Shamwise's Profile

I built my dream house. It has geo-thermal heating and cooling, tons of natural light, storm water collector and a design that fits my personality, but It was an ordeal. 2.5 years of daily stress. I had 2 full time jobs; my regular job and the job of managing the contractor, bank and architect. I thought I did a good job interviewing and bidding out my project. Look as 87 homes from 5 different builders. Got references and the works and still the project was late, the builder tried to cut corners and when confronted to try to charge extra for doing the work correctly. There is also the issue of dealing with the banks and fees for when the project goes over time and extending the construction loan because the project is behind

The story started with flood damage to my original house. It had to be torn down, we de-constructed the home and only one dumpster of material was discarded. We got a tax deduction for the material we donated to various charities. I hired an architect who was great. The builder, I though was great. I had checked them out, but in the end they tried to cut corners and change the design to increase their profits. If I were to build again I would have gone with the less experienced builder on the list. The rationale for this is the more experienced builder knows where to cut corners to increase profits where the less experienced builder is still trying to make a name for himself.

The Project almost bankrupted me. There were some very tense months at the end of the project where it looked like I would lose my home and land. Finally hired an attorney who helped straighten out the builder (another unexpected cost, but something I should have done earlier).

I look at the pre-fab homes that are now available and know I would rather go pre-fab than new construction.

Try a 25% bleach and water solution.
If the armchairs were outside the stains are probably organic in origin and should bleach out.
We use this to disinfect used legos (for the kids), it also makes the legos very "new".

Used the sister company for cabinet. Used this company for countertops. They are not more affordablet to other high end european style cabinets and coutner. Customer service is awful. They up and quit on the progect 2 days prior to completion. Then when I asked for my money back. Owner of the compnay threatened to charge "extras". Do not use this compnay. There are other places to spend you money where you will be treated better.