I wouldn't recommend him to my worst enemy...

We went to see one of Central's other houses tonight (I am trying to choose doors and wanted to see some on another house). We encountered the home owners, who were not at all complementary of our builder. Their house was supposed to be finished May 5th, and the owner said she would be going into litigation if it wasn't finished by July. Given the amount of work to be done (siding, fireplace, cabinets, plumbing, sheetrock, flooring, etc.), I guess they are going into litigation.

After yet another week's delay, the builder assured me that they will be starting tomorrow or the next day. So maybe they'll start Friday or Saturday! I'm not too concerned about the delays (other than the frustration factor, and the fact that we have a bunch of wood sitting in the weather for the last month), but I am concerned about some of the quality of the house we were in this evening. None of the openings for the doors and windows were right. Where they had cut the foam and boards away to increase the size of the openings, the concrete had voids. I have contacted the local Nudura Rep. and we will either get a crash course on how the concrete is to be poured and vibrated, and/or we will hire him to oversee the next pour.

I did order windows last Friday. The dealer was busy at a job site (I think that the job site is her house that is, coincidentally, also being built by Central Development). So she had her son meet me at the office and I acted as an employee of the company and ordered my own windows. I am still paying her a 20% mark-up, but at least I don't have to pay Central their 10% cut. After 2 months of getting the run-around from Central on ordering doors and windows, I am trying to find a different source for our french doors.

The doors for our living room are going to cost more than our front door. Depending on the source, they may cost more than all the windows. And we are looking at the "cheap" vinyl doors. The Andersons and Pellas cost 3x more! Going to 8' tall doors, and having a quad unit (two operating doors flanked by two fixed doors) has driven the cost up substantially. I think there is a "luxury" factor at work, although it may be that they just don't sell as many units of these so maybe that's why they are so expensive. Anyways, so far the cheapest quote for this unit is $2200. Ouch!

I've been super frustrated this week. Mad that I had to order my own windows. Mad that I might have to pay Central a 10% mark-up even though I spent 3 hours making sure the windows were right, mad that I can't get a door quote, and mad that our build was being delayed yet another week while our material that I rushed to get ordered sits in the yard and rots. But Pat was super-nice about not charging me the 10% mark-up, the windows are ordered, and (maybe) they will be back on our project this week. With David on-site, and with advice from the distributor, I think that the next pour will go ok. Yeah, it sucks that we have to jump through so many hoops, but I think that we would be dealing with these issues with 95% of the contractors in the area.

Would I recommend my contractor? Yes, but with major reservations. If my friend needed someone who would do a turn-key job and would do a good job with little oversite, no way. But I'd also be wishing my friend good luck in finding that perfect contractor! So I'll be going to work tomorrow and will tell Mark that maybe Central isn't the best contractor to build his mother's house.