Hi, ideamom...yup, we sure do have the same taste! :) Thanks for your kind words, never did I imagine that I'd ever build on a property like this and I guess it will seem more real when something happens like BREAKING GROUND (impatient sigh). :-p Anyway, don't feel like you have to "match" all the light fixtures in your home if you like more than one collection, I think it's part of what makes a custom home "custom" (JMHO). After my DH and I discussed lighting, we decided to use Belcaro in our entry/foyer, gallery, terminus, living and dining room. For our master suite, we are going with Bellasera. We also found another line for the kitchen, nook and great room, it's the R.A.M. Lighting Monaco Series. For the rest of the home, it's still TBD, but I think each bedroom suite will be different, as well as the wine room, game room, home theater and office. Anyway, you can see our lighting selections on our home-building website at VineyardAvenue.com (just click on "Decor"). I'll be adding much more to the site as the time progresses! Here is a link that might be useful: Our lighting selections...so far!

Yay for you! They turned on our electricity weeks ago and people have been getting shocked from bumping into unfinished outlets. Including my 2 year old daughter. But nobody would have been able to work in the heat we've been having... My flooring guy couldn't work today because the builder STILL has not showed up to do what he needed to get done. I called him to jack him up yet again and apparently there had been some kind of disaster on a new project they were prepping (for after our house gets done next week) and he needed all his guys there to help. Can we say FRUSTRATED? He promised that they were going to work over-time the next 3 days to get back on track. I'll believe that when I see it. LOL Meanwhile, my cousin and her hubby, who are also building and are 2-3 weeks behind us, are getting a divorce. Makes me thankful for my own marriage...I've always heard that if you can survive building a house together you can weather anything. Guess there's some truth to that. V

My opinion is you have every right to ask for a decent clean up of the job site. Nice IntelliFlo by the way. Initially I thought you were too picky but as the pictures scrolled by, there is enough bad work to hold them to every last detail. Gliu drops are normal and chalk that up to laziness. I lay a towel to catch drip but that's just me. Most glue drops scrape off too. The rest is pretty poor workmanship. You're no going to do much with the paint over spray on the pool sweep booster valve but get everything else fixed. That gauge is a vacuum gauge and should be removed and plugged anyway.

A year is absolutely not standard for a punchlist to be completed. Just to be clear, a punchlist item is an item that was in the contracted job, and hasn't been completed to the agreed satisfaction of both owner and contractor. It is not a change in scope that was added because someone didn't like the color, or changed their mind on hardware, etc. Typically, we allow contractors up to 60 days for completion of a punchlist. Any items not completed by that date, are deducted from the final payment for the owner to complete on their own. However, that time frame needs to be stipulated in the contract at the beginning. There is diminishing returns on correcting errors. Anything not completed correctly originally, is less likely to be finished correctly the second time. So be prepared with what you will live with, and be clear with the contractor when you see the item in place, not weeks later.