[wideawake]

ladyjane makes another good point.

My current home is a newbuild and before I bought I looked over the plans for the whole development of 7 homes, checked out a dozen or so other homes and sites the developer built to see how the construction was, whether or not the developer was timely with delivering all the custom details he had promised, etc.

Funny thing is, everyone was real happy with his work, had nothing but nice things to say about him - and then two years after we moved in to our (very satisfactory) house he was sent up for tax evasion, leaving a number of people with half-finished homes.

[jammer]

Well, I learned that the hard way on a remodel (basement finish-out). I just keep laughing, sometimes sadly, at you two and agreeing. Here in Colorado Springs, the scam seems to be that the builders set up LLCs. They then get paid for each portion of the job in advance and never seem to get that last portion complete. And sometimes they don't pay the subcontractors. Then they just dissolve the LLC and establish a new one. I was lucky in that respect and insisted upon not making the final payment until final approval, but the warranties are worthless.

I think the problem is what you alluded to--these folks are great craftsmen and think that translates into running a business. Then when costs go above their expected level, they head for the hills.