I will tell you a little about my "boob experience". It will probably be deleted. We had a stallion....and I handled him every day. Never a problem with him. I should have paid more attention that day....but I didn't. He hated a gelding we had. And when I went in the pasture with him....he was in his own 5 acre pasture, to put a halter on him, he was mad at the gelding. As I reached up with the halter, he swung his head around and bit me on the boob. I was wearing a bra back then....so I guess that gave a little more protection, but not much. It ripped my shirt, ripped my bra in half, and my boob ended up looking like an eggplant....dark purple and ice cold. He knocked me on the ground, and I lay there for a second, stunned, but I was afraid he was going to come after me again, so I got out of there fast. He was a beautiful horse and I called Jody and said, "Side Winder is gone." Meaning I wouldn't have a horse that I was afraid of. Jody said, "Oh, we will geld him...." I said, "No...he is gone." There was a neighbor that loved him and wanted to buy him. I called him and told him to come get the horse. I gave him away. So I went to the emergency room at a university hospital. One of the interns (who obviously didn't know horses) said, "What were you doing with him?" I won't repeat what my husband said I should have told him, but what I did tell him was it "was like getting your *testicles* slammed in a car door." I used another word. That shut him up. I honestly thought it would fall off. It took a long time to heal because of the damage and the bite being at the top of my breast and it couldn't drain up hill. Awful. But I survived in tact, with just a scar to remind me.

Kate, almost everything I do on my phone is a exercise in frustration. Web sites don't work well, neither do search engines. Sometimes I try to do things on the web when I'm in my recliner but almost always end up getting up and going to the computer to get it done right. Landlines work way better for calls, though not portable. But frankly, I don't want people bugging me when I'm out and about unless I'm going to the store and my wife or kids call me to add to the list. My phone is mainly for texting and that is all. Regrettably I've had to use the phone part more since this stupid lock down to call a business [medical] to tell them I'm here. It is silly in my case anyway since I can't wear a mask [nor would I if I could]. I'm glad it works for you, though.

I interpret the builder's list is stating underslab moisture barrier and drain tile footing - standard basement fare. The only plastic inside a basement would be exposed scrim-wrapped insulation blankets if chosen. For the exterior, instead of damproofing (asphaltic emulsion spray) a better product is waterproofing (membrane - similar to roof "ice&water shield," and there are some proprietary roll-on types with thickness). The spray (what you may have referred to as "tar") does not expand over cracks, it separates with them. But a membrane will stay intact, and paired with dimple board and footing drain tile burrito wrapped, your basement will be utilizing best current practices. There are some other fine details and better spec grades of materials, but those are the basic essentials.

@patrickaz Our architect has said something similar - lines on a paper, easier to change now. Since this post I have decided that truly the basement is the best option due to our land (architect would agree) and we can't afford to do that or the giant crawl space a non-basement home would require and the extra foundation/roof/an additional room would cost. After posting on here about the basement, I've come around to it and am more excited about it now, AND don't have to go back to the architect and say "I know I said 3 bedrooms, but let's do four!" When I look at our original concept vs the changes, it is VERY similar - we did request a redo of the exterior elevation, but most of the rooms are in the same place (minus flipping the master bedroom with the master closet & bathroom - pretty much within the walls), and a few flow changes. I did have him switch the kitchen and dining once (one was where the kitchen and family were open to each other, the other flipped it to where dining and family room were open to each other) and had him change it back to the first option after seeing it on paper. I'm a visual learner! We also started with using an unfinished upstairs as bonus space, with just a partial basement for the shop, but then realized cost wise that didn't make sense, we needed to use the full basement space and no upstairs after seeing the bids come back and what the upstairs were costing. Changing things due to budget is definitiely in the contract. Now I just find myself looking at nitpicky things like door swings and window placement, which I guess aren't really nitpicky. I try to send or discuss all my updates in one meeting or e-mail depending on if it needs a discussion, but do find myself feeling guilty when I say "Change the door swing of this" or "move the table showing in the drawing, that's not how I would arrange it" (not an actual plan change, it was off center on a main wall making the scale of the kitchen look weird on paper)... but I want to envision everything as it would be! We are very very close now to the final thing so I'm feeling better. We started last July however I took an 8 month hiatus in between there to have a baby so we really haven't been working on it that long. Still, would not recommend working on a custom home while pregnant or within 6 months or so postpartum - ha!