I have renovated a basement, a kitchen [years ago prior to this], and 2 major porch renovations over the years and can honestly say I have NEVER had issues with the people I am working with. So I am sorry if the contractors getting on here have had issues with customers but you are off on this one. I am not a "wood expert" nor ever claimed to be- so when we have something that looks like it has been filled on a top that we spent close to $5000 on I think we have every right to ask questions. If the person we were working with had simply explained this is normal and why he did it without getting incredibly defensive and practically screaming at my husband this would not have been an issue- I would not have had to come on here to get information. I appreciate the feedback [most of it!] I have received on here as I was able to find out that it is not abnormal for someone to fill a crack like that. I did not come on here to bash the person I worked with- I will give credit where it's due and say that my kitchen overall looks great and I am pleased with it- but he was in fact very difficult to work with and I would not use this person again or recommend him to anyone I know. If you try push people to do additional work they have NO interest in doing, and are unable to deal with any type of questions or disagreements, as was my experience here, then being in a customer driven business is probably not the place for you, just saying.

Sophie - all good questions, thanks. Currently there is no basement floor (new construction) as the poured wall forms came off yesterday. We go to parade homes and see glued down LVT or LVP in basements and I scratch my head wondering how the adhesives work with so much water still in the concrete and I am still wondering. We have a number of bids from reputable flooring and no one has mentioned new basement floor and moisture. Thought I would ask the question here and see what others felt.

Hairline cracks in a newly poured concrete foundation walls are normal and are caused due to concrete shrinkage during curing stages. Hairline cracks 1/16" wide vertical cracks. Some vertical cracks 1/8" or wider could be a sign of distress and they might have to be evaluated.

Thank you to all who replied with support and advice! I had trouble with my original post and accidentally posted the same issue twice. The poor workmanship was done by people who should have been appropriately supervised and trained. If their work is poor (as is the case in my house and probably all other houses in the growing development), then it is the fault of the supervisors/inspectors/managers. If a finisher (or anybody else) is doing crappy work, it’s their supervisors’ responsibility to correct, educate or retrain them, and if these things can’t be done, then to fire them. The horrible state of my new house is 100% the respnsibility of the builder, not of any one individual actually doing the work. It is not a cheap house, so I wasn’t expecting those in charge to sign off on such shoddy workmanship. I’m currently in a house is the same area as the new disaster house that I moved into brand spanking new 1.5 years ago, with Zero significant problems. Same area, but a different builder. And a much cheaper house. With so many problems to fix, I’m not moving into the new house until they’ve completed the work. The good news is that I itemized everything, marked with blue tape, sent them the list and they showed up the next day with a team of 4 people to address all of the issues. One of them was a finisher who got to work immediately. I was prepared for a fight, but they seemed amenable to fixing just about everything. They said my list was by far the longest they had ever received. It took 3 hours to go through. In addition to the interior problems, there were leaking gutter, broken roof tile, broken fence, unsecured downspouts and air conditioner hose, holes on the stucco.... And yes, again, this is brand new construction. I did get a lot of “this is not a custom home,” “these are not custom cabinets,” and it turns out all of the trim is MDF (of course) and the method needed to get a good finish on nail holes isn’t something they’re willing to do. But I’ve been assured that the cracked tub, scratched stainless kitchen sink, scratched and marked master tub can all be patched/buffed to look perfect (look brand new? Lol) And they’re going to fix the carpets, fix the tile, fix the LVP...... holy S&!t there are so many things wrong with that house. And yes, I’m now *very* worried about what may be wrong with things that I can’t see behind the walls, and overall regret this purchase, but just have to move forward now.