Saturday, February 2, 2013

Quality Control is a Full Time job

Hi there.  We have gone a little forward and a little backward in our construction progress this week. We thought it was all forward but some things just weren't "measuring up".

First off let me show you what hubs has been up too.  You may remember we had this glorious old hunk of oak that we were going to use as our mantle?  Well it didn't work out.  The builders guys didn't get it level and things would just roll right off of one side of it so hubs had to knock holes in the wall and remove it himself.  He decided he would just build something himself instead and we would use our little beautiful hunk of wood somewhere else.

I couldn't decide if I wanted this one to be rustic or sleek so he went with a sleek look and if we want to we will beat it up later;)  It may serve us well to take out our aggressions on it right now though;)!!!


Agression..Hmm.  That brings to mind things like this.
You see it right?

Way uneven pendant lights.


A pretty yet also crooked pantry light.


No picture of it but fan blades put wrong side up even though it was written and circled on the box.  Light switch put in the middle of a little wall at the end of the hall.  Remotes for fans just put in random places on the wall.
Lights not moved out of the way of the attic ladder like we discussed. 
Then little things like this can light below.  I'm positive that things like can lights not fitting just right happen all of the time in construction but man those pendants are way off!  It's so obvious.  



There were a couple of things that were correct!  Yahoo!  These fun west elm lights were put in the jack and jill bath as they should have been and they weren't crooked!:)  Happy girl.


This light was just right in the guest bathroom..Wahoo!


EEEEERRRRRRK!  We got to looking a little closer at the cabinets and got a little overwhelmed.  There were things like this where the wood is splitting.



Corners were not sanded well.  
I don't know.  I mean we have to say things about almost everything that is done in our house and it is so exhausting.  Sometimes we wonder if we are wrong by bringing up every little thing but you kind of have to.  It's a huge investment and these cabinets cost us more than the original quote yet they are all wrong.


There are big hunks out of pieces that will be very visible.
Now when I say they are all wrong I'm not talking about nicks and sanding and such.  The piece below and every single cabinet in the house except the jack and jill bath are not correct:(


I thought something seemed off with the master cabinets because they didn't go all the way to the wall like they should?  So we took the tape measure out and low and behold it is several inches too short.  The big drawers are deeper and wider than they are suppose to be yet it is still too short.  This changes where the outlet under the cabinet goes and many other things.  The large drawers are also suppose to open but the cabinet guy decided to just nail the top large drawer to the vanity instead of making them real drawers?  huh?


Then we decided we should measure everything.  Wowza's!  The kitchen is very different from the plans.  We had our architect draw up plans so there was no guessing:(  There was alot of guessing and no measuring done.  Cabinets are in the wrong places, doors that should be 1' 10" are 1 foot.  And..there would be 6 inches of open space where the oven sits.  There are many more issues with them but it will bore you and make my head explode so I'll stop there but if I had it to do over again I would go to my trusty IKEA and do my own kitchen again.  We would have already had it installed ourselves too.  

I'll leave you with this half positive note.  This process sucks but it's gonna be a great house someday!! We are going to have a huge party if we survive this but I've already warned our friends that it will have to be a potluck because of the sad state of our bank account these days!  Thank God for good and understanding friends!


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3 comments:

Taylor Made said... Best Blogger Tips

Long time, no see or talk but I've been stalking you a bit on here and your pinterest. I'm a little overwhelmed just reading about your building experience. My opinion is this... you should be very particular and no one should get by with these mistakes! Its a shame that there are not better quality standards. Out of the few workers we've hired on remodels, we've been less pleased than pleased (one reason we do most of the work ourselves). Im hoping your builder is reasonable and things will be made satisfactory. You guys should get to enjoy more than a straight hanging light in the correct room.

I love your choices and cant wait to see it all come together! Hang in there!!

CM said... Best Blogger Tips

I agree with Taylor Made - is that Christy? Anyhooo, you are paying a ton of money for this house. It was your dream, your money paying for it - you keep on them until they get everything done right! You have the plans - they did not follow them. It's as simple as that. If you need Danny to write a mean letter with some big initials behind his name, let me know...that sometimes works! ;)

SewItAll said... Best Blogger Tips

My husband is a residential architect (we are talking houses in the $$ millions); we are building our second custom house (definitely not in the millions). One thing for sure, the superintendent must be at the job and supervising the subs; set up a meeting with him daily if necessary to review everything before it goes further. The subs are responsible for their errors and fix it as it is shown on plans at their cost. Why should it cost you? The builder is wrong for employing subs who don't/can't/won't read plans and are not building per plans. If all else fails, hire a new builder/contractor. The owner should not have to compromise because the builder cannot do the job. If you compromise all the way, will you still love it when it's finished? Our first house had a few hiccups along the way, but the builder stepped up and got them remedied to our liking. We are just starting our next new house and have the greatest confidence in our builder and his subs based on what we have seen them build. I hope you have smoother sailing as you finish up.