I think most here are customers. You could find a contractors' board to vent or you could make a constructive list describing what customers can do to make the building process as smooth as possible from the contractor's perspective.

You're a BUILDER Jon_dear. As such, you build houses for a living. That means you've entered into contracts to build houses multiple times. Your customer is likely to be having his/her first and only house built. That means YOU ARE THE ONE WITH THE KNOWLEDGE to forestall the very kinds of misunderstandings you are complaining about.

Simply ensure that the written contract and associated building documents spell out in writing and in detail what IS and IS NOT included. YOUR customers haven't got the experience to know what kinds of things even need to be specified. YOU DO or at least should.

Trust me, if the contract documents specify in writing that the kitchen will have formica counter tops your customers are not going to expect granite or 3" thick wood custom counter tops for the original price quoted. But if you show them a home with granite counter tops and tell them you'll build it for them for $XXX, they have a right to get upset when you later tell them, "oh, for that price you only get formica counter tops. The granite was a special upgrade in that house."

In my experience (admittedly limited), it is builders who want the contract documents to be as vague as possible because that give them wiggle room when they discover they didn't figure their costs correctly. In my case I wanted to include specifications detailing everything from the style, size, material, and finish of the baseboards to the manufacturer, style, color and warranty length of the roof shingles. I already had a 20 page spreadsheet with all those details when I first went looking for a builder. NOBODY wanted to pay any attention to it and nobody wanted to incorporate that spreadsheet in the contract. "Too complicated," they all said. The builder I hired finally convinced me that we didn't need to go into all those details because "you'll change your mind anyway or the exact item you specified won't be available when we need it." He assured me that he fully understood the level and quality of finishes I wanted and had priced the house accordingly.

Then (for example) when it came time to build the decks, he insisted that the contract price only included treated pine for the decking and that cedar or anything like that would be an upgrade... and this was on a half million dollar house! Fortunately I had kept the emails between us where we had discussed the possibility of upgrading from cedar decking to Ipe and ultimately concluding that the contract price would be based on cedar and, if we decided to go with ipe, we would pay an upgrade price. Somehow, by the time he was ready to order decking materials, he had forgotten those emails even existed and I was the one who was "trying to get an upgrade for free."

Same kind of disagreement would have happened with the cabinets if I hadn't already fired my builder before it was time to get them built. As our disagreements progressed, my builder revealed that he had budgeted $15,000 for "custom" cabinets for my kitchen, mudroom, 5 bathrooms, laundry room, TV room, and the almost 30 feet of floor to ceiling bookcases in the great room and library. And he had the gall to claim that that $15,000 should have been plenty. According to him, the $45,000 I actually wound up spending (after getting quotes from a half dozen cabinet makers, going with one of the least expensive woods available, and cutting out several wall cabinets entirely) was because I had "upgraded" from what we originally agreed on. Yeah sure! I had price quotes from the local big box store for the cheapest particle board pre-made cabinets available and, for the kitchen and mudroom alone, they would have cost over $10,000!

Bottom line... Stop whining and start more clearly specifying IN WRITING exactly what is and what is not included. You'll be a better businessman and your customers will thank you for it.

bevangle- You are EXACTLY the type of customer I am looking for. Nothing is assumed or left to chance. I've been accused of giving MY customers TOO much information. From a simple garage to a custom house, I include as much manufacturers literature as is relevant. It just makes things easier. I then list it in my contracts. A builder that realizes after the fact that he made mistakes figuring your job, (or did it by the seat of his pants) hasn't done anybody any favors. He just makes himself (and other reputable contractors) look bad.
Let me tell you, we WANT your business. * Note to all* Any REPUTABLE builder will take the time it takes to put it all in writing...Simply put it protects us... If you make changes, be prepared to pay. A lot of contractors of questionable scruples will "buy" a job; counting on making it up on change orders.
P.S. I have had my customers thank me for a no bs upfront approach.

Could be wrong, but sounds like you were phishing for a response like bevangel's to tout how great a builder you are to all of us on this forum who are getting ready to build. Maybe on the off-chance one of us would contact you to build their home in this slow economy?

Our builder spelled out every detail and covered it with us line by line once completed. Then we initialed each page together. THEN when we changed a thing here our there they still didn't even charge us. The good builders with integrity exist and you should pursue them.

Mydreamhome... Nah,I have a good backlog of work. I was just was tired of seeing the posts crapping on contractors. I am not a great builder. I do a good job and do it for what I say I'll do it for though. Repeat business tells me I am doing a decent job.

Jon Deere (sounds better), this is not a builder's forum.

But I figured it was the physical horror stories you were soliciting.

As when I had excavated an infill property; and the next day the client called to tell me the neighbour had been "testing" the edge of the excavation with his van and it had fallen in and that I might want to come over. Oy vey!

I am not a builder, and I was using these painters as a client not as a designer, but on a job that was finished just before mine, the client was having them work on weekends (apparently in violation of building rules) and paying them handsomely for it.

There were complaints by neighbors and management came to the door and said they must stop working. She slammed the door dramatically, set the alarm on the front door, threw herself against it and said "You are Locked In and Stay unless they call the police!"