What does your contract say

Usually there is a price update with final design changes, drawer & feature adds, etc. Time to meet with contractor and discuss.

If the cabinets are fine, everyone eats a third of the overage, cabinetmaker, contractor, you.

So many questions... Is this a new construction home? Did you sign a contract? Were you allocated allowances? Were you required to sign off on other purchases, like plumbing, flooring, windows, etc? Are you paying all the vendors directly or just the cabinet supplier?

He works directly with all the subs and has always said he’d let us know if we ever get close to going over budget on anything.

Is it in writing that he would let you know if you were going over "budget"? Is the budget in writing?

We assumed the cabinet guy was dealing with our contractor on the price and since we never heard anything, figured we are within budget.

Did you realize the cabinets were under construction? Did you know you would be paying for them directly? Who placed the order for the cabinets?

Everything about this seems problematic. If the contractor submitted the cabinet order, then it seems that you should be dealing with him, not the cabinet supplier, with regard to payment. The cabinet supplier should not be obligated to drop his price to accommodate what you want to pay, especially if that allowance was agreed upon by you and your contractor with no involvement from the cabinet maker.

How many "thousands" over budget and relative to the total price of the house? You don't want to win the battle but lose the war.

It’s a new build. We signed a contract with a combined allowance for cabinets/countertops. There are other a few allowances in the contract too, but the process until now has been for us to select what we want, the contractor researches it and let’s us know if it will be within the allowance or not. He is billed directly by all the subs and we’ve never seen a bill the entire time. He makes draws on our construction loan and pays the subs. In this case, he’s told us (ever since he got the cabinet bill last week) that it’s our problem, not his. It’s not in writing that he will let us know if we’re over budget. He built our last home too, and we had the same process that we followed. We haven’t signed off on any other items, he’s done all that. We were surprised that he’s claiming to have no involvement with the cabinets since we’re 8 months into it and this is the first time he has reacted this way. We did add some extras and told him we’re willing to pay for those since they would be outside of the allowance.

Do what CP, Jeffery, and Joseph say in that order. Only use an attorney if they are a close personal friend and you do not mind paying for their new kitchen.

We did add some extras and told him we’re willing to pay for those since they would be outside of the allowance.

So you agreed to pay for the extras with regards to the cabinets, but were not aware how much those extras would cost? Is that where the conflict is?

I guess you need to consider this...if they were to remove all of the cabinets and then give you a kitchen that fit within your budget but did not include any of these extras, would you be okay with that?

Also, if you have never seen any invoices, how do you know that everything else you selected isn't well under your allowance and your contractor isn't disclosing it? I don't think this is a very good process and you should stop and reassess before you move forward.

Also, I met with cabinet maker to design the cabinets. I was told I would receive a formal drawing and samples, but never did. I never signed an order and never saw a quote.. We asked our contractor if we were within budget and he‘d ask for a bill. The bill he shared with us doesn’t have a breakdown, it’s just one number. We’ve asked for an itemization but haven’t received. We’ve asked for a meeting between all of us and haven’t received that either. We’d be willing to split the difference 3 ways since I think we were ignorant of the process, the cabinet price is inflated way beyond the estimate our contractor made, and our contractor should have been more on top of it. It’s a 3 way error in my opinion, but maybe I’m being unrealistic.

Allowances can be (and usually are) a contentious part of a custom home build. To the extent allowances can be eliminated by pre-selecting and specifying everything in advance, both the builder's and homeowner's interests are best served.

Where allowances are used, it is important to specify what the allowance includes (i.e., materials only, installation only or both materials and installation); the process for charging items against an allowance, and how under/over spending an allowance is dealt with (i.e., whether the client is responsible for only the cost difference or if it is subject to a builder mark up and how/when the difference gets paid.) Our practice is to provide our clients with written proposals from suppliers and obtain the client's approval before ordering any item in an allowance category.

I would ask your contractor if he saw formal drawings and a final price and signed off, or if the cabinet maker just never provided those and went into production anyway. For that matter, if the builder wants you to deal with the cabinet maker, I would ask for copies of all correspondence between the cabinet maker and the builder. That doesn't mean that I'd agree to deal directly with the cabinet maker, but it's hard for you to even know if that's a reasonable request without knowing what communication happened between the two of them.

The OP didn't have the opportunity to make an informed choice based on knowledge of the costs up front. If the OP's contract is with the builder, then that's the first place to look for how the issue will be resolved. Problems between the builder and cabinetmaker are not the OP's problem, in my opinion. I wouldn't suggest the OP propose to split any portion of the cost overrun at this point.

Wow, how frustrating!

The cabinetmaker should never have gone into production without signed off plans and a deposit. Ours never have. The first thing I'd like to know is WHO gave the cabinetmaker the go-ahead. If no one did, then the cabinetmaker is at fault for ASSUMING the plans were final and he should bear the cost of making this right. If the builder did, then he obviously bears some financial blame as well.

Getting an itemized bill from the cabinetmaker is what you'll have to do before the extent of the blame can be levied. You said you'd pay for the upgrades and if the upgrades total your overage, then well, you have to pay it :/

What I have a hard time understanding, though, is why you nor the builder didn't know the cabinets were in production or at least near construction. The cabinetmaker should have been onsite to take proper measurements and because builders like to keep to a timeline, both of you all should have been questioning if/when the cabinets would be done and be on the ball about making the final decisions to avoid holdups. Cabinet orders usually take weeks to months to do so I can't imagine that you and the builder were both going to sit around with forward motion halted waiting on the cabinetmaker.

You said the cabinets were installed in your lead comments. Are they installed.?

I have to agree with Charles Ross Homes. We put some upgrades into the cabinets that moved us above budget also, but prices and detailed plans were provided in advance. I would think something like this would require a contract addendum.

If the upgrades you've mentioned are for the cabinets then that says you had some further communication and review of plans after the initial consult. If they refer to other things in the build then that procedure isn't as relevant. It would show an existing procedure between you and your builder for dealing with items that exceed an allowance. And that wasn't followed for the cabinet overages.

Tell the builder not to pay for any cabinet bills while you and he straighten this out. Ask for all communications he's had with the cabinetmaker with dates. Including any from before you met with the cab guy. Was the cab/counter allowance mentioned to the cab guy? Add your interactions to the timeline. At some point the final drawings and estimates requirement was established and then not met by the cab guy. Establish if the cab guy received a go ahead. If not and he didn't supply the final drawings and estimate he's at fault. Also consider the counters. Are they included/installed? If not you are way over budget.

I never signed an order and never saw a quote.

It is a hot mess, but isn’t it the bottom line that the responsibility lies with the person who signed for the order? That leaves you out. Don’t pay for the cabinets (put a freeze on the contruction) and let your contractor and cabinet builder fight it out. One of them made the mistake.

from bank rate,com

The bank is evaluating the project to make sure what the builder told you what the cost would be is actually the market cost. Or conversely, we are checking to see if the builder doesn’t adequately account for project costs.”

I am glad you had a good relationship with this builder on your first house. This second house sounds more like a ‘handshake’ agreement - risky even with a known contractor. If your contractor normally handles all the subs costs and is now asking you to deal with this directly - id ask ‘why the change in ‘agreement’? Sounds like you have to dig your heels in with your contractor and ask him to figure this out with the cabinetmaker. His cabinetmaker built cabinets without a sign off from you - yes? I’d think it’s too early to get a lawyer involved but not too early to have a heart to heart with your contractor.

Lastly, would you have the schedule flexibility to say ‘ok cabinetmaker take these cabinets back and supply those within our budget’? Have you even seen cabinets within your allowance? On the side, and not with your contractors help, you may need to seek out a couple other cabinetmakers work in your area and ask what they would charge for your exact layout. Same quality as the cabinets installed. You may have a case of a cabinetmaker just simply price gauging. I’d be curious to see how this all washes out. Keep us posted please and good luck!

You had to expect that you would be exceeding your allowance when upgrading during your meetings with the cabinet maker. Because everything you want, is ALWAYS an upgrade. You can’t not expect to pay zero here. That wouldn’t be fair. But it’s also not fair that you didn’t have the opportunity to view how much above the allowance that your dream kitchen would be.

So, what was the allowance? And how much above it are you? Builders typically supply ridiculously low cabinet allowances. And it normal to exceed them by 100% when using Houzz inspirations. What are the numbers? What were your expectations? We’re those expectations about cost realistic given your upgrade list?

If this is going to be discussed, the numbers are a valid part if the discussion. You wouldn’t be here if you were 5K above an 40K whole house allowance. But if you had a completely unrealistic 15K allowance, and it were the more normal 45K whole house amount? You might be prompted to post on Houzz.

No overages at all except for cabinets is pretty extraordinary. Celebrate that by indulging yourself with the kitchen that you wanted instead of the basic apartment kitchen that the builder allowed for. The communication route wasn’t great for this. And it should be addressed. But the result isn’t unexpected. All builder cabinet budgets get to pay overage amounts. A few thousand on a home build isn’t very much in the scheme of an overall build where nothing else went over.

A custom cabinet order won’t have much of a breakdown. They don’t have things commoditized like a manufactured line, where every detail has a %, or an line item. If you ask, you are likely to receive something like, “3 base cabinets, 5 drawer base cabinets, 3 tall pantries with roll outs, 9 42“H wall cabinets. Alder raised panel door, clear coated. Standard construction. $23,450.“ They aren’t going to break that down to the 36 pages that a manufacturer’s order would have. Don’t even ask for that.

Check y‘all’s SPAM folder and physical mail stash for any communications. If they sent y’all something, heard nothing back, then assuming that there are no issues would be the course for most contractors. Just as you assumed that because you didn’t receive a communication, that there was no price increase. Bad assumptions on both parts.

They work for your GC, and do not need your permission to install products that your GC hired them to produce. That would be like the electrician asking your permission to do the rough wiring. The dispute isn’t that the cabinets were installed. The cabinets were always going to be installed.

The dispute is that the upgrades to those cabinets that you decided on in your meeting were not costed out for you in advance. And that may not be the case if you or your builder check your SPAM folder or mail. That bit of the responsibility is extremely muddy about the processes, and it contributed to the miscommunications. Don’t make a second set of assumptions here! Assume that they DID communicate with you or your builder. Just ask them to produce that communication. If they can’t, then the assumptions of all of you should produce some form of compromise.

You did receive the upgraded product that you did want. You are not spending money on a giant hole in the ground where there was rock that had to be blasted away. That very much could be the case! So many builds have unexpected overages for things that must be done, that don’t even show. This overage was wanted, and it‘s visible, and adds value to the home.

Updated: I met with the cabinet maker. He would not provide me with his pricing, not even for the extras I added that I feel I am responsible for. He told me he’s been working with our contractor 30+ years, our contractor knows exactly how he prices everything, and for that reason alone he does not provide quotes. He said he would never give a customer a bill, only the contractor. He said our contractor spent two hours in his office the previous day checking all the measurements and pricing and that he (our contractor) could break it all down for me and tell me exactly what we need to know. I met with the contractor. He showed up to meeting with no calculations and told me the problem is mine alone because I didn’t ask cabinet man if I was over my allowance, which would have prompted cabinet man to call contractor and ask the question for me. Huh? Cabinet man said he would never be involved with what a customer‘s budget is because it’s between us and contractor. My response to contractor was that he’s our GC and he told us to use this particular cabinet man, it’s his responsibility to check in with him at some point prior to production to find out what the actual cost is, communicate it to me, and allow me to make changes. The numbers: contract contains $21k combined cabinet/countertop allowance (not stated but assumed to include materials and installation). Tops came in at $9k and contractor stated that was a very good price (mid-range granite throughout home). This would leave only $12k for cabinets for my entire house (kitchen, master bath, Jack & Jill bath, half bath, laundry, mud room). Cabinet man said a good average for cabinet allowance is 3 times top allowance. That would total $27k for cabs plus $9k for tops for combined allowance of $36k. Also said he can’t even buy the materials for $12k. Contractor says he uses $150 per ft to calc combined allowance. plan calls for 107 linear feet. Cabinet man says he can’t even buy materials for $150 per ft. At $150 that would be $16k for cabinets (entire house) leaving only $5k for tops. Cabinet man Says more reasonable range is $200-$250. Our cabinets came in at $28k. My extras include 10’ of upper cabinets to the plans in kitche, glaze in kitche, and bead board and cubbies above the 5’ bench in mud room (bench was on plan). i asked cabinet man for ballpark price of what cabinets would cost per plan with absolutely no extras and he said $22k-$23k. I think my contractor miscalculated my combined cab/top allowance by a large amount. I told him I am willing to pay for my extras but not for the error in his calculation of allowance. His response is still that I should’ve asked cabinet man myself for the price and he is unwilling to pay any of the $15k overage. Cabinet man won’t provide his price to me but I’m certain my exras did not cost $15k. So far I have been asking for a resolution for 3 weeks and still have no price breakdown and have nothing from contractor explaining how he came up with his $21k. Also, no change orders have ever been issued. If this goes to arbitration, do I have a chance at winning?

"(not stated but assumed to include materials and installation)"

"Also, no change orders have ever been issued. If this goes to arbitration, do I have a chance at winning?"

All going to depend on the exact wording of your written contract. Does your contract state how change orders are to be issues, processed, and executed? Devil is in the details and by having "allowances" your understanding of the way it works may not be correct. Again it will all come down to the wording in your contract. Does your contract even say anything about arbitration? He very well just may file a mechanics lien on your home, keep this in mind. Plus the fact that you still need to finish your house..........................

Wow, what a big mess! GC telling you to talk to the cabinetmaker but cabinetmaker telling you he won't talk to you because he only deals with the GC. It's like a cat chasing its tail!

How the situation is resolved depends on exactly how your contract is worded. Does the allowance for cabinets state how many linear feet were included in the allowance? And since it's an allowance and not a firm bid for x amount of linear feet, the situation gets even more convoluted. It definitely sounds like either the GC and cabinetmaker run a racket with homeowners and then play hot potato with the final bill or the GC grossly misrepresented the cabinet pricing either intentionally or unintentionally.

It's time to get a lawyer involved.

Edited to add that I find it extremely fishy that the cabinetmaker won't give a price breakdown. It definitely sounds like he and the GC work together to gouge unsuspecting homeowners.

I agree it’s time for a lawyer. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, a firm letter from a lawyer is enough to to get unreasonable people to be more reasonable, especially if those people haven’t been entirely above board.

Hi Teresa. We all can appreciate how upsetting this appears right now. I have followed this thread with interest, and want to thank you for the level of openness you have shared with the many interested and dedicated professionals and followers on this site. many here have offered solutions, from trying to negotiate to getting construction legal representation. Many have pointed out that your issues potential resolution is dependent on what is in your construction contract. This is most likely true, but there is another approach. First off, I am currently building a home as well, and my cabinet requirements are similar to what you have listed. I too am having the cabinets constructed by a highly reputable cabinet maker. The $28K price for your cabinets, not including your countertops is pretty reasonable, +/- may $4K depending on where in the US you are located. I would ask you to consider, as difficult as that may be right now, if 1) the cabinets are what you pictured in your mind in terms of aesthetic, 2) If you had no knowledge of the price, would you think they are beautiful, and would your friends and family agree?, 3) you do realize that the overage you will likely end up paying when amortized in your mortgage will be a minor increase to your mortgage payment (and potentially far less than going down the legal route, which is true out of pocket expense) and 4) are you more upset with the process used by the GC and the cabinet maker, than any dissatisfaction with the cabinets themselves? Clearly, issues like this happen all the time when you are building a custom home, hence why so many similar threads on this forum. Your GC clearly under estimated the allowance he provided for your cabinets. I suspect this was driven less by desire for overages and change orders, and more he was trying to accommodate your budget. I respect that your desire may have been to go less expensive cabinets to meet your budget, but I suspect if you had to compare what you now have with what less expensive cabinets would be, side by side, you might agree that this unfortunate mistake did result in a nicer overall home build. Just a different perspective and food for thought. Best Wishes!

Typical builder lowball allowance to get your business. The cabinet maker is correct that the builder’s allowance is laughable. He is also correct that his contract is with the GC, not you. You have no standing in the contract between cabinet maker and GC, and have no right to view any of that contract information between them.

Your contract is with the GC, not the cabinet maker. The 15K being asked for is realistic to LOW for the upgrades that you added. Where it gets sticky is that since this was an allowance, any number above the allowance had to have supporting documentation from the builder. That means that your contract with the builder should have a means of viewing the cabinet maker’s quotes to builder. My guess is that the builder made an error, and quoted you his direct cabinet costs, without his typical markup on it. So when the change order came, that’s when he worked in his markup. And he doesn’t want to show you that. However, unless the contract specified a material markup for the contract or overages, he legally could add as much markup as he wanted. I know plenty of builders who use a 50% margin for cabinets. As in a 10K cabinet quote gets charged to the customer at 20K.

The GC is the issue here. He lowballed it originally. Accidentally, or intentionally. He also dropped the ball in communicating about the overage. As this is a change order, your contract wording for change orders should be viewed. How things should be handled will depend on what is in writing. If it doesn’t specify markup on products or overages, the charge will stand. It is a reasonable retail cost for the produced product. If it specifies, he has to produce documentation of the cabinet makers charges to him.

wow.

This is why it is extremely critical that homeowners do as much as possible BEFORE signing a contract to build a house to educate themselves on standard costs of construction and to get second opinions on big ticket items such as cabinets especially if the GC's contract has cabinets being an allowance item and not a firm bid item. I know the OP is too far into this now to change her current predicament but may this serve as a warning to anyone else strolling by this thread. Ambiguities in contract terms and pricing are OFTEN ways for GC's to recoup potential losses they've had on other areas of the project that were part of his fixed price structure.

Jazz Easy does make a good point, though. I'd still have a consultation with a construction/contract attorney, though.

Edited to add that I find it extremely fishy that the cabinetmaker won't give a price breakdown. It definitely sounds like he and the GC work together to gouge unsuspecting homeowners.

I wouldn't assume this. If the GC placed the order, then the cabinet maker is only obligated to give this information to the GC. But in turn, the GC is the one that should be paying the cabinet maker. The information the OP received from the cabinet maker seems solid. The original pricing was far too low for an entire house of cabinetry and even the revised pricing is over half the cost of what professional contractors in my area estimate. This is a contractual issue between the GC and the OP and it seems that the cabinet maker is caught in the middle. And outside of a good contract, I suspect the OP will be obligated to pay for all or most of the overage.

If the GC placed the order, then the cabinet maker is only obligated to give this information to the GC.

Typically, I agree but the GC has given the OP permission to obtain that information from the cabinetmaker. In the standard course of business, the cabinetmaker's relationship is with the GC and therefore the CM should be looking to protect the GC's interest. However, the GC has relieved the CM from that duty of protection. Therefore, the CM should be forthcoming with the information the OP's seeks.

Instead, the CM and the GC are playing a game of "pass the buck and blame" around until the OP is so dizzy from it all that she forks over check to be done with it.

And outside of a good contract, I suspect the OP will be obligated to pay for all or most of the overage.

Unfortunately for the OP, I agree.

And if it makes the OP feel any better, I just pulled up my last custom kitchen cabinet estimate from a cabinetmaker who has built two other kitchens for me and who does stellar work. He charges $140 per linear foot for uppers and $180 per linear foot for lowers. It's an extra $60 per linear foot for cabs taller than 36" (uppers) and there are many other "extra charges" for things like finished end panels, oven cabinets, refrigerator cabinets, extra drawers, painted cabinets, etc. All in all, his bid averages (for my kitchen) about $400 per linear foot. We are in a rural area as well so I suspect that CM's in more urban areas would charge even more.

A good consult with an attorney won't break the bank but in the end, the amount extra for the cabinets is probably warranted whether or not it's fair, especially if that is the entire house.

Tell them to uninstall them since they were installed without authorization.

Your contractor's argument that this is your fault because you didn't ask the pricing prompt questions to the cabinet guy, that you didn't know you were supposed to ask is nuts.

We do not know that the GC told the cabinet maker to give the pricing to the homeowner, only that the GC told the homeowner to get the pricing from the cabinet maker. Odd situation that really only the owner can shed light on realistically.

Well, if you can actually make a change without informing the customer that it involves a significant change of price, something is very wrong in consumer laws. I would consult a lawyer, first so that it can tell you what your position is, and also to help negotiate a compromise with the GC.

To be honest, threads like that frighten me. I have some remodeling to do where I live and I would hate to fall in a situation like that. It is a thing to make an informed decision that will increase your costs, it is another one that a change is made without the customer being informed of a price increase and giving its agreement.

How the entire process will transpire needs to be spelled out to the nines in the contract. This will eliminate surprises........................

I've built a couple of custom homes in my life and renovated many more. There are as many arrangements between client GC, and CM as there are houses.

While you just got hit with a surprise, there is probably a fair to both resolution. It's going to take a little effort. Going forward, I wouldn't involve the CM any further. If you are satisfied with their product, accept it. They just built what they were told to build. (My guess is the CM sent the estimate to the GC and he was so busy, he never looked at it and compared it to his budget. It slipped through the cracks.)

Your dealings with your GC are an entirely different matter. There was very obviously a misunderstanding or lack of communication between the both of you. You still have to get this project finished without things breaking down completely. That is going to cost you some money. The question is how much?

I suggest you have a face-to-face meeting with the GC. Explain that you both have had a satisfactory working relationship in the past. There is a level of trust between you. There is no reason why this can't be worked out. You are all reasonable people. You have a 15K overage. You have been blindsided by the communications failure. You don't believe you are at fault, but you will enjoy the cabinets. Offer to pay for the overage, but not his profit on this element of the build. Further, in order for you to do this, you will need to see the bill from the CM. There is a bill. He shouldn't be afraid to show you. You are going to make him whole. He just isn't going to profit on his failure to monitor the budget or communicate with his client.

Now, understand that he will not lose money. He will make that lost money back by padding other charges. Doing this just might keep you from hiring an attorney and going down that very expensive rabbit hole.

homechef - I agree with your comment about sitting down with the GC to negotiate, but disagree that hiring an a attorney is necessarily a "very expensive rabbit hole." No one is suggesting litigation, but knowledge is power, and paying a few hundred bucks to understand exactly where she stands on this legally could be a powerful tool for the OP if she's in the right, and a caution sign not to push too hard in the negotiation if she isn't.

There are clearly a number of shortcomings with the GC's process. First, whether intended or not, a cost allowance that's quite different from what the installed cost of a similar amount of custom cabinets and tops would be. Second, a failure to communicate the actual costs to the client prior to fabrication when something could have been altered to reduce the overage. Third, a lack of transparency after the fact. As a custom home builder, I'm embarrassed for this GC.

Contractors pay for their on-the-job "educational experiences." I think a good GC will not only forgo the profit on any amount over the allowance, but reach into his/her pocket for some of the overage, too.

IMO.....this GC 'knows' it's your second build and probably the last and is trying to 'totally' rip you off!!!! The GC wants to make as MUCH PROFIT as possible. I have no problem with the GC making a profit but they 'NEED' to be honest. That's how they make a living.

'We hired the same contractor that built our last home to build our new
one. He works directly with all the subs and has always said he’d let us
know if we ever get close to going over budget on anything. We never
see the bills'

You will 'NEVER" see the bills!!!!! That's what the GC MAKES!!!!!!

It was only a matter of time......................

@Millworkman,

Were you expecting Thanksgiving with no turkey?????????????????????????????

And that turkey seems to grow with each comment!

Thanks to all who have followed and commented on this thread. Here is an update. As I mentioned, i had a meeting with the GC and he showed up empty handed. No pricing, no explanations, just blamed me for not knowing what the cabinets cost (remember the CM wouldn’t give me his pricing or a quote and my GC was telling me it was my job to get all that). We then scheduled a meeting with the CM together. I was not given a price breakdown, but was handed a piece of paper with handwritten numbers totaling $8600 and was told that number represented the “extras “ I added. Keep in mind, my CM had put an allowance of $21,000 in my contract to cover both cabinets and countertops. The contract doesn’t specify if that number includes installation. I then asked my CM: “If my extras cost $8600 that means basic cabinets with no extras for my home would be $19,200 (CM‘s bill minus $8,600). How did you determine I could get cabinets AND countertops for my house for $21k?” He had no answer. He will not admit an error was made in his calculation, and neither of them will provide an answer about why I never receIved a quote or why the cabs were installed before I approved them. Each has offered $1,000 to help Leaving me with $13k of the error to deal with myself. I have taken the few larger items that haven’t been started yet and was able to cut back in those areas to further reduce the bill by another $7k, leaving me with $6,000 to pay out of pocket. I love the cabinets and am willing to pay extra for them so I’m fine with that number. Just for kicks, I took my plans to Lowe’s and got a quote for bare bones basic cabs and it was $10k more than mine cost, so I know y cabs are worth their $28k price tag. I’m disappointed I have to give up some of the other things I wanted, but I have to put this behind me and move on. i have other issues with my GC now such as him being 2 months beyond the finish date in the contract, the lack of any written schedule for getting the work done, His continuous promises to get certain things done and no one showing up to do them for days or weeks at a time, etc. I continue to try to work peacefully and respectfully with him since the end is in sight, but I despise his work ethic. It is nothing like it was when he built my first home. A few lessons learned: make sure your contract addresses allowances in great detail, and make sure it also spells out who is responsible for communicating costs, obtaining quotes, approving the work, etc. and have it reviewed by an attorney prior to signing it. Thanks everyone!

“If my extras cost $8600 that means basic cabinets with no extras for my home would be $19,200 (CM‘s bill minus $8,600). How did you determine I could get cabinets AND countertops for my house for $21k?”

THIS was the most important question you asked him and for anyone following this, this is what should be asked when given an allowance for anything. HOW was the allowance determined? Exactly what products were priced and/or specified? This applies to anything that is specified for your home...doors, windows, countertops, cabinets, tile, etc. Don't assume an allowance will get you what you want. Research your allowances BEFORE signing the contract.

Best of luck in getting things finished up, Teresa!

Don't assume an allowance will get you what you want. Research your allowances BEFORE signing the contract.

Yes, absolutely this ^^^^. Homeowners should do enough due diligence before signing any contracts so that they know if a contractor is pulling a number out of their A$$ or not and if the allowance is actually feasible or not. Be a skeptic. Ask hard questions. Know what questions to ask. All of that requires research.

His continuous promises to get certain things done and no one showing up to do them for days or weeks at a time, etc. I continue to try to work peacefully and respectfully with him since the end is in sight, but I despise his work ethic.

I'm guessing he's short of money.

Any new news on the situation, OP?