I think a set of really good pictures that he can use on his website along with a nice thank you letter that specifies the ways in which he went over-and-above the run-of-the-mill builder would be more appreciated than just about anything else you can come up with. Both are things that will help him land future clients. And if you're also willing to serve as a reference...maybe even agree that for a year, you'll let him occasionally bring potential clients by to look at your house - as long as he gives you plenty of notice, he'll be in 7th heaven. If you want to include a gift certificate to a nice restaurant for him and his family (because you feel that he took so much time/care with your house that his family deserves a treat to make up for missed family time) that would be okay. But I would not go overboard.

If there is anyone else buying / building in a community with a larger builder, what I did a few months ago was gave our main sales lady a nice desktop business card holder. While it wasn't much, she did appreciate it as it looks a lot more professional sitting on her desk then the plastic $1 one she had. For the subs who had employees, we gave cash bonuses to the actual workers and a promise of referral to the contractors they worked for, (subs). For the subs who worked solo, we gave cash and a promise of referrals. We gave the engineer a gift certificate for him and his family to a nice in town resturant w/ promise of referall as well. I love this idea, and it's what I'm planning to do kind of when we're done with our house. Since it isn't custom, but in a community, I am going to go online and find every site that I can give feedback to, then print it out and give it to the sales lady to bring to their weekly meeting. owl_at_home I haven't exactly decided what to give the two builders. I WAS thinking we would finish around Christmas and I would give them each a combo "Christmas/thanks for finishing the house" gift basket. I was thinking about maybe a ham, some homemade baked goods, and some type of alcohol. I don't think they're wine guys, so I was thinking a nice bottle of whiskey or a case of one of the nicer beers. Make sure this is something they will use. My neighbor gets a lot of these and has so many that he ends up giving them away to neighbors. You also may want to make sure they drink. When my dad was in the gas station business he used to get a lot of booze but never drank a drop. He usually ended up regifting or chucking it. I love the home-made cookies, it's what I usually give as well. There aren't many people that don't appreciate those. lol My MIL always sends us a fruit basket or food related item. Yesterday my SIL called to ask exactly which one she should tell the MIL to order. We told her not to, since the fruit is always too ripe, and none of us being fruit people, it gets thrown out. If she needs to send us something, I would rather have a book of stamps, and don't doubt that some builders would also appreciate stamps as they are something that would get used. ilmbg This is just my $.02 worth. Don't be offended- you asked. One way to look at it, is that you paid these guys dearly, I'm sure. Do we really need to give a gift? Isn't what you paid them for- to do a good job? Is this how we have created a generation of spoiled, lazy people- to pay extra to do a job that should be done properly in the first place? I agree some what. If they come in on time / under budget, then I would give something. My son remembers every person that tips him, even if it's a few dollars. He gives them his card with his tech / cell number on it, and if there is a problem he will make sure that he takes care of it asap. I don't doubt that it's the same with builders.. if a problem happens in a new home, they're more likely to take care of it asap if you give them a little something. sierraeast I wish i could have done more and while true they all make a good wage, their employers dont buy their gas, provide benefits, or pay for their tools when they need replacing as well as items such as blades, bits, etc I don't doubt that a gift card to Home Depot, Sears or Lowes would be very appreciated, no matter what the amount. As you say, bits break, some aren't cheap. My son must have 20 receipts from buying bits from this year alone. kaydles - I just wanted to throw in what I'm planning to give my builder at the end of our build. We all have pictures of our build process, right? At the end, I'm putting together a hardbound scrapbook of it for him. It's definitely not your typical cut out and paste type book... There are a couple of companies online that have templates and you can just upload your pictures and type in whatever captions. It's really very simple. The company then prints the book and hardbounds it so it looks like a nice "coffee table" book. Thanks for the link! I might order one for ourselves. For a builder of a custom home I think it's a great idea; and if you could add some sort of letter of referral on how happy you were and the reasons why, I don't doubt he will use the book often. Nothing says thanks like a nice new Carhartt! Great idea. You're right! If you can't afford one, I know that our Sears stocks them, and JC Penney sells them online. I'm unsure if Carhartt sells gift certificates, but giving one from either there or one of the other 2 stores that sells them, I'm sure would be appreciated. Even if they got a $25 gift card in an envelope with a picture of something made by Carhartt, they'd get the idea of why you gave the gift certificate you did. BTW, JC Penney sells flannel lined work pants & jeans. Cheapest jeans are $25, with the work pants being $30 So far, every person I've bought them for loves them, my hubby especially. I even have some for myself. Those of you using relatives, it would be easy to buy pants for them. I just did a search and didn't see any discussions about this, but should we be thinking about giving gifts to the main players in our build? Especially since I am acting as the GC. Just a small thank you to the main builder, his crew, the electricians, plumbers/HVAC guys? I am thinking of ball caps with the logo from my husband's company on them or they have canvas strap watches with the logo that aren't that expensive. Or should I be thinking of something bigger than that? I have no idea if this is appropriate or not. Is it too cheap and should I be writing bonus checks to some of them for coming in under budget and on time? My son installs DirecTV. I can't tell you how many gifts he gets like this that he brings home & never uses them. It's possible that once the job is finished they won't ever use them again. I look at them thinking that the money that was spent on them could have been used on drill bits I also can understand the point that they are paid a good wage for work done. That is why I am leaning towards something small, like ball caps. I can get them for under $5 a piece, but it still adds up when I consider all I want to buy for. If it was me, I would set it up with the main builder that either everyone would go to the local pizza place for lunch one afternoon, or the pies could be delivered; I'd also have a party perk for coffee. Nothing says thank you like a free meal, and if the main builder works with you, the guys that normally would brown bag it, would be told not to bring lunch. Both my son & step son buy food / coffee out when they don't feel like bagging it, they both spend a "good" $10 a day. It adds up. Not having to pay for food / coffee one day is a nice treat. If there were people that left the job due to being finished, they could come back for pizza.

I have good neighbours also. I live in the house I grew up in so I have seen some wonderful neighbours come and go and some long time neighbours who are still here and just a few who are originals like i am. Even my nasty neighbour who built on the lot next door in 2001 has turned around and become friendly. Whenever i sit on the porch neighours walking down the street stop over for a chat. Neighbour Ken and Freda are the most kind people I have ever met, I worked part time for Ken who was a painter, decorator in his home office. After my Mom passed away he came in with his crew and painted and plastered my house, he wanted it to be a calming place so painted my living room and bedroom a Happy Blue and his wife decorated it. Ray across the street after seeing me fighting with trying to start my lawn mower now mows my front lawn when he does his. He won't take anything from me even when I try to give him gas gift cards but I make sure I go out and thank him after he finishes cutting the grass. He was also an electrician for one of the auto companies and when I was gifted a new kitchen after my mom died he came in and did some new wiring. Just a few months ago another neighbour stopped by to chat. i hadn't sat outside for a long time because after my dog died I found it too hard to sit out there without him but I bought a new big red chair so out I went. LOL so many neighbours stopped by. Donna from down the street stopped by with her new dog. We got to chatting about spiders and I showed her the huge web that went between the ugly shrub (that I could not trim any longer because the limbs had gotten too thick) and the porch She asked me if I wanted to remove the bush and I said I had planned on doing that one day. She said she would come over in a few days to do it. I tried to discourage her because i knew I could not pay her to do it. She showed up 2 days later in the morning. Because of my back I wasn't much help getting the bush out but I cut up all the branches and bagged them. This was an all day event. The next day she was over early to trim the other bush and my neighbour next door told her how I had paid for some guys to clean my yard in the back 2 years before and they left it a mess and didn't finish. Next thing i know she is in the back yard cleaning up the mess these guys left, taking out a few bushes and the wild grape vines off the fence. Another full days work and again I could only help by bagging up the stuff because of my back. I think we had over 43 lawn bags filled and a few bins. We had planned to put all the stuff out front on lawn recycling day 2 weeks later so she covered everything with tarps. A few days later a van shows up and she and another neighbour I had never met whose van it was piled all the bags into the back of the van and took them off to the dump! I noticed Donna liked my loppers which were sharper than hers so I went out and bought her some, replaced her bags we used, bought her a gift card to Costco since they just joined and I still plan to take her and her husband out for dinner for all of her hard work. It was the least I could do. It is funny while we were doing the work out back the other neighbour who was having a Christening do came over and brought us over 2 huge plates of food and then came again with cake. A few years ago a roofer was with his workers putting a new roof on next door. I mentioned to him I had a new crack in my kitchen ceiling and was wondering if I needed a new roof. He went up to check and found what he thought might have been causing the crack so put a new seal over the air vent pipe but first jokingly asked my neighbour if I was a good neighbour. She said I was and how I bring food over for her. So up he went and didn't charge me for the quick fix. I had a broken window in my attic that needed replacing so he said he would come over during the week to look at it and give me an estimate. Well he came to check it out and measure the window and said his worker would be over in a few days. He left without giving me an estimate. The worker came and brought a beautiful new window and screen and installed it. I originally said I would buy the cheaper window that did not open. I never received a bill for that window despite calling the roofer and leaving messages and that was 3 years ago. I don't know if my neighbour paid for it or if the roofer just gifted it to me. I think to have a good neighbour you also have to be a good neighbour. I watch their houses when they are away, I have looked after their animals and children, I have done grocery shopping, looked after their elderly parent, I bring meals to one neighbour quite often, I share desserts I make. I wave when I go by if they are out or stop and chat. So many people now a day sit in their back yards and don't see their neighbours or even talk to them. Jasdip I like that your neighbour does that for your cat. When Loki was still alive another neighbour would always bring Loki over a biscuit whenever Loki was out front. Loki would wait for Dan to come home from work.

Don't mind being named. Karen, I think the other sans is trifasticata. I did spray with Bayer insecticide and it left a slight whitish mark on some of the leaves. I just water with this stuff at least twice every year to keep bugs away. Last year I water with insecticide and fertilize and mouthwash and the mix did in several of my hahnii group. I did this early in the winter and slowly watch them die in a 3 to 4 month period. Learned my lesson the hard way. I will never use chemical fertilizer again. I always over do things. Best to use so little that it seems to have no effect but could always do it again in a month or so.