline is angled on one side and square on the other side. Why don't the two sides match? I mean, really. Look at it from the back. Doesn't it look wonky on the right side? Secondary bedrooms look okay ... though the closets are small. Will children use these rooms? If so, I'd replace the French doors in that back bedroom with windows. Be sure to include a small /high window in the bathroom for some natural light. I can't read the numbers in the living room, but be sure you have ample space for furniture ... after leaving a 3' walking aisle around the edges. What's up with the French doors in the living room? Why do they appear smaller than the ones in the adjacent bedroom? Oh, wait ... are those casement windows? This would be the best place for a door. The dining room has TWO exterior doors ... doors that don't match ... two exterior doors that won't be easily accessible once you place a table in this spot. Get the living room doors right and skip the dining room doors. You don't need multiple ways to access the back door ... within arm's reach of one another. Remember that doors are more expensive and less energy efficient than windows. Your kitchen is rather small ... note that you're only going to have 3 good-sized lower cabinets and 1 skinny lower cabinet. However, the adjacent pantry looks nice. If you don't cook often, this might be okay ... but only you know your habits. The kitchen and living room will receive little direct sunlight, so they won't be nearly as pleasant as they might be ... if they had direct windows to the outside (and if those windows weren't blocked by the covered porch). The door in the master bathroom is awkward ... it forces you to make a 90 degree turn upon entry. If you move the door just a bit to the right, you can walk straight into the bathroom, AND you have space for a linen closet in the bathroom. Actually, I'd opt for open shelves to avoid a problematic door-upon-door. I'd downsize to a single sink so you could have a stack of drawers on each side /allowing more storage. You say this is a 6' tub? Are you tall? I'm not, and I wouldn't like a 6' tub ... I'd "slide down". If you went with a 5' tub, you could opt for a separate shower. ... though I'd be hard pressed to choose between a separate shower and a linen closet. I don't see a good location for the bed in the master: - First picture -- you walk into the bed as you enter the room /no space for nightstands /anyone entering or leaving the room disturbs the sleeper on the left. - Second picture -- anyone entering or leaving the bathroom disturbs the sleeper on the left. - Third picture -- you have a smaller space for the bed /no space for nightstands /you don't see the bed upon entering the room, and the sleeper on the left is kinda squished against the wall. I think the real theme is, Don't be the sleeper on the left. Consider bringing furniture through that 90 degree turn into the master. Large furniture -- like a king sized bed or a large dresser -- will be difficult. I like that the laundry room is near the master, but do consider how the dryer will vent, given that it's not on an exterior wall. The small stairway-to-bedroom hallway in the basement is kinda awkward with the angles. It's going to feel small and uncomfortable. It'd work better all around to have the stairs open directly into the family room and place the bedrooms on the left side of the basement. This means guests could go direct to this downstairs space ... without passing by the bedrooms. And the stairway entry problem would disappear. The sleepers in the upper right bedroom will hear the toilet flush at night ... if you could flip-flop this bathroom (meaning, just place the three bathroom items on the left wall instead of the right), this problem would disappear. It would also open you up to having a door between this bedroom and this bathroom. You have three bedrooms on the main level ... with two kids, do you really need two more in the basement? This really is a small kitchen. With the large pantry (which is very nice! I'd want pegboard on that side wall.), it might be okay ... if you're a minimal cook. It's very attractive, but it is apartment-sized. I like your granite choice -- is it Alaskan White? I like the arabesque white tile too. I question the dark cabinets in a windowless kitchen. you should tear the plan up immediately and go hire a local architect!(the AIA marketing force is strong in this board :) I never say that. I have no problem with stock plans -- but this one needs some work. master bedroom has no view of backyard. instead that goes to the closet and bath Good point. This would allow you windows on two sides of the master. Could you flip-flop the master and the bath/closet? Additionally, this would bring the closet and the laundry room closer together. Unless it is a million dollar house, most houses here only have brick accent in the front of the house. So, the running-out-of-money look is common here hehe (enjoyed reading that comment, thank you!). I'm caught between saying, "It makes sense to be consistent with what the rest of the neighborhood's doing" asking "If everyone else in the neighborhood jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?" Wish I could make the master bath and closet bigger, but $$$ You're building a three-car garage and five bedrooms and a living space to be finished later ... but skimping on your own closet. Consider, too, that this house has a complicated perimeter and roof, which are expensive choices. You are driving the bus here. You are the boss of what gets built. Is that how you want to allocate your limited funds? You can help the closet problem by making one side hanging space and the other side 14" deep shelves and shoes ... but this is a bandaid /not a fix for a 6' wide closet. Since there is no landing space below the MW, I'd suggest flipping the layout. Most MWs open right-to-left, so it will be easier to use the counter to the right as landing space, rather than worry about the open door being in the way. That will also put the fridge closer to the dining area, and if you flip the island layout, the DW is closer to incoming dishes. You could almost load the DW from the table. :) Good catch on some important details! We have a 3yr old and a 10 month old. They are very active and I suspect they will destroy stuff. My son already put a few holes in the drywall in our current home. Wow, things I missed by having all girls! Are you sure you want to build while they're still so small and destructive? Building in South Dakota...tornados, extreme cold, extreme heat, and heavy rains. Okay, so the basement is a necessity. We are doing coffered ceilings. Otherwise, I agree...not a huge fan of plain trayed up ceilings. Yeah, I have no love of tray ceilings; however, coffered ceilings can be added later ... you might consider using that money for a larger master closet. Good quality windows should not need constant covering by curtains. I know you live in a brutal climate, but I’d still want lots of windows. Everyone does!