any horror stories about home remodeling?

Lupe Sancen: In the construction field since I was 10 I have had drummed into me to figure every square inch out before you do anything, so most of my stories are about those who did not. The worse are the ones who remove load baring walls and what happens to them with in a year. Its not pretty to say the least. Others remove wall without knowing whats in them or the circuits numbers and what they feed. I have seen walls that should be 4" thick 8" because they did not know about the plumbing. Most of the horror stories are about scheduling having materials confirmed and show up on time, getting the trades to get their work done in time but not tripping over each other. Last keeping all this in budget. I am a project manager for an electrical contractor and I am responsible for all this in regards to the electrical. Anything that goes wrong...............is my fault with no exception, so I don't make mistakes {what I tell the guys} I do but not big ones because I am respon! sible for $20-$200 thousand dollars of work on any given job. Plan run it through your head fix all questions then run it again until you yourself have no questions, then put it on paper and run it again until everything works out. Then get everything in writing. The only way to assure your numbers stay true.I personally rebuilt my home from the inside out. I bought an older home for a reason for the layout and the wood they used. I drove my family nuts waiting for the right house. It took 1.5 years but I found it. Built in 1954 and split level. Meaning I can get to every room of my house from the top and bottom. In 1950 they released a large grove of old growth redwoods for building lumber, I wanted this wood and was willing to wait for it. My town was a nuclear sub building facility and first in line for this wood to build for the baby-boomers coming home from the war. The old growth is dense {bent many #10 nails and broken screws.} and almost impossible for termites to g! et into. This was just the start and this is the type of plann! ing ahead I am referring to. By finish I installed 1 1/4" thick exterior sheer walls and new appliances. I have replaced everything from electrical to mechanical and plumbing myself. My utility bill has never been over $100 and the property value has gone from $170K to over $450K in 5 years. I have been here for 10years and have never had to do a thing to anything I have installed. I even used weather stain when I built my 3 tier 12' X 20' ea deck and have not needed to touch it up. In other words plan ahead or hire those who do is my only advise....Show more

Ardell Luy: all of them use sub-contractors. Lowe's and residing house Depot are do it your self centers and that they have got inferior merchandise. experts do not keep there different than in an emergency. they visit furnish properties... builder's supplys. GET A REFERRAL FROM somebody WHO HAD paintings completed!