unless there were space constraint issues for the lower half of the stairs, i cant see any decent carpenter narrowing down instead of matching the uppers.The only other reason would be if there was left over material that only allowed for three footers, but that would be a real cheesy move by the builder or carpenter.

should there be no other reason than"just because", i would insist on a reframe to get it how you wanted in the first place.Your house, your money.

You've obviously already spoken with your builder based on your comments above. I'm assuming that he wasn't very willing to fix the mistake. What were the reasons for the stairs being framed that way initially, and what were the reasons for them not fixing it now? You have the plans...tell them to build it to them. But, I have to ask...is it really worth it? I mean, you didn't notice it for the past how many months of the build?! This seems like something that would have been fairly noticeable...

We'll I've been tossed a few excuses. The first one was that it had to do with the support beams above. My response was that knowing what we wanted they should have designed for it. As for noticing, they really didn't start putting in the staircase until the upper level was drywalled and taped as well as spray textured wall finish...believe me, I asked why they were waiting to put it in and all I got was that they only work on it with the rest of the house if they are finishing the lower level as well. I don't feel I'm being unreasonable to ask for them to fix it, it was a design feature we put in and for the builder to actually do what they did without our approval is pretty poor judgement. I do recall them building it as it was per plan only to come back a few days later to be told they had to redo it, but not sharing the fact that I would lose a ft of width. Now I'm told that they couldn't cut into the above support beam, but when I look at that was already done to the structure before they tore it out and narrowed the entry into the lower level. I find it hard to believe that with 9ft of headroom space that they would be worried about clearance....especially when 8ft foundations seem to be a norm around here. Like it was stated by sierraeast....My house My Money....well earned and when I'm paying someone to do the job I expect that the job is done correctly as contracted to do so....after all who would walk onto a car dealership and buy a V6 auto and then have the dealer tell them that you getting a 4 instead because we screwed up! They should fix this in good faith. I'm not a person that looks for the legal system to solve my woes or take advantage of others, but when I know I'm in the right I will defend that.

Your contractor should fix this and be nice while doing it. If the prints show it as 4' then 4' it should be. If, for whatever reason, it was impossible to build that way, it should have been resolved/re-engineered so you could get what you wanted long before now. At the very least, you should have been informed of any problems long ago and given a list of options to correct them to your satisfaction. I'd never work for a contractor that even tried to do get away with something like that.
Best of luck with the rest of the project and don't let something like this ruin the house for you.

I believe "build it to the plans" is the general mantra around here. I don't blame you for being upset and wanting it to be corrected. Good luck.

Amy

Ok I have to ask something here. We are building too and I have a question that has been in my mind. Most people insist on "building it to plan". We have a very good relationship with our builder as of yet. He is very casual and understands that no matter how hard you try upfront to build the "perfect" house, it probably won't happen and you will want to make changes along the way. Now with this in mind you make changes, it is no longer "to the plan". Does this give him an out if several things are changed and one of them doesn't work out like you anticipated? You can't go back and say "I wanted it built to the plans"

It makes you wonder why the top portion of the stairs are 4'as the plan and the bottom is 3'. If there was room to allow the 4' then what were they thinking?
We caught a stair issue early on during the framing. Our open stairs on the main floor ended up with a support post. Long story short they fixed it by placing the correct support above.
I say work it out to have it fixed to your liking.
It is your house and your money! Good Luck
amyks, I found "build to plans" used as an excuse a few times. Especially after we had several conversations before the error occured.

We have changed very little as our house has been built, it looks to me exactly as our plans look. The things we did change we completed change orders to do so and paid accordingly. That doesn't negate the plans, because we absorbed any cost that required those changes to be made. The change order provided the record of the changes, therefore altering your plans. I realize when you build, there will be several issues that come up in the field for which you will provide answers, and that will not be producing a change order. ctrev, it sounds to me that you asked for the stairs to be 4' from the planning stage, and you were specific enough to make sure it is like that on the plans. All I'm saying is if you are solid in your plans, and check them thoroughly before they go to the site, you have something to fall back on.

Our gc has reverted back to our plans plenty of times, and found that either he was right in the field or wrong and changed it accordingly. It doesn't mean there isn't room to make changes, but there has to be a document that is your guide. Good luck with your build.

Amy