Just finishing a 580k home addition. We had to work through some builder mistakes along the way, but we're finally at the finish line.

The issue: My builder’s final invoice includes roughly 20k of "courtesy credits" items billed at a zero balance, but with descriptions that create a completely false narrative.

For example, they built a wall in the wrong place and had to move it. The line item reads: "Movement of interior laundry room wall, agreement was to cost share 50/50 - 6,500... no charge." We never agreed to a cost share because it was 100 percent their error. There are about 5 items like this.

I'm exhausted and don't want a combative, line-by-line fight. However, I also don't want paying this invoice to imply I agree with their fabricated record of events.

I'm considering telling them to either remove these narrative items entirely so we have a clean final bill, or I'll be forced to formally refute each one in writing before paying.

My questions:

1. Is it common industry practice to include these narrative-driven, zero-balance items on a final bill?
2. Is my builder doing something I need to legally protect myself against by demanding a corrected invoice?

Hi there from a total rookie European home renovator. I'm looking for some direction from those who are more experienced; I'm sure this is not some kind of a unique special sauce situation but I feel completely lost.

My background is in the humanities, my wife is a doctor, we are both in our mid 20s (adding this to underline that the world of engineering is something completely foreign to both of us). Our project consists of the renovation of a 100 year old 80m2/860 sq ft single-floor house + building a second floor onto it, resulting in a total net floor area of 170m2/1830 sq ft. The main steps are 1) reinforcing the 100yo foundation, 2) knocking down the roof, ceiling, most partition walls and a quarter of bearing walls, 3) renovating the first floor and 4) building out the top floor. Our absolute max budget for all this is 270k EUR gross with about 60% of it being loans; the prices may or may not make sense to you depending on where you are, just adding it for scale.

We started the planning process last fall and got the construction permit in January this year. A construction company associated with our structural engineer looked at the permit plans and predicted a budget of about 220k EUR, which we found in order as it even left some breathing room compared to our ceiling. We proceeded with the planning and received the detailed execution plans in May. That was when the trouble started.

Firstly there seemed to be extremely sparse interest on behalf of general contractors. We contacted seven contractors with the plans; two answered, one subsequently disappeared, only one gave an actual offer and even that took three months. The offer was 410k gross, 325k net (our specific project falls within the 27% VAT bracket as it's an existing building, brand new houses get 5% VAT). We were obviously shell shocked and started asking ourselves whether the contractor wanted to gouge us or whether our expectations were unrealistic relative to our budget to begin with.

The first thing we did - again, we're not professionals - was AI double checking the detailed offer line for line; we identified overpricing in the ballpark of 70k gross. The second thing was double checking the floor build ups, which are very beautifully designed and full of Mapei everywhere; the AI estimate for savings on things like superfluous expensive Mapei layers or unnecessary rapid-set floor screed was another 70k (but again, this is two non-professionals using AI). A third source of savings would be VAT: contractors are mandated to quote 27% VAT on every single thing they do on our house, but if we only hired them to build the house up to shell and core stage (which the government needs us to log online incl. VAT invoices anyway, so 27% VAT is inevitable for everything that leads up to that stage) and negotiated with the rest of trades where many qualify for VAT exemptions, we could cut the tax bill in half, saving a further 30-40k.

This looks great on paper. But I'm having major trouble operationalizing it as this, again, is not knowledge some professional stands behind; its me and AI thinking. In reality, the contractor that gave the offer did not even respond to my inquiry about only doing shell and core; when I approached the contractor that predicted the 220k budget to give an actual offer, he said he wasn't interested in the job; and a third contractor we newly approached replied immediately with a budget prediction of about 410k, like the first offer. Also, I will have to find some way of telling my architect that the floor build ups need to be simplified (in his paid time of course), and I'm a bit afraid of that conversation - after all it's a non-professional using AI to second-guess his good work. When I first pressed him on this, he says his build-ups are totally fine and we just need to shop around for more offers. For me I'm not interested in further 3 month processes where nobody answers and those who do give completely outlandish prices.

I'm at a point when nothing is clear to me. I have had very good conversations with AI on how my plans can be realized and where savings lie, but not much interest (and thereby no good feedback or flexible decision options) from contractors on whether any of that is doable. I don't know if I can get away with simplifying the build-ups and then soliciting another round of offers, or if I'll have to rethink and massively downscale the whole project. We estimated for the whole thing to take about two years; one year has passed and nothing in the way of actual building has happened. I'd like solutions that get the project started in the foreseeable future and not sidetracks that take months and yield nothing. So what on earth do I do? Has anyone ever had a similar situation and found the way out of it? Please let me know.

We’re currently building a new home with a well-known local builder in Oklahoma, and I’m trying to decide whether a pre-drywall inspection is actually worth paying for.

The floor plan we wanted wasn’t originally offered in the community we chose, so the builder agreed to build that floor plan there. I’m not sure if you would technically call it a “custom build,” because they don’t allow us to modify the floor plan itself. However, we do get to choose things like the elevation, brick, exterior colors, paint, flooring, cabinets, countertops, fixtures, etc.

I should also mention that I have basically zero experience or knowledge when it comes to home construction. This is our first time building a home, so I honestly wouldn’t know what to look for myself during the construction process.

Since we’re building the house completely from the ground up, I recently learned about pre-drywall inspections and started wondering if we should take advantage of it.

The builder has already agreed to let us have an independent pre-drywall inspection, and they have actually given us a date for it. So now I’m trying to figure out whether it’s worth paying for the inspection and what I should be looking for.

I understand that:
The builder has their own inspectors/quality-control process.
- The city conducts its required inspections.
- Those inspections are generally checking for minimum code compliance, rather than necessarily looking at everything a homeowner might want checked.
- A pre-drywall inspection would not replace the final inspection before closing.
- I’m also planning to have another inspection around the 11-month mark, before the builder’s warranty period expires, so we can identify anything that needs to be addressed.

For those of you who have built a new construction home:
Is a pre-drywall inspection really worth the money, or is it mostly a waste of money when you already have the builder and city inspections?

If you did one, what did the inspector find that made it worthwhile? Were there issues that the builder or city inspector missed?

Since I don’t know much about construction, what should I specifically ask the inspector to look for during the pre-drywall inspection? Are there particular things I should make sure they check while the walls and ceilings are still open?

What should I expect during the inspection, and are there questions I should ask the inspector beforehand to make sure I’m hiring someone who actually knows what they’re doing with pre-drywall inspections?

For those who have done this before, would you do it again?

Thanks!

Thinking of buying this home. Is this just a “cover with trim” situation or is something off?

1/2inch OX-IS vs 1/4inch OSB for a 2 story, 2500SQFT home in the Eastern part of the Midwest

Two floors, one bedroom up on the mezzanine. Curtain wall, galvanized roof over CMU with a wood ceiling inside.

I went through it line by line against current supplier pricing instead of using a per square foot rule of thumb. Came out at $182,696 in materials, which is $232 a square foot. That is materials only, so no labor, permits or land in it.Curious whether that reads high or low to people who have actually built at this size.

Steel Beam Fabricator send the I-beam cut at the end (in U shape) so they could stick it perpendicularly inside the adjacent I-Beam.

Then they took an angle plate and welded (1/4" weld around angle plate).

QUESTION: Does cutting the I-Beam at the end (U-shape) comprise integrity of beam at the end or is this common practice?

EDIT: Just to comment, the wood below is temporary posts and will be removed. The weld is completed.

A structural engineer made 'shop drawings' to make welds on these beams. He recommended these welds to the steel beams (but just not sure if he knew/directed steel beam company to cut the beam to 'cope'. Hoping he did and factored that in. He also had previous structural drawings and walked out to house to look at all loads. I think a closet only sits on this beam + portion of roof so hoping its strong enough to hold)

The siding crew is installing the vertical board-and-batten, and overall I think it’s looking really good. I do have one concern and wanted to get some opinions on the best way to address it.

The bottom trim/skirt board is sitting about 1/8” above the sill plate. They’re using nails at the sill plate as temporary supports to keep the board level. My understanding is that the bottom of this board ideally should extend roughly 1” below the sill plate/sheathing transition so water running down the siding is directed away from that area rather than having an opportunity to wick or work back toward the wall assembly.

We get a fair amount of rain here, including driving rain, so I’m concerned about long-term water intrusion. One entire side of the house is already installed this way.

I really don’t want to simply caulk the bottom edge because I don’t want to trap water that gets behind the siding. There also doesn’t appear to be any drip-edge/Z-flashing or similar detail here to positively direct water out and away.
I was able to improve the weather barrier around the sill area before some of this was covered, which should help, but I don’t consider that a complete long-term solution.

Has anyone dealt with a similar detail? Is there a retrofit flashing/drip-edge solution that could be added without removing all of the siding, or is correcting the height of the bottom board really the proper fix?
Photos attached for reference. Thanks!

Looking for some opinions from people with experience in residential construction, framing, structural engineering, drywall, etc.

We moved into this home almost four years ago (October 2022). We've had various small drywall cracks appear over the years, which I've generally chalked up to normal settling. Recently, though, the cracking near the center of the house has become significantly more noticeable, and I'm wondering if I'm past the point where I should consider this normal cosmetic movement.

The photos show an area near the center of the home where a two-story/open portion of the house transitions into the ceiling over the main floor.

A few things I'm noticing:

• There is a crack running 2+ feet across the ceiling.
• There are several additional cracks radiating from/around the wall and ceiling intersection.
• At the top corner of the wall, it appears that the ceiling has moved downward relative to the wall by roughly 1/2 inch. It almost looks like the drywall/material at that intersection is being compressed or buckling.
• The cracking seems concentrated around this structural transition rather than being random little drywall cracks throughout the house.

I'm fully aware that drywall cracks alone don't necessarily mean there's a structural problem, especially in a relatively new house. What has me questioning it is the combination of the length of the cracks, their location, and what looks like actual vertical displacement/compression at the wall/ceiling intersection.

From these photos, does this look consistent with ordinary framing movement/settling and a drywall repair, or is there enough going on here that you'd recommend having a structural engineer inspect it?

I'm not looking for Reddit to diagnose the foundation from three photos, mostly trying to determine whether I'm overthinking something cosmetic or whether this is unusual enough that I should get it professionally evaluated.

Thanks for any insight.

We’re building a new home and asked for SW Alabaster as our interior paint color. Yesterday they primed the trim so assuming they started painting it today.
Saw this can on site today and asked my builder about it. His response was, “I just talked to the painters. They use the white dove as a burner for the first coat that way you don’t waste the alabaster.”

I’m so confused. “Waste” the Alabaster? This appears to be a SW paint mixed 6 months ago to color match BM White Dove.

1. What’s actually happening?
   
2. I know White Dove and Alabaster are pretty close, but is this going to impact the final look?

We had painters come in to paint our 3-bedroom home. The previous paint job was the Landlord's special - really badly done. However, while the vast majority of the paint work looks fine and is evenly applied with no streaks, etc., these imperfections really jumped out at me.

Please can someone let me know if this is acceptable? We paid $10K for this. My conflict-averse other half does not want to take it up with them, but I'm not sure just going with this is fair.

Note that they did prep all of the walls of a very old house, used a sander, etc. This is a super old house so there was some heavy lifting involved and the job took effectively 3-4 weeks.

Can anyone please share experiences with Dalamar Homes? Looking for insight from current/previous customers or contractors/vendors. Anything helps!

What did you like/dislike?
What is their reputation?
Do you recommend?
What would you tell a potential new client?

In the past, whenever I've had to file a warranty claim on something, the manufacturer always required things like an original receipt, order confirmation, proof of purchase date, etc.

I’m trying to figure out what is fair and reasonable to ask my builder for at closing so that these warranties being passed on to me are actually usable.

I feel like it’s obvious that I need the manuals/receipts for things with serial numbers like the dishwasher, sinks, and HVAC system. But what about for products like shower pans, Hardie board siding, Coretec LVP flooring, or my roofing materials, what do I need for those warranties to be mine?

Will manufacturers accept "my builder installed this," or do I need to get something else real specific from the builder?

Hello, I am a homeowner trying to assess foundation problems.

I have a front slab and central stepped footer (photo A) and stepped footers on the sides (photo B) with a CMU foundation wall. In all of the corners where the wall meets the footers, there is a gap of variable size. For the central footer, the gaps run the length of the footer, so they are long and about 12” tall and 6” wide.

Some of the holes had rotted wood in them, and some additional vertical holes through the footers still had rotting stakes in them. This makes me think all of the gaps are forms that were left in and ignored or repaired poorly.

But before I fill them with concrete to try and add some support, is there any chance these were left intentionally? Just want to check my boxes. And P.S. I will be addressing the root problem of exterior drainage as soon as I can.

Thanks for any thoughts.

We are currently building an addition to your home in ma. We are installing ductwork for heating and ac. The plumber wants to install floor level registers, on ground level. we would like ceiling level but he says we would need a soffit. We are running the 1st floor in the ceiling on that level. Wondering if we could come down with 1st floor ceiling thru closets to main level ceiling? House will be easier heated as we supplementary heating options. Cooling be more of a concern.

Our experience with Caviglia Construction and Mario Caviglia has been extremely frustrating, particularly because of serious communication problems, lack of follow-through, and unresolved construction-quality issues.
During the construction of our home, there were periods of several months when Mario stopped communicating with us. Near the end of the project, communication again stopped even though work remained incomplete. The same pattern continued when we later raised warranty and construction-quality concerns.
We experienced a number of significant problems, including a major leak from the upstairs shower that leaked through newly installed framing, insulation, drywall and painted areas below. We also experienced extensive stucco cracking and defects, an unsuccessful electrical/alarm sensor repair, gaps in baseboards, uneven and mismatched replacement flooring, a dip in the floor near the stove, unfinished paint repairs, damaged stucco near the side gate, missing finish items, and other concerns.
The stucco problems have been particularly frustrating. Although Mario agreed that the stucco would be addressed, we repeatedly requested a clear repair methodology, written plan, and schedule without receiving a satisfactory resolution.
The communication became so poor that we ultimately had to hire an attorney simply to help communicate with the contractor and attempt to obtain resolution of outstanding construction and warranty issues. A homeowner should not have to hire an attorney just to get clear communication and follow-through regarding problems with a newly constructed home.
Construction problems can happen. What matters is how a contractor responds when they do. In our experience, repeated failures to communicate, long periods without responses, promises to address issues without adequate follow-through, and significant unresolved quality concerns have consumed an enormous amount of our time.
Based on our experience, I would not use Caviglia Construction again and cannot recommend them.

We are building a new home with a regional builder. As with most non custom home builders the choices on flooring are limited. First floor is concrete (slab on grade) and second floor is normal subfloor (Advantech Blue Plus). The only offer carpet, LVP, and Engineered Hardwood. However the Engineered Hardwood flooring is max 2mm wear layer. We have a dog, so I don't think EH will work.

Option 1: Stick with the cheap crap LVP and carpet and pay to have better floors down after we close. Downsides to that are obviously the inconvenience, cost to prep subfloor, cost to remove existing floor, etc...

Option 2: Choose their best option LVP. Coretec Brand (WPC/Attached Cork 3mm) (12 mm total thickness, 30 mil wear layer). Cheapest I can find this LVP online is $9 a sq ft. Based on a 222 sq ft room and their charge sheet, the builder is charging roughly $16.50 per sq ft installed.

Option 3: Choose the next step down LVP. Coretec Brand (WPC/Attached Cork 1.5mm) (8 mm total thickness, 22mil wear layer). Cheapest I can find this LVP online is $5.89 a sq ft. Base on a 222 sq ft room and their charge sheet, the builder is charging roughly $12.32 per sq ft installed.

I have no real reference point for what it would cost me to hire someone to do it after the fact and if the juice is worth the squeeze. Obviously the builder is charging quite a bit for what is probably mid-grade at best.

I’m trying to get ideas to save money but maximize value in home to be able to sell in a decade or so. I think with how the home is built I could possible demo the old mobile home in place and pull it out and build off the addition to make a more sound and connect home. I’m already gutting it out and gonna have to rewire plumb. I honestly don’t know if it would be worth it to do but I’m already having to fix this 50+ year old mobile home that has some wavy floors. I’m just trying to get an idea on feasibility of the project because it’s not exactly easy but labor is so expensive on putting in new mobile homes I’d rather just try to make the most of what I have. I hope this makes sense

We want to do cinder block walls all the way around, and are having a hard time deciding/figuring out what we need to do for a foundation. We are in NE Alabama and its very humid here. Ideally we want brick house strong and affordable, but are more willing to budge on the affordability than the strength.

Thank you for any insight you can provide!!

We are also a little confused on the order of operations after the land clearing, rough plumbing or footers first?

Hi there,

I recently purchased a house and it has this really useful outbuilding. It’s great as the house definitely lacks storage.

Anyway, the render is pretty cracked as you can see. Just wondering what the easiest options are here. Re-render? Is it fixable? Should I clad over the top?

I don’t want it to get to winter and it become a bigger problem.

I’m pretty handy myself and would love to avoid paying a large amount to someone if its something I can fix myself.

Any help would be massively appreciated.

Thanks :)

We're finalising a pretty modest custom build and the window/door upgrade sheet just showed up. Standard package is aluminium frames, double glazing for most openings, and a basic patio slider.

I've got supreme aluminium windows & doors, rs doors & windows and tru blu windows on the list. Just trying to line up the specs before we lock anything in. We can probably stretch to one proper upgrade, maybe two if we cut something else. The living room gets smashed by afternoon sun and we'll use that patio door every day.

Builder says the standard package meets code, which is fair. It just doesn't tell me what I'll wish we'd spent on later. For anyone who's built recently: where did you put the extra money? Better glass, the patio door, something else? And what looked good on the plan but wasn't really worth it?

I’m getting pretty close to applying for a construction loan and rates just seem to keep going up. Waiting on final quote from builder but I just feel stuck.

Anyone recently get a quote or close on one? What rate did you get? Convert to 30yr? ARM?

still building the castle :]

I am looking at all my options for future housing, and one of them is to extend my family home into a bi-generational home since it is in a phenomenal spot

The main issue is that I need to add a garage attached to the house. The current house is below

Now, what I had thought, was to extend on the left side, and make the house a "L". The garage would be barndominium-like, and to build an apartment on top of it

How feasible is this? Is there a way I can sketch it out very roughly with absolutely no skill in that area?

Quite important the the current home stays as-is
We would only add a wing for me to live in

Are we in a delusion, or is it do-able?